Michael Cavna writing for “The Washington Post” enthusiastically supports the use of graphic novels in our schools. Countering the argument that graphic novels are not books, he says that decades of research has shown the power of visual learning as an important teaching technique. He uses as an example a young girl who was reading “Stitches: A Memoir” during “reading time” in her classroom. The girl, a relative of the writer, was told that the graphic novel was unacceptable reading in the classroom or, for that matter as a book report.
This is not a new story. Even two decades after Art Spiegelman won the Pultizer Prize for his graphic novel “Maus,” significant numbers of teachers and administrators remain “mired in backward thinking” that graphic novels are not acceptable in the classroom. He strongly suggests that schools better appreciate what graphic novels offer, not only reluctant readers, but all who struggle with learning. The blend of words and pictures of these novels can “fire synapses across the brain and truly offer a bridge to literarcy and a path to learning.”