What Kinds of Kids Read Comics? Article Review Example

Introduction

The article by Kan Kat discusses childrens behavior of reading comics. The author mentions that different kids of all ages have their preferences, which range from graphic novels to superheroes comics. She has worked as a librarian at St. John Catholic School for five years. Kat asserts that in her career of promoting comic books in libraries, she has encountered all kinds of kids such as the eager, those who hate all books, struggling children, and those who require a reading boost. The author mentions that as a young child who used to struggle with English, she was fascinated with comic strips in newspapers. She asserts that her eagerness to read comics gave her the motivation to introduce comic books to her job as a school librarian. Throughout the book, the author highlights that comics promote reading habits among children. In one section of the article, the author talks of how her kids grew up reading comics. She affirms that children read comic books for fun. Kat concludes by stating that all kinds of kids read comics. She advises librarians to find comic books that are alluring to everyone. Additionally, she recommends librarians to look for books other than superheroes comic and select those published by independent, trade, and educational publishers.

All kinds of Kids Read Comics

In the article, the author asserts that in her career as a librarian, she has maintained a lunchtime book club for middle school children and those in grades 3 to 5 (p.4). As she explains, most of the children who attended the book club had never read comic books besides those shown in newspapers (p.4). Additionally, she explains that all the children pick the comic books in the library before anything else (p.4). More so, the author asserts that all kids read comic novels because at one point, St. John suggested that the library should display graphic novels for primary grades on their shelves (p.5). After displaying them, all second grade students started borrowing them.

Kids read comics for a myriad of reasons. First, it improves their memory skills. A struggling reader could use comic books to jumpstart his or her memory. In the article, the author provides an example of how a niece to a local comics shop owner never enjoyed reading books due to her disability (p.3). However, after her uncle brought her a comic book, she liked reading it and even asked for more (p.3). In recent years, the world is becoming more visually and contemporary children do not like to read books that only rely on text. It is believable that any reluctant reader could utilize the comic books to improve her knowledge.

The diversity of genres in comic books fascinates children. The genres might range from superheroes, fantasy, science fiction, action, and adventure. Comic books provide a clear description of how characters are structured. In fact, the character development and sketches in the books can help children to develop advanced writing techniques in the future. When asked to do a creative writing in essays during high school and college, most children will always write a storyline they once read in a comic book. English (p.1) articulates that comic books offer children with benefits such as creativity, imagination, storytelling, sequencing, and creative thinking. Broadly, children read comic books because of fun, but on a large extent, they usually improve their literacy skills.

As the author explains, it is agreeable that all kind of kids like to read comics. The gender, age, and mindset of a child never matters. Comics play a role in making a child engaged in reading. From a personal experience, the illustrations, exaggerated characters, and character development in comic magazines helped me to learn many words in the English vocabulary. Children today are attracted to visual media and all kids read comics because of the images in the books and magazines. Additionally, they have their preference and tend to self-select the books they enjoy to read. The best way to make children enjoy reading is through comics. The pictures in the comics will attract and make them become better readers in the future.

Conclusion

In summary, comic books are good for kids. Apparently, they increase a childs capacity to analyze and comprehend the literature as well as enhance their proficiency in arts. As well, it is evident that both parents and teachers have a challenging task to inspire children to read books. Comic materials are a better alternative to engage the children through the learning process. Notably, it appears that most children hate reading. The children who hate reading usually spend most of their time reading comics from newspapers or books. Mostly, they are unaware of how the activity improves their knowledge and makes them become better readers. All children invest their time reading comic books because they want to understand the storyline. From a personal perspective, comic books are credible reading materials for children across all genders. Overall, educators should give their students books that have more illustrations rather than those, which heavily depend on texts to promote learning.

Works Cited

English, Melanie. Raising Super Readers: The Benefits of Comic Books and Graphic Novels.Scholastic.2014. Accessible at http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogs/scholastic-parents-raise-reader/raising-super-readers-benefits-comic-books-and-graphic-novels

Kat, Kan. What Kinds of Kids Read Comics? 2013.