At the beginning of the school year, I send home a classroom library permission slip to open dialogue between school and home before putting books in students’ hands. I ask guardians to list anything they would like me to keep in mind when matching their sixth grader with books.
Comments have included, “He loves to read about World War II,” and “Nothing political.” I am accustomed to these sorts of requests, which help me match students with books they love and of which their guardians will approve. Yet, for the first time, I received a request to move a reader away from something they love.
“He loves graphic novels, but we would like for him to get used to other formats. I’m sure that’s on your to-do list.”
Why would a parent assume a teacher wants to stop a student from reading the books he loves?
Why shouldn’t a reader be allowed to revel in graphic novels for as long as he chooses? What makes books written in regular prose more valuable? The truth is, I believe students should be able to read graphic novels as often as they want because they are no less valuable than regular prose texts. This is how I know.
Of the 19 randomly selected conferences I have had with students so far this school year, eight were with readers of regular prose texts, and 11 were with readers of graphic novels. I noticed that the students who are reading graphic novels have finished reading multiple books already this school year. They are more likely to take stacks of books home and are regular library users. Most of the readers of regular prose are still reading the first book they picked out this school year, or have abandoned at least one book in favor of starting another. Perhaps the most startling discovery is that the readers of graphic novels have already developed a regular habit of completing reader’s notebook entries on each of the books they read.
| Total number of conferences | Average number of books read so far | Percent of readers who had completed notebook entries about text | |
| Regular Prose | 8 | 1 | 25% |
| Graphic Novels | 11 | 3 | 90% |
This informal data speaks to the benefits of the momentum that can be built by regularly reading graphic novels. Because of the faster pace of reading graphic texts, students avoid the feeling of getting stuck in a slow part of the plot. So, in my experience, they are more likely to pick the book up again after pausing. Graphic novel readers are able to move through whole stories in less time, which means they are more likely to have the opportunity to transfer moves we are making in whole-class studies of short stories to a complete graphic novel before another reader is able to apply the same moves across an entire book written in regular prose.
When it comes to trial and error as a reader, a regular habit of reading is key. One graphic novel reader, Serenity, discovered that when she waited until the end of reading Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge to begin her notebook entry, it was challenging to remember the details. She decided to pause a few times while reading her next book, Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani, to see if that helped. Had she been reading a regular prose book, this realization may have taken weeks. Because she has a regular habit of reading graphic novels, she made this discovery and adjusted her practice in a matter of days.
While graphic novels tend to result in the benefit of an increased volume of reading, there is no trade-off when it comes to the depth of thinking they inspire. Conferring with students who are reading graphic novels sounds no different from conferring with students who are reading regular prose. In fact, if anything, I have fewer conferences with graphic novel readers that center on increasing engagement and building reading habits, and more conferences focused on literary analysis.
A recent conference with Bria led to identifying that she was noticing, keeping track of, and prioritizing the multiple story lines in Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Rey Terciero, which is a graphic adaptation of the classic novel Little Women. She had decided to complete her reader’s notebook entry by naming all four sisters as the protagonists and explained how this led to a decision about their collective wants and needs. After naming both their dad coming home and Beth getting healthy, she chose their father’s return as the most dominant want or need. However, while talking through her notebook entry, Bria came to the conclusion that the sisters ultimately wanted the family to be together. After I pointed out that she had focused on multiple story lines, Bria immediately connected this strategy to her current book, Pashmina, and decided to pay attention to and keep track of similar thinking across this story.
During her conference, Dahlia explained how she determined that the prince (and not the dressmaker) was the protagonist of The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang because as a reader she had been able to get into his heart and mind. She proceeded to recount the story in specific detail, noting that she was “flipping the pages of the book in her mind” to help her remember. Not only did she prove to have an incredibly detailed memory of the story, but I suspect the technique of flipping pages in her mind was aided by the visual nature of the text, which would likely not have been possible with regular prose. Having just started a new book, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, with multiple important characters, Dahlia explained that she felt like Jo might be the protagonist for the same reason she knew the prince was the main character, but it was too soon for her to be sure.
I conferred with Michael right after he had finished The Witch Boy series by Molly Ostertag. Using his notebook entry, he chose to talk about the first book in the series for our conference. While he spoke, I noticed him doing something as a reader that I have never noticed in another reader. Not only did he describe the wants/needs and barriers of the protagonist, but he also named the goals and barriers of the villain. When I pointed this out and suggested Michael try to keep track of both the protagonist’s story line and the antagonist’s story line in his next book, Level Up by Gene Luen Yang, Michael was excited to dig into the work.
The work these graphic novel enthusiasts are doing as readers is sophisticated and worthy of study. The strategies and skills they are building will transfer to other text formats. They will get plenty of practice while reading whole-class texts. However, as long as they are still loving what they are reading, I am in no hurry to push them to give up the joy and rigor of graphic novels during independent reading time.
Download These Helpful Files
Click here to download Christy’s classroom library permission slip.
Click here to download Christy’s guidelines for initial reader’s notebook entries.
