The Joys of Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Here at The Yellin Center, we have long recommended comic books and graphic novels as ways for children who struggle with reading and writing to experience success.

There are many reasons why a child might find reading, especially chapter books with complex plots, hard to follow. Reading disorders, such as dyslexia, can make it difficult for a child to decode the words on the page. Sequencing problems may cause a reader to confuse the order of events in a chapter or story. Memory difficulties may make it hard for a child to keep the beginning of a story in his or her head by the time they get to the end. Even attention difficulties may get in the way of concentrating on the material with sufficient depth to retain what was read.

Similarly, there are many reasons why children may struggle with writing. They may have limited expressive (oral) language, which makes it hard for them to find appropriate words to express what they are trying to say. They may have difficulties with organization, which make presenting a story step by step to be a struggle. They may have a reading disorder, such as dyslexia, which makes it hard for them to spell. They may even have an attention issue which makes it hard for them to concentrate on a complex task like writing for the time needed to produce written work.

For all of these children, graphic novels and comic books may provide access to written materials that can help build the skills children need to be successful readers and writers. These mediums are no longer just the sensationalist superhero stories (POW!, BAM!) many of us encountered in our own youth. Today's graphic novels are sophisticated and contain the same kinds of themes, characters, and language that can be found in books. Many comic books are very similar to graphic novels, with somewhat shorter stories. The key to both of these are that they are supported by high quality graphic images that allow students to more readily access the written words that accompany the illustrations.

These forms of storytelling are not just for reading. Creating comics (or even graphic novels, for older, more sophisticated writers) can allow children to tell their story through the medium of pictures, without needing to use the language skills that are so difficult for them. There are a number of good tools available. Take a look at the list from Common Sense Education or at some of the tools we often recommend to students: Storyboard Creator and Comic Creator. And we have written about some terrific graphic novels in prior blog posts:

• Graphic Novels - Don't Call Them Comic Books
• Great Graphic Novels for the Middle Grades
• Motivating Reluctant Boys to Read

Finally, there is a great story in today's New York Times about Loot, a comic book store in Brooklyn where children are encouraged to read, borrow, and create their own comic books. It sounds like fun for kids and the parents who accompany them.

Photo: Enokson

Great Graphic Novels for the Middle Grades

Finding reading material for kids in the middle grades can be tough, especially when those kids are resistant to reading in the first place. Luckily graphic novels can be a wonderful bridge from picture books to chapter books, and there are a multitude of high-quality offerings for kids in the third through sixth grades. Below are some of our favorites; the humor and outside-the-box style of these gems should entice suspicious youngsters to keep turning pages under the covers long after lights-out!


The Adventures of Tintin series by Hergé – grades 3 and up

These classic books are beloved around the world. Kids will love reading about reporter Tintin’s madcap adventures, which are infused with elements of humor, mystery, fantasy, science fiction, and political intrigue. There are quite a few to choose from, too, so get your student hooked and you won’t have to worry about what she should read next for months. Don’t forget that there is a Tintin movie as well, which would work well as incentive for reading a Tintin book or as a way to whet kids’ appetites before they crack open the paper version.


Akiko series by Mark Crilley – grades 3 and up

Students with an interest in manga will enjoy this series, which is reminiscent of the wildly popular Japanese genre. The books tell about the adventures of ten-year-old Akiko, who dashes around this world and other worlds in a series of adventure stories.






Meanwhile by Jason Shiga – grades 3 and up

Remember Choose Your Own Adventure books? This graphic novel is like that, only better. On the first page, our hero Jimmy must make the seemingly simple decision of whether to have chocolate or vanilla ice cream, kicking off a series of further decisions with different outcomes. How many? The book claims to contain 3,856 possible plotlines! Meanwhile is non-traditional even by graphic novel standards, and may be unique enough to tempt even the most reluctant of readers.



Smile by Raina Telgemeier – grades 3 and up

Unlike many graphic novels, this one is geared toward girls. Sixth grader Raina thinks the prospect of getting braces is bad enough, but when she trips and injures her two front teeth, the series of unpleasant medical treatments, painful surgeries, and embarrassing orthodontia that follows makes plain old braces seem downright appealing. In the background of Raina’s medical drama are crushes, complications with friends, and a major earthquake, making for a fast-paced, rich story. This book serves up a lot of realistic issues in a light-hearted, often humorous format and will be enormously appealing to girls. Smile is not part of a series, but fans will want to check out author Telgemeier’s other, similar offerings.


Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick – grades 4 and up

If you’ve heard of Selznick, it’s probably because of his sensational first book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, an enormous tome filled with complex, mesmerizing art that helps to tell a rich story. Wonderstruck follows the same format, this time chronicling the adventures of friends Ben and Rose as they set out to find the pieces they feel are missing from their lives. Artistic children in particular will be spellbound by Wonderstruck.




Calvin and Hobbes series by Bill Watterson – grades 5 and up

OK, these books aren’t exactly graphic novels, but to call them “comic books” is to sell the series short. Calvin and Hobbes is chock full of sophisticated vocabulary and philosophical quandaries, blended so seamlessly with space adventures, snowball fights, and schoolroom shenanigans that kids won’t know they’re learning. Some of the humor in these strips may be a bit much for younger kids (how many fifth graders are going to double over laughing when Calvin polls “household six-year-olds” to present his father with approval ratings?) but they’ll appreciate a lot of Calvin’s antics.