Published on Graphic Novel Reporter (http://graphicnovelreporter.com)
Why Comics Make Reading Fun
“Wak!” “Crunch!” and “Glom!” taught Vicky Smith how to read. “For end-of-the-day snuggling with my mother,” she relates, “Uncle Scrooge comics were our stories of choice. When I was about four, she started me out reading the sound effects to give me practice in phonetics as well as an opportunity to participate. One magical night, I apparently turned to her and said, ‘Now, I will read Huey, Louie, and Dewey, and you read Uncle Scrooge and Donald.’ And from that moment on, I was a reader, and she proselytized the Gospel of Uncle Scrooge to all of her friends!” As for Vicky, it was a fine literary beginning for the future Children’s Editor of Kirkus Reviews.
Comics Teaching Words Other adult word professionals boast similar “origin stories” for reading. “You’d be surprised,” Diamond Comics’ John Shableski told GNR last August in his Op Ed on Kids, Graphic Novels and Publishing, “at how many mainstream authors fell in love with reading books because of comics. I see them at comics conferences, where they recall...their favorite comic characters with warmth, passion, and enthusiasm.” Cartoonist Phil Yeh, dyslexic himself, says, "Ray Bradbury and many others have told me that they themselves fell in love with comics, especially comic strips, when they were young and then found themselves checking out other books in the library, becoming life-long readers." Some of these young comics readers became teachers. James “Bucky” Carter, assistant professor of English education at the University of Texas and a comics advocate, describes his mom voice-acting Defenders comics with him at age four while they both snuggled up in a rocking chair. For Chris Wilson, a comic book provided “the moment I fell in love with the art of reading.” Wilson is editor-in-geek of The Graphic