Take It From Granny Rachel: GO FOR COMICS!
By Anne Browning, Metro South Representative
I grew listening to my late great grandmother, Rachel Carman
discuss her huge obsession in life. Rachel Carman was a simple
Kentucky farmwoman, who had no formal education. She picked tobacco
to provide for her family, but her one and only obsession in
life, surprisingly, was reading comic books!
She was a lifelong reader of comics for over forty and taught
my mother to read by purchasing and keeping a large collection
of comic books. Superman was her favorite, and near the end of
her life, she had a magazine subscription to her favorite comics!
Rachel Carman was a very articulate speaker and strong reader,
but maintained that her reading ability derived from reading
comics. Granny Rachel once commented, “If only libraries
bought comics…” That comment stayed in the back
of my mind for years and ironically, most comic book readers
I knew growing up and into adulthood were very articulate and
very strong readers!
Passing the torch of literacy, thirty years later, I am a school
librarian that selects, promotes, and circulates comics in my
middle grades library media center because of what I learned
about my great grandmother. There are many reasons for middle
grades librarians to maintain and circulate a comic book collection.
Here are a few of my “top” reasons for why librarians
should have a comic book collection in a middle grades library
media center:
- Need strong readers? Make poor readers
stronger readers! Slow, emerging, or reluctant readers enjoy
comic books and there are many comics that target at poor readers,
published by both DC and Marvel, through many library vendors,
such as Highsmith! Comics excite nonreaders to want to read!
- Develop students and their language arts skills! There
are studies that show that students who read comics often and
regularly will have increased vocabulary AND will be more likely
to read above grade level! Comics increases fluency in reading!
- Opens up new types of genres to read! Many
comic book readers become avid book readers and comics stimulate
readers to read science fiction and fantasy, as well as mythology
and nonfiction!
- Promotes and maintains visual literacy! Students
who read comics have a highly developed sense of combining
words and pictures, as well in today’s society where
video games and computer games are the competition with books!
Comic books are a form of both visual literacy and written
literacy!
- Appeal to students: beyond measure! The
appeal of comics to students include exciting, high paced adventure,
powerful images, important themes (hunger, overcoming adversity,
social injustice), and exciting adventures/ storylines.
- Getting artistic! Many comic book readers,
upon reading and observing the artistic styles of comics go
on to experiment and learn art, graphic design, and even try
their own hand at writing storylines and comics.
Partnerships is the key! Beginning a comic
book collection in your middle grades library media center is
easy: Cultivate partnerships with local comic book stores and
gain donations, such as Free Comics Day, or advertise to parents
and students to get donations of comics. One thing that has worked
for me over the years is to use book fair money to pay for affordable
comic book subscriptions from Dark Horse, DC, and Marvel, the
three most successful comic book publishers. I also host a “trade
in” where students may donate their gently used comics
in our monthly school library book swap, and be able to receive
one extra book for the swap.
Sell! Sell! Sell! It is all in the marketing! With
the popularity of movies developed from comics (Shall I list
them? Superman, X-Men, Spiderman, Hell Boy, The Incredible Four),
I like to purchase the posters from the movie at my local department
store and display my comic books in a fun and creative display
to stimulate interest in the comic book collection! I even “borrow” my
son’s toy collection to promote the area too (under glass,
of course!)!
Censorship and Money: Getting Over the “Evil
Forces!” There is always a fear of censorship,
but you will find that the majority of parents, especially
fathers, uncles, and grandfathers, will be one of the most
supportive library adult patrons around. Many fathers have
discovered that I have a growing library collection and donate
five, ten, or even twenty dollars to go towards the comic book
collection. Every dime helps!
Start small, plan big, and GO FOR IT! My most
prized moment, as a middle school library media specialist, occurred
when a struggling male student, with special needs, was seated
at the comic book box with a gifted female student, discussing
similarities of Aliens/Predator (Dark Horse Comics) vs. Black
Panther (Marvel)! I knew all of my hard work had paid off by
watching the intense, strong discussion these two young people
had, from such diverse reading abilities!
Remember! Comics are a fun and enriching creative
media programming idea that will get teens reading, having fun,
and most of all, use the library! Just ask Granny Rachel!