There are many significant benefits to be found in teaching graphic novels within the classroom. It was found that "according to a 1993 study in The Journal of Child Language, the average comic book introduces students to nearly twice as many new words as the average children’s book and more than five times as many as the average child-adult conversation," which showcases this format as a valuable tool for broadening a student's vocabulary (Gray). Taking into consideration that this study was performed on comic books, consider how these values may increase when applied to today's graphic novels.
Promotion of Visual Literacy Graphic novels require the reader to not only read the text, but read the images as well. This is a valuable tool for readers, as it extends their analytic abilities to encompass new forms. Readers may gain a better understanding of empathizing with characters by studying their facial expressions and gaining the intimate view into their lives. This format also ties in closely to other modern mediums. Resources comment that "Graphic novels combine visual and verbal literacies, just like films and television do, but they do so in unique and interesting ways. In fact, reading graphic novels may require more complex cognitive skills than the reading of text alone," which improves the ability of the reader to analyze the text in front of them (Gray).
Promotes Love of Reading Many students who dislike traditional texts find that graphic novels are easier to consume. As they are not heavy with text, it is more enjoyable to work through these works. Images allow for the story to be told in a way that doesn't rely on long segments of text to describe a setting or character. Going with the phrase "an image is worth a thousand words," graphic novels allow for more information to be conveyed in a shorter and more accessible space. When a text contains a certain lesson to share or offers something else that is valuable to its readers, presenting the information in an accessible format can significantly help this process along. Some students may get to the point of the work or find it easier to understand with that visual component to help them along, which ties this benefit closely to the aforementioned idea of visual literacy.
Exposure to Multiculturalism Graphic novels offer new voices for minorities, allowing for their stories to be heard. This format features more minority-oriented stories than traditional textbooks and is thus viewed as especially relatable by minority readers. Beyond giving insight into what it means to live as a minority, graphic novels may also offer visual representations that "give insight into more recent conflicts and power struggles, and thereby give validation to minority students and their experience" in such a way that offers valuable alternate perspectives (Gray). These works, when taught in the classroom, may promote discussions on social justice and understanding people from other walks of life.
Graphic Novels and Relatability
Literature, alongside other textual mediums, allows readers to essentially have endless experiences within their grasp. With that said, it is interesting to consider how science fiction and fantasy stories that drastically depart from real life can still be relatable. In the criteria of what places a book within the young adult literature category, relatability is prominent. Graphic novels, as a format of storytelling, lend themselves particularly well to the relatable quality of text through the benefits and traits mentioned above. They promote visual literacy, which shows that the images play a key role in what attracts the reader. They promote a love of reading through the arrangement and balance of words and text, possibly because they are able to more accurately reflect real life. Additionally, they expose the reader to other cultures, giving voices to minorities and validating people who have other lifestyles. These three qualities frame the research and analysis of this project, as they help to show the unique ways in which graphic novels work especially well within the YAL realm.
The visual basis of the graphic novel is rooting in the language of comics. Comics language essentially guides the reader through a work, directing their eye and offering special methods of conveying information that do not follow the conventions of traditional literature. Imagery is broken up into panels, which frame and suggest continuity between images. The gaps between the panels are known as closure, and require the reader to mentally connect the gap between illustrated moments. These closure gaps can last for a second, in a particularly important sequence, or can mark the passage of hours. This is critical in establishing a sense of time within the work and keeping the piece moving.
The visual component that is arguably the most important here is the iconography itself, using comical depictions to show characters and settings. In his informative guide to the world of comics, Scott McCloud explains that comics iconography is drawn in such a way that through the absence of personal details, drawings can be said to represent a greater number of people. This abstraction can be seen when people are able to visualize themselves by drawing something along the lines of a stick figure. It does not resemble them personally, but it has enough qualities that allow them to relate to it and understand its experiences. McCloud explains that when a cartoon image is abstracted, “we’re not so much eliminating details as we are focusing on specific details. By stripping down an image to its essential 'meaning,' an artist can amplify that meaning in a way that realistic art can’t” to create something universal among readers (30). All of this can be replicated in terms of setting, where an artist can draw the "stereotypical" house or car interior as a background in such a way that the reader could think of it as their own car or home. These abstractions discussed by McCloud do more than just allow the reader to see themselves as or relate with a character. Through the depictions of abstracted settings and plot events that may be shared by many readers, the creators of graphic novels can create works that encapsulate the reader’s personal experiences in a way with which the reader can identify.
Image from McCloud's Understanding Comics. Source: https://laurenericksondotcom.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/scott-mccloud-understanding-comics/
Readability, while it may not initially appear to connect with relatability, still has a role. It is one step to generate the ideas to be shared, another to create a text that provides it with a physical form, and a third to have readers interact with the work. Graphic novels are frequently hailed as a stepping stone that can lead to more challenging texts without words, but this greater readability has other outcomes as well. This readability is closely tied to visual literacy, as images may often prove to be easier to read than their text equivalent. They require a different set of analytic skills, so it is really up to the preferences of the individual as to whether they would rather have the story told through images or through text. By offering both, however, graphic novels have a chance of appealing to both preferences by forming a middle ground that is capable of recreating familiar locations and characters. Readers can make it through a work in less time while also responding more positively to what is has to offer, which may foster a greater appreciation of literature later on in life. Developing this literary interest may even encourage readers to pursue text-heavy works. There are a number of graphic novel retellings of classic literature such as Homer's Odyssey, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and even the works of Shakespeare. Although readers of the classics may feel that these graphic retellings omit information and threaten the integrity of the original work, the relationship between image and texts can create an easier method of conveying the story. If a reader, for example, enjoys the graphic version of the Odyssey and is interested in learning more about the text, they might feel encouraged to look into reading it in traditional prose. In short, forming connections with texts regardless of format can support future reading.
Another key quality that makes these graphic texts relatable is that they are far more inclusive than traditional formats. Minority individuals who produce graphic novels have a lot to achieve through the format. These texts do not only serve to acknowledge and validate minorities and their experiences, but put these cultural contexts into the broader span of literature for all populations to view. This means that anyone who visits a bookstore or library, regardless of their background, has a chance of reading and learning about someone who has not shared their path in life. This brings up the idea of narrative empathy, where the reader can see into the lives of others and develop an understanding of their experiences. On the topic of narrative empathy, Leah Anderst writes that "the empathy of a reader for a fictional character, the reader’s feeling with a character, imaginatively taking her perspective…functions as a training ground of sorts for increased empathy and altruistic behaviors in the real world" which can ultimately lead to a more inclusive and considerate society (272). Many examples of young adult literature feature diverse characters in unique settings that may show them as both similar and different from the reader. By creating a balance of the two factors, we can find ourselves relating to people over shared qualities that may not be initially visible. Empathy is a valuable quality for young adults to develop as they mature and prepare to enter their adult lives. By understanding that other people come from different background and don't share their experiences, acceptance and understanding can replace uncertainty and negative stigma.
The validation that minority readers may find in reading texts that support their lifestyles is also an important benefit that graphic novels support. In the case of Fun Home, particularly, LGBT youth may relate to the sexual discovery of the story's author and note parallels between the novel and events in their own life. Seeing these experiences replicated through the universal comics language and provided in an accessible form can provide valuable support for people who may have uncertainty about themselves or challenges with their self-image. Text and image balances can take the many positive features of young adult works and enhance them through this new format to have a more powerful and lasting effect on the reader by directly appealing to more than just the traditional sense of literacy.
Below: Cover art for Ms. Marvel: No Normal, which features an American-Pakistani girl as the titular superhero. Source: https://www.amazon.com/Ms-Marvel-Normal-Graphic-Novels/dp/078519021X
By working in the three areas discussed above, graphic novels lend themselves more effectively to relatability than traditional young adult texts. This helps to explain the format's recent boom in popularity and suggest how it may progress in the future. Within school curriculums that teach graphic novels, elements of instruction feature students studying the format and then putting it into their own practice by producing their own graphic novels. A number of academic articles detail these happenings, but as they focus more heavily on the student-run creation of graphic texts they were largely left out of the discussion. However, this is an interesting method of instruction, especially in terms of teaching young adults to produce literature about their own lives and experiences.
As a fairly new outlet for stories discussing themes of identity and the young adult experience (family, relationships, school, etc.), there is a lot of potential for what the format can offer to young adult topics. For any young adults interested in directly experiencing the benefits of graphic novels, there is a wide selection of titles to choose from.