graphic novels do count as books and being mad at your kids for liking them more than prose books is how your kids learn to hate reading

March 30, 2026 - 03:35 UTC

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9yo won't read anything, but he will read Scott Pilgrim.
Swearing βœ…
Sex βœ…
Dyslexic 9 year old reading βœ…
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my parents would police tv and movies that I watched as a kid, but I was allowed to read any book that I chose from the library, no questions asked
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Absolutely they do. Just because the format is different doesn’t mean it doesn’t count. Even reading a cereal box helps kids learn to read better!
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Librarian here...
We start our kids' literacy journey with colorful picture books, image-laden early readers, then expect them to give all that up for mental-only imaginings for context. Why?
Our kids are wired differently than we were. Videos, memes, RPGs - theirs is an image heavy world.
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It's kinda like how I've noticed that to a lot of Boomer men, it's not okay to have hobbies that don't involve drinking, sports, gambling, or some combination of the three.

There's this pervasive idea of "Adult" that insists upon being miserable, drunk, and/or broke.
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I’ve talked about this several times here before, so
bsky.app/profile/maxieverse.bsky.social/post/3l5rnn4l7fg2v
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I learned to read from the comics in the newspaper, according to my mom.
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Ooooo THIS
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"Your kid probably isn't going to write the next Great American Novel anyway Dianne, so you should make peace with that."
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My grandson loves graphic novels, and it delights me tremendously that he connects with them.
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This is exactly the reason I don’t read that much anymore. I fell in love with comics and manga when I was young, but my parents kept trying to force me to read β€œreal” books, even going as far as to saying books with pictures weren’t real books. I still love comics and manga, though.
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And, AND! there are great graphic novel adaptations of classic novels. One of my kids is dyslexic, so graphic novels are a great way for him to access cultural touchstones so he can recognize literary references, which makes other reading easier.
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why is it dyslexic?🀣
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And for language learning!
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I love the dyslexic font.
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The feeling of conspiracy when you tell a kid that quite a few just sit here at the library if they want to read something that they are not allowed to take home.
Sorry, not sorry, parents.
My job was literacy, not pearl clutching. And I know for a fact I have "raised" a few extra readers.
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"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.
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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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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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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 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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As a 26-year veteran English teacher, bolo is 100000000% CORRECT!!!!
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Um..... I can confirm this is true.
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As a big time reader it always puzzles me why anyone would want to limit their reading options
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It's the Everything Must Be Maximally Edifying brigade at work again.

If pleasure reading is a bit simpler than what the kid is reading for class, why should anyone care?

I still remember getting griped at the week I tested college-ready in ITBS reading comp for reading Nate The Great at 13.
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Because there's a stigma against comics as "immature, childish slop" much in the same way animation isn't respected as a film medium. A lot of it has to do with the 1950s-80s and how the mediums were forced to conform to overly strict censorship

The Dark Age of animation very much applied to comics
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I don’t either tbh. Like, why are novels considered a β€œsuperior” medium? Just bc comics and manga have pictures? Comics take just as much effort to create as novels do, and can sometimes be better written than some novels.
Like it’s just a different form of storytelling, why’s one lesser than1/
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I grew up in an era before graphic novels existed but learned to read by reading comics. As a result, when I started school I was one of the most advanced and prolific readers and now love books of all kinds.
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your kids are gay. ,make them read crime and punishment, , dostoevskey,,.. nabokov,, talke of two cities, llita, lolita. loleeta, lolita, (lolita, the bell jar, book, real books, The goon squad, stop lettingy ou r kids be stupid and unread. Do. Better.
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I see it as the same thing as the anti-genre stuff I dealt with in high school, but aimed at what should be a natural stepping stone between short picture books and wall of text prose.

I went from Seuss to Sarah Plain And Tall in one leap 1st grade, and if I *hadn't* been a strong reader already?
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The kids at our library check out basically nothing but graphic novels but the teens check out absolutely nothing at all and are simply on their phones 24/7 so there is a lower place
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Not even kidding this is exactly what happened with me. I usually can't read books very well because I just read the words without actually processing them, but graphics/audio help me a lot better. My dad always used to tease me because I liked reading 'bigger comic books' and just kinda stopped :/
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Graphic novels are awesome because its a lot easier for me to read and its why i love reading them smm
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It's like they respect visual art.
They respect prose.
But they don't respect visual art with prose?
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All Comic Books are Silver-Age DC
All Animation is Hannah Barbera

That's been the mindset since roughly the 1950s, and it's poisoned the conversation. it doesn't matter that we've gotten shows like Primal or comics like MAUS, they're deemed "lesser" by virtue of their medium alone.
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I taught myself to read through Garfield and Calvin & Hobbs before I was ever in kindergarten.
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While it's amazing that writers can use words to build a picture, I'm aphantasic, and it is mostly wasted on me. I can admire the quality of the prose and glean a description of a place or character, but I can't picture it. Ever. Graphic novels are great for me.
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That makes sense! I'm the opposite, I'm a very vivid visualizer and pictures next to words are distracting. I do read comics sometimes but its 3x harder and slower for me!
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This is still not the opinion in the general public??? Graphic novels, and even comic books, are great for reluctant and struggling readers. Not to mention, comics often have pretty complex vocabulary thrown in. Really, they're just books with a lot of art. That's not a bad thing at all!
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One of the few things my mom did right... Someone asked her why she let me read comics, and she responded with "what does your kid read?" The answer, of course, was "my kid doesn't read recreationally"

THEN she pointed out I was reading at a college level in 7th grade.
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... wait... people get angry over this? That is so sad :/
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When parents around me used to bitch about their kids reading comic books I'd say, "Well at least they're reading". Surprisingly that shut them up.
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I'm grateful I had a mother that encouraged us to read whatever we wanted... there was a seemingly endless supply of Archie comics in the house growing up because as long as we were reading something, she didn't care what it was. She gave that spiel to a lot of parents.
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I might never have read Robert Louis Stephenson if my father hadn’t brought home the Classics Illustrated version of Kidnapped. Furthermore, Donald Duck Adventures got me interested in archeology and the Mayan civilization.
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I credit my large vocabulary to reading comic books growing up. All reading should be encouraged. It’s NEVER wasted time.
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Rt. Same.
Reading one issue of the X-Men got me to read Dante’s inferno.
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Can confirm
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One of my ELA teaching colleagues took my Literature Circles curriculum design & did it with all graphic novels & it was AMAZING!
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I know they're not "real graphic novels" but as a kid who read early & constantly, some of my first in-depth contacts with works like Shakespeare & Melville were Classics Illustrated.

I can still see the panels for Midsummer Night's Dream in my head. Loved it then & love it now.
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Genuine question: how do experts define 'count as books' in this context? That is, are there forms of literature that DON'T count as books?
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I’ve heard arguments that audiobooks don’t count as books because the act of extracting meaning from words is different.
And then video adaptations are not commonly considered literature, no matter how faithful the adaptation.

I’m no expert, just overhearing expert squabbling.
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I got in trouble with my sixth grade teacher because I did a book report on a Calvin & Hobbes book, or rather, not a β€œreal book”. That earned my parents an interview.
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please tell me that interview is how that teacher learned that Calvin as a character gets surprisingly philosophical.
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What? Who believes that? Graphic Novels are a narrative medium of sequential art and text.
How does that interfere with reading?
*screams in comic writer*
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I can see how memories of both infant "picture books" and teen "comics" (despite the insane adult market for the latter) could shape the opinion they aren't "as good" as books that are primarily text.

They are both valid forms of literature though, and largely interchangable.
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reading in any form should be encouraged
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My one nephew taught himself to read before starting kindergarten because of Dog Man and Cat Kid books.
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My kids weren’t interested in trying to read on their own until my husband bought them the Dog Man books - now they’ve read all of them and started Bunny vs Monkey!
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Captain Underpants for my kid πŸ˜†, then he moved on to the Treehouse books all before starting school
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And we should teach both! I came to read long form graphics (as opposed to single or 4 panel) post college, and I find them much harder than text to parse and process.
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Hot take... You don't have to love reading to read. You just have to be taught phonics.
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You don't have to love reading to gain the basic skill, but it's something where practice counts, and that can also open up huge areas of knowledge and experience for them. People do more of what they enjoy, so making reading enjoyable for children is extremely worth it.
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Remember these? I went on to read all of these in my adolescence. Don’t discourage any reading.
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Tried to read this in the original Greek. Tough go, did better with the Aeneid in Latin.
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When I helped update and improve the library at my kids school we asked kids what books they actually were reading and wanted more of. We got all of them. Which is why they have a complete set of Naruto, Beast Quest and Avatar the Last Airbender.
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This! Had this conversation with parents at parents evening and the kid came in a few days later with a huge grin on his face and a massive graphic novel from the local library!
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If it were not for Spider-Man and Final Fantasy games I would be completely illiterate. Old school RPG's and comic books are the absolute best ways to get kids reading.
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Graphic Novels are like kids books but with a LOT more on the page! I'd be thrilled if I had a kid that got into them at such an age!
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Also, there are some really fucking good graphic novels out there for when they’re ready for more β€œgrown-up” literature. I still can’t get Emily Carroll’s β€œA Guest In The House” out of my head since I first shotgunned it in one night a year ago.
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Graphic novels are literally my go to for getting over reading burnout. Fuck anyone who looks down on them.
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in elem. school everyone wanted to check out the DWK books. a set of 5 in a school of ~700 kids, they became so popular that the library said you can only check out 1 at a time. BUT the wait time got so long kids would check out somth else. so it was a net benefit despite all the adults complaining
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You should also just generally worry less about what "counts" and focus more on enjoyment.
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Graphic novels make me a faster reader of traditional novels somehow
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I agree. Its doesnt matter what the Kid read. If its read something its good. And graphic novels, comics, mangas etc. can teach things too!
I never understand why Adults ruin the fun for kids just because its not the way they want.
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Reading is reading regardless of platform, graphic novels,comic book or print
I say LET THEM READ
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My kids loved DogMan and Captain Underpants - reading is reading.
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Those standardized tests won’t be formatted in graphic novel prompts. It’s about balance and building reading stamina. You also have to communicate these concepts to you kid clearly.
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Not everything is about standardised tests.
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I submit for your consideration
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That was on the 5th Grade Summer Reading list a million years ago and then we were treated to the movie during class. This is why nothing fazes GenX.
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So, so good. My dyslexic kid read it in 7th grade and then watched the movie. It's still a favorite of his!!
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Comics are also good for new readers because almost every line is dialogue, which can be grammatically more challenging than prose. Learning how to interpret visual art is also a useful skill.
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