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My 12 yr ds wants to know if an Archie comic can be substitued for a novel.


Rose in BC
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Well, my sister largely subsisted on reading Archie comics & Mad magazines around that age. When we traveled to Europe a few years later, she knew a lot about what we were seeing, thanks mostly to the Archie comics, lol. We all had a good laugh about that. She's actually a very avid reader & turned out just fine. ;) (A normal grown up w/ a master's degree, good career, etc....)

 

Also, I'm reading Jim Trelease's Read-Aloud Handbook & one thing mentioned in there is that many people who are devoted readers remembered having a period of time in their lives where they spent *a lot* of time reading comics. I don't have the book on my desk right now or else I would try to find the quote & provide more details.

 

So, I'd let him read lots & lots of the comics, but still throw in some novels & other reading. Could you get him things like The Comic History of the World by Larry Gonick, etc.... to add to some of his 'school' reading?

 

I guess I write all this to say 'have hope'. He'll probably pass through the comics stage at some point. I wouldn't quash it but would instead try to work with it.

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I think I might let him sub the comic for a school assignment ONCE. Then encourage for free reading as much as he likes beyond that. As much as we tend to consider comics and graphic novels pointless, they do serve a purpose for highly visual learners. I loved them as a young teen, but then sort of grew out of them for the most part. It wasn't hard for me to see that there is usually more "meat" in good books that didn't have all the pics!

 

BTW - My daughter is a sophomore in college, planning to teach high school level language arts and/or Latin. She is absolutely loving her current class, "Writing Comics."

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Have you seen the Marcia William's books? My ds loves those. There is also a really cool section in the mythology part of the kids library that has comic books of the greek and roman myths and creatures. Those are definitely for older kids and not my ds, but they look cool.

 

I looked on line and noticed our public library has one of her books so I will check it out. Thanks.

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Check out Timberdoodle. They carry a lot of graphic novels. They have science, history, classics all in comic book form. It might be worth trying. Although, I would probably still require some additional reading. I didn't read much at that age either, but I absolutely love to read now.

Blessings,

Pat

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