I know what you’re thinking? How could you let your kids read graphic novels? Hold that thought and hear me out.
Building passion at a young age makes for life-long habits and most parents would agree that the love for reading is typically a good habit to have your kids following. However, if you were to put your kids in a library to explore, you’ll find that most turn to comic-style chapter books, books full of illustrations, or graphic novels. Why?
Because they are attractive! Kids like reading books that look fun. Now, I’m not saying that if you’re just writing a bunch of black and white text then you’re taking the fun out of everything. But, what I am saying is that the average child is going to feel more engaged with the exact same content if it’s presented in a format that looks appealing to the young audience.
That’s exactly why graphic novels are a popular genre for youth and I totally support my child reading these types of books. Why? Why not just force them to only read chapter books?
I want to nourish the love for reading and if I restrict them from a genre that they enjoy, they would begin to despise reading. I believe any form of reading is better than no reading at all. Even for movies, I put on English captions so that they can read the words on the screen too.
If you find that your child is only reading graphic novels, and you want to slowly encourage them to pick up proper chapter books, find some that are similar to the graphic novels they enjoy.
Getting children to love reading isn’t hard if you’re willing to work with them and find books on topics that they enjoy. I’m still learning when it comes to parenting, but working with young children for many years, I’ve realized that a simple conversation to get to know them can help you creatively find ways to connect with them and make it easier to teach them things.