The Graphic Novels Guy

Why Won't Johnny Read?  He will, just not what you want him to.

I think every conference and convention I have attended over the past five years has had at least three workshops on enticing the "challenged reader" into some sort of reading program.  The challenges in getting these readers involved-whether they are in the 5th grade, college, or adults, really falls in finding books that pique their interests.   

Do you remember wanting to read anything else but what you were given as required reading?  It reminds me of Christmas when I was in junior high school.   My mom actually asked me what I wanted for Christmas so I wrote down three things: two record albums, AC/DC and The Eagles, and an Op Surf T-shirt.  I got the following: Olivia Newton-John, The Captain and Tenniel, and two blue polyester disco shirts(that were too big, not that I would have worn them).   I know why she did that too.  She started at the letter A in the record shop and the cover of the AC/DC record scared the hell out of her.  She thought: How could my son listen to that CRAP???.  She bought the other records because, according to her tastes, they were better and I NEVER played them.

Years later, I played a couple tracks from Hotel California by The Eagles and Mom thought it was incredible.   I just shook my head....if she would have only listened to the records when I was in junior high.

Now, think of how many times you have picked up a book and within the first few paragraphs discover that it is simply boring.  Now matter how much a friend of yours tried to convince you otherwise, the book is just dull, dull, dull.  If the book isnt engaging then you have no desire to waste anymore of your time with it.

Now, look back at those 5th grade, challenged readers.  The task is greater in finding something of interest for this audience.  Their environment is totally different from when you were that age.  Electronics have defined a new sense of literacy for the newest generations and that can probably include the kids whose first video games included Pong.   They have video games, online chat rooms, MySpace, email, instant messaging and, television.  Story telling needs to be much more effective and interactive to get and maintain their attention.   It's not that they have shorter attention spans, they just require more engaging information.   

If you compare television shows from the 70s to the shows of the past five or ten years, you can see that even that has changed. T.V. shows no longer have long musical intros.  There is usually dialog or action to open the show, credits run underneath the actors to keep you from clicking away.  They have you from the start and keep the action moving to make sure you stay through the commercial break.

So how do graphic novels make the difference?  There are so many genres within the format-you would be surprised how many topics are available.  Classics?  Mark Twain, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe and even Beowulf are done in very exciting styles that engage the reader.  As an adult, you would find great books like Mom's Cancer, Maus, or Persepolis to be compelling.  When it comes to books for the classroom try Jim Ottaviani's Two Fisted Science, he has plenty of great books that stand on their own or can be used as 'bridge titles' to open new doors for that 'challenged reader' who just found the other books too boring to pick up.

On the calendar for the Spring and Summer are some great old classic graphic novels, comics and manga stories from your childhood that have been dusted off and reprinted just in time for their blockbuster movie counterparts.  Speed Racer, Iron Man and Hellboy will all have major full length-live action blockbuster movies.   The original stories are great and you will have a new audience who will actually be compelled to pick up a book that can tell them more about the origins of those characters.

Take advantage of the new mediums and new literacy, they can help you get that challenged reader to pick up a book.  It may not be what you think they should be reading but they will be reading and that is a start isnt it?  So, why won't Johnny read?  You just haven't given him the right book yet.  Let him, or her, pick up a graphic novel and you will see that Johnny will definitely read.

John Shableski works for Diamond Book Distributors as a sales manager with a focus on the independent bookstore market, public and school libraries. He's been a panelist at BEA, a moderator for graphic novel panels at the New York Comic Con, a guest speaker at library events, regional book shows and a symposium coordinator. He's currently collaborating on several graphic novel symposiums across the country: as Vegas, Seattle, and New York. For general questions you can send an email to shjohn@diamondbookdistributors.com

Comments

[Colleen]

This is an excellent column John and I hope that a lot of parents, who are unreasonably negative about comics and gns will read it. Nick Abadzis' Laika is one of the best books - of any format or genre - that I read this year. And kids could do a lot worse than reading about Soviet space history.

For me it wasn't ACDC but U2, GNR and Rush. We did get lucky with Springsteen though - that "Born in the USA" cover fooled a lot of parents!

[Karen]

AC/DC *and* the Eagles?? Talk about strange bedfellows!

Luckily, I was able to buy my own vinyl as a teenager: Bowie, the Allman Brothers, and Led Zeppelin. Hmmm...I guess those are pretty strange bedfellows, too.

[Kat Kan]

Ooh, Steppenwolf, Born to be Wild! And in high school, my kid sister was into Black Sabbath. Oh yeah.

Now, as to what John has said here, I agree! I've worked as a librarian in youth services my whole public library career (about 20 years) and am now in a pre-K - gr. 8 private school library. When I went to visit schools and do what we librarians call booktalks, I took a lot of FUN nonfiction - trivia books, urban legends, stupid criminal stories, and the like. And beginning in the early 1990s, I started taking graphic novels. In Hawaii, Usagi Yojimbo was a huge hit with the 8th grade boys in places like Waipahu and Waianae (places on Oahu where mostly local people live and where literacy rates are considered low). I've seen graphic novels grab the attention of kids who consider themselves to be nonreaders. I've seen their faces light up when they realize that the library really does carry stuff like comic books. At the 2006 New York Comic Con, I believe I used the word "vindication" in saying that libraries and schools were finding that comics have a vital role to play in encouraging not only reading, but creative writing and active participation in class discussions. Teachers could do a lot worse than to take Laika and First in Space (by James Vining, from Oni Press, about NASA's project to send Ham the chimp into space) and use them in a class on the space race, history, discussions of the ethics of animal experimentation, etc.

Oh, I could go on and on. Go, John!

[Ally Lyga]

John, a cogent piece that speaks the truth in a convincing way. Now, "if daylight breaks on yonder others' forehead" we've got a real, major coup!

[Nola]

"So, why won't Johnny read? You just haven't given him the right book yet." Excellent & true & needs to be pasted on the foreheads of all educators & librarians. (Only then we wouldn't be able to read it ourselves, would we?)
As an aside, while I love the fact that graphic novels are reaching readers who might otherwise be considered non-readers, I worry about the lists of "approved" graphic novels springng up, which sometimes seem to bear no relation to what is actually appealing/being read.