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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Somehow I raised a child who doesn’t like to read.
I know, I know, GASP!! (A writer who raises a kid who hates to read, where the heck did I go wrong?)
Oh, he will when he has to, like for a book report or after constant nagging from his mom to curl up in the chair with one of the hundreds of books I’ve filled his room with. I know he’s not really focusing on the words, but we both pretend. I think we both want him to be a reader.
“I know how to read,” he’d say, stating the obvious. “I just don’t like books.”
Oh, OK. Now I understand.
So when he got into Simpson’s comic books a few years ago, I was high-fivin’ him. Read anything, I said. Heck, read a cereal box all day long. Anything. Am I right? Isn't the key just reading?
(My little brother grew up reading comic books and he’s now trying to be a doctor, so maybe it doesn’t matter what you read as long as you do.)
I just made it a point to keep quiet through the years as other moms talked about the chapter books their kids were reading, or -- another Gasp here -- the two-inch thick young adult novels they had advanced to.
What’s my son reading? they would ask.
“Oh, he loves the new Narnia movie,” I would offer, desperate not to describe the cover of the new Simpson‘s comic with Homer wearing a bra.
Notice I said movie?
But about a month ago my sister, a major book freak, was in town and every day they went to Barnes and Noble. Early on, he came home with a chapter book. Very proud, I might add.
“It’s a graphic novel,” he said.
Graphic what?
“You know a graphic novel.”
Now I don’t pretend to know all the fancy lingo these days, but in my day, what I was looking at had a different name.
Comic book.
But oldest tells me how this book has chapters and it isn’t some ordinary comic book. It has a storyline, tons of characters who are developed throughout this 200-page piece of art.
It, he insisted, is a graphic novel.
I smiled and marveled at how creative the guy was.
But apparently these graphic novels are pretty darn good. He just got back from a week with his dad and had purchased three of these books with his own money, dropping more than $25 (spending cash on something other than a video game? … Yes, I checked, it really is my kid.)
Tonight, he won’t put one down. It’s a Legend of Zelda book and he’s learned to read backwards -- it’s apparently a Japanese thing.
And after laughing again at his insistence it’s not just a regular comic book -- and actually taking a photo of my son intensely reading -- I went in search of a answer.
Here’s what Wikipedia says of my son’s newest love:
“A graphic novel is a type of comic book, usually with a lengthy and complex storyline similar to those of novels.”
Dang. He stumped me again. (I love the idea of a "complex storyline." You can't get that in a regular comic book!!!)
He’s made me a believer. Next year when he gets to Junior High and his teacher tells us he’ll have to read a classic, I can just hear me now:
“Do you have anything in a graphic novel?”
I'm with you-- I'd just be excited he's reading! Sounds like you're doing well to encourage him without directing it all. My 2nd grader is into graphic novels, too. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is the current favorite. Not my choice of a book, but it's not too bad, I guess. There are quite a list of graphic novels on the library sites, although I'm not seeing Legend of Zelda listed. There's even a list of books to read when you hate reading on the MCPL website. Who knew?I hate to read too... It's no fun for me and it takes patience and time and ... I've just never been a big fan. He can survive successfully without enjoying it. I did.DD is a big reader ... She's a nine-year-old reading on a 10th-grade level ... and graphic novels are her favorite. Some have pretty adult content, so we have to be careful which series she reads. But there have been some major literary contributions in the form of graphic novels in the past few years.Is "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick considered a graphic novel? That's a fun book. Seriously, my idea of a graphic novel is a Harlequin. Didya know they have a NASCAR Harlequin series?Our son wasn't into reading much until the Goosebumps Series started (yah, that old). When he read one book in less than an hour, we went to the library for BIGGER books. He's an "author" reader. Reads specific authors now, which makes us very pleased. The librarians were the ones to help him find authors of "his" choice. My brother doesn't like to read, either, but reads newspapers. (he doesn't call that "reading") My dad would only read newspapers and contemp news magazines. NO BOOKS! Said they made him sleepy, took too much time.
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