Graphic Novels

Growing up, I was never a big comic book or graphic novel reader. In fact, I had never really read a comic or graphic novel until I got to college. The first one I read was Persepolis for my IAH class. After reading it I thought to myself: “why have I never read a book like this before?” I really enjoyed it. I like the fact that a lot of the set up information in the story, such as the setting/scene, was done so through illustrations as opposed to being written out. Although by having pictures less was left up to the imagination, I like the fact that I saw what the author wanted me to see.

In class, we read Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman. In reference to that, we talked about some of the benefits of reading graphic novels. One such benefit is that graphic novels may help get kids who are not interested in reading regular books interested in reading (Ide_GraphicNovel_with_Narration PowerPoint, 35). If a kid is not interested in reading regular novels, they may enjoy reading graphic novels more since there are pictures and the book is not completely words. Also, graphic novels may help students to increase their appreciation of art, as well as their “ability to critique art and writing”(Ide_GraphicNovel_with_ Narration PowerPoint, 35). By reading different types of literature such as graphic novels, students can develop the ability to understand and critique different literay works.