‘Graphic novels are real books’

When stating that “Graphic novels are real books,” E.M. Richardson (2017) is very much “preaching to the choir” in the case of this reader, who includes several graphic novels among books she’s recently completed. For LIS 5400 alone, I read three graphic novels: Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell, and Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Ray Tercio and Bre Indigo (in the “Banned Book,” “Graphic Novel,” and “Classic Retelling” categories respectively).

Graphic novels are not easier to read than traditional texts. “They often have higher and more challenging vocabularies” (Harrison, 2022, 09:43), plus “Graphic novels provide new learning opportunities for readers because the reading of these books requires different skills than traditional text” (Griffith, 2010, cited in Richardson, 2017, p. 26).

When reading Richardson’s article, I appreciated an insight by J. Schmidt: that in order for students to become “lifelong readers and writers who are literate in every sense of that word…they first have to be interested in reading, and graphic novels can be the hook to draw them in” (2011, cited in Richardson, 2017, p. 25).

It was interesting that, between fifth-grade students who read a graphic novel and those who read traditional text, there was little difference in comprehension while “The results of Grade 6 data on average showed the graphic novel readers scoring higher than the traditional text readers” (Richardson, 2017, p. 27).

Richardson relates that, “During the distribution of the text, it was surprising how much excitement was generated when students received the graphic novel version of the book (2017, p. 27). To be honest, I was surprised that Richardson found the students’ excitement surprising.

When I check books out to young people at my library’s circulation desk, graphic novels are by far my library’s most popular format. And within that format, realistic fiction seems to be a popular genre. Graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier, Svetlana Chmakova, Jerry Craft, and others are continually being checked out.

Graphic novels with romantic plot lines also have consistent readership: among them Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks; Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, and Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag. And fantasy and adventure stories like Dog Man by Dav Pilkey and Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi are consistently popular at the library where I work.

If I were to recommend a course of action when replacing a school’s classic novel sets, I would absolutely recommend graphic-novel versions of those classic texts along with traditional-text purchases. Specifically, I would advocate the example set by Schmidt when teaching college developmental English classes: Schmidt (2011) “used traditional texts along with graphic novel adaptations of the same story and let the students choose which format they wanted to read” (cited in Richardson, 2017, p. 25). Not every reader will want a graphic novel, just as not every reader will want to read traditional text.

References:
Griffith, P. E. (2010). Graphic novels in the secondary classroom and school libraries. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(3), 181–189.

Harrison, A. (2022). Graphic novels. University of Central Missouri, College of Education: Department of Educational Technology and Library Science.

Richardson, E. M. (2017). “Graphic novels are real books”: Comparing graphic novels to traditional text novels. Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin, 83(5), 24-31

Schmidt, J. (2011). Graphic novels in the classroom: Curriculum design, implementation, and reflection. English Journal, 100(5), 104–107.