Alright, I know when most people see "Graphic Novel" they automatically think of comics of superhero's or the funny pages in newspapers and magazines. Many don't feel they have much value in the adult world. Shocker...They do!!
In my family, most of us have not struggled with reading. The ability to sit down and enjoy a good book seemed to just come naturally. That was, until my two youngest siblings entered school. It was painful to watch as they stammered through each word of their reading homework. They didn't understand the descriptions and dialogue just swam together. Who was talking? Who are they talking to? They just could not answer. Worst of all (at least to me) was that they couldn't use their imagination and envision what they were reading because they didn't understand.
Because of the difficulty of reading, my siblings began to hate reading of any kind. Enter Comics, or graphic novels. I love reading Manga (Oriental Comic books) I would shoot through ten or so in an hour. One day I was flipping through one of my favorites in middle school and my little sister came and sat beside me. She was enthralled by the pictures. As we were sitting there I read to her a bit and even had her read a few words. THIS she understood. She could follow the dialogue and the speech bubbles pointed directly to whomever was speaking. It wasn't long before I found her reading similar graphic novels on her own. Despite still struggling to read, my little sister has even begun to enjoy reading regular novels.
The beauty of the Graphic Novel's help doesn't just end there. My own personal experience with them recently has been wonderful! When I returned home from a year and a half mission for the LDS church, getting back into reading was a little bit hard for me. It hadn't been that long ago that I could sit and read a five hundred page novel in just a few hours. The memory of being able to do so was almost fresh and I wanted to read as quickly and understand as quickly as I had done before leaving for a mission. A year and a half of reading the same thing over and over again, Trying to understand simple messages deeper and to be able to express them to others in even more simple terms causes you to slow down. You read one sentence repeatedly trying to think about how another person would understand this passage. So when I once again picked up a novel at home to read, my mind immediately set to understanding the first sentence! It took me soooo long! I was so frustrated.
One day I decided to pick up a graphic novel. They were made simple enough that I didn't over think things as I read. I was able to rekindle my imagination and begin to move my reading habits back to where they were. At least in my world as an adult, graphic novels have been such a useful tool. Whether helping others read, improving ones own reading or simply enjoying a super quick read I feel they can benefit anyone.
