"Graphic Novels Are Real Books": Comparing Graphic Novels to Traditional Text Novels

Headnote

The author describes a small action research study comparing the achievement of students who read a novel in traditional format to the achievement of those who read the same work in graphic novel format. The results indicated little difference in achievement but inspired interesting reflections about motivation and the appropriateness of different formats for different readers.

Many parents and teachers complain about how difficult it is to get children to read. When I taught reading at the elementary and high school levels, my classroom libraries had plenty of graphic novels, comic books, and laminated funny pages for students to read in all genres. During Drop Everything and Read time, several students would ask if reading a comic book still "counted," and my reaction was, "Of course, it counts; you're still reading, right?" Nevertheless, I have not found any studies that have compared the comprehension levels required for a graphic novel to those required for a traditional text. With Common Core State Standards (CCSS), teacher evaluations, and research-based instruction at the forefront of instruction, how does the graphic novel compare to a traditional text when discussing required comprehension and reading ability? First and foremost, students need to read to improve their reading. The dilemma of a struggling reader is finding books he or she enjoys reading, and, similarly, the dilemma of a teacher of a struggling reader is to get the young person to read so he or she improves. As a reading teacher, I know that graphic novels help motivate struggling readers to read.

Graphic Novels in the Classroom

Contemporary graphic novels are designed for a new generation of young, emerging readers who are growing up in a very automated and visual environment (Rapp, 2011). Graphic novels are more than just stories with pictures; they have engaging illustrations that help readers infer the emotions and motivations of characters as well as more fully understand the twists and turns within the plot. Comics and graphic novels help introduce the reader to important features of fiction, such as narrative structure, tone, and character development (Schwarz, 2002). Nonfiction graphic novels and comics provide the reader with robust vocabulary, and the graphics help provide context clues to help readers with the more difficult words (Clark, 2013).

Although many...