Do graphic novels increase or decrease interest in reading the "real" book?

[Ewe Mama]

Alvin is a very visual learner. He loves looking at pictures, watching DVDs, etc. He reads very well and gleans much information in a short time. He is my factoid spouter.

 

His reading style drives me bonkers, however. He will pick up a novel, flip through it until he finds a chapter that looks interesting, and then start reading. If he gets bored with that chapter, he flips around and finds another interesting part and starts reading again. He will then ask me questions about the book that he would not need to ask if he were to read the book the whole way through.

 

This hasn't been much of an issue for school work, as we tend to do read-alouds with all the kids. He is fine when reading a few pages at a time for science or something along those lines.

 

We have a few graphic novels that he enjoys and I have been toying with the idea of ordering a few more, but then I got to thinking that perhaps graphic novels are too much "instant gratification" for him. Are they causing him to expect every book to be non-stop action? Am I undermining his ability to grow a love for reading books in their entirety?

[Guest]

I don't think you'd be undermining his ability to grow love for novels and other whole books.

 

BUT! some people will not grow a love for books. Do keep that in mind.

 

If your son is one of those people, though, I don't think you can "cause" that (not as a book reader yourself anyway!). It's just the way some people are.

 

It can only help to have things kids like to read on hand IMO!

[Arcadia]

Neither. My kids enjoy graphics novels and comic books for leisure reading. They like watching cartoons too.

 

However for assigned reading whether it is fiction or non-fiction, my kids prefer the bland ones with few illustrations/photographs.

 

If it is assigned reading then my kids just have to read cover to cover. They can't expect me to tell them what they missed. If it is leisure reading and they skip pages, that is up to them but again they can't ask questions on what they skip.

 

Whether they have read the graphic novels version or not does not affect their enjoyment or disinterest in the text versions.

[bethben]

My ds who is 11 read books like "Great Illustrated Classics" and some graphic novels of classic stories.  He has some desire to read the "real" classic now that he's older.  That did not work with his older brother though.  He wouldn't even read the great illustrated classics and now only reads because he has to for school.  I think part of it is the lack of books for boys that don't involve sports or wizardry.

[Farrar]

I think it depends on the child.

 

My kids aren't into rereads, so... at least in the case of gn versions of things like Ember or Warriors, they don't have any interest in reading the "real" book later. But they probably only had marginal interest in the first place. Shrug. The gn's take a sitting to read and that's appealing for a lot of kids, including mine. Reading a proper book takes them a week. So they'll read a gn they're only sort of interested in but not a non-gn book. They have done a few classics gn's. But I wouldn't expect them to read the "real" book later for those - it's too advanced for them to pick up at this point. The time gap is so big that I consider that being more like how we read children's versions of classics aloud when they were younger but eventually we'll read the real versions in high school.

 

However, I will say this - reading gn's in general has not at all harmed my kids' enjoyment of reading overall. They go between gn's and "real" books all the time. There are plenty of real books that have excitement around every corner - and some of them are good, Newbery winning type books. If you're worried about the "same story" issue, then I'd suggest getting gn's that are good in their own right for him to read instead of gn versions of other books. 

[Arcadia]

My DS10 and DS11 who are close to your son in age read the Sherlock Holmes graphics novels series from the library and still had fun reading the all text version. They also read the graphics novels of classics by Gareth Hinds and went on to read the text versions.

 

Sherlock Holmes's graphic novel version example

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sign-Four-Illustrated-Classics/dp/1402780036

 

Graphics Novels by Gareth Hind example

http://www.amazon.com/The-Odyssey-Gareth-Hinds/dp/0763642681

http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Gareth-Hinds/dp/0763630233