"Yes but"...
I think it's valid for parents to be concerned about a child's rejection of prose books. Attention spans are now critically hampered by device/app usage. It matters *why* the kid prefers graphic novels. Appreciation of art is great. Lack of patience for text is bad.

March 30, 2026 - 07:29 UTC

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I had a lack of patience for prose books long before even home computers were the norm. If it hadn't been for comics I wouldn't have read *at all*. The same can probably be said for kids with their (non-video) apps now
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In the sitcom Cheers, I vaguely remember a gag about how Sam & Co pretty much only read newspaper cartoons and sports pages. Frasier insists upon giving a reading of Dickens, shocked that nobody reads or has read it. It doesn't go well.

That's a nearly 40 y/o observation on nearly 40 y/o's then
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They aren't all comic book issue length, and pleasure reading is not all the text most kids read.

My pleasure reading in college including a 'when the next 100+ page volume comes out, I'm reading it in 2 hours' manga series component wasn't exactly a sign of reduced attention span, either.
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I get it. Graphic novels are awesome. I read them too. I'm just saying it's not unreasonable for parents to be concerned and want to understand their kid's reading preferences better.
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Young children may find graphic novels and comics easier to understand. Combined with watching Wishbone, reading comics like Archie and Ninja Turtles had me reading Don Quixote in 4th grade; of course by middle school, they turned reading into something to do as schoolwork and it wasn't fun anymore.
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Let them read what they want, when and how they want it. That’s the best and only way to KEEP them reading.
Trying to force them to read other books, or stigmatizing their choices with concern, however well intentioned, is counterproductive at best, actively damaging at worst.
All reading is good
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Signed, a teacher with almost 20 years of experience in teaching literacy.
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