Is the rise in kids reading rates thanks to comics?

I was reading a post on another forum recently that was talking about ITA reading programme in the 1960s. It was highly controversial, but what fascinated me was the comments. They were from people (like me) who are in their 60s now whose school used this system and every post started with ‘I could read before I started school’ - as could I. Which I found absolutely fascinating! I don’t recall any children who left junior school unable to read (no doubt there were some, but I genuinely don’t recall any).

what has changed so drastically? Is it that mothers were often stay at home and had the time to teach us - with no distractions of even TV?

Jamie Smart did a guest edit of the Beano not long ago. It’s changed with the times for sure!

The Waiting for Godonut strip cracks me up every time.

Mine all loved the Beano and read it avidly.

Graphic novels are huge! (Not comics, those are little floppy magazines rather than actual books.) They are so popular across lots of age groups. I think Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus was the first one my lot has.

Now an adult, DS2 buys both weekly comic book editions of current storylines and whopping great big graphic nov ls. When they were kids, it was the graphic novel style books that got him hooked on reading.

get them into Viz

Indeed, a weekly comic was very normal. For households that didn’t have much in the way of money too.
I loved my comics.
But I suspect it is not the only thing. My parents used to read to me. We had books in the house. I am often saddened by the number of houses that have not a single book in them. Or just coffee table books. Not ones you really read.
Mum and dad had books for all ages. Because their children were far apart in ages. And then their interests. They read too. From science fiction to books about gardening, cookery and classics.
If you want your children to read well you have to read yourself, and have a few books in the house.

Purely anecdotal but my autistic child struggled to read and comics really turned that around - they've now moved on to manga which is also huge generally from ages 9/10 upwards. So for us it was very much that a child who didn't read, was turned on to reading by comics. Anecdotally this is true for lots of the kids I know at primary age who are/were reluctant readers. However I think all the keen readers also love the comics/graphic novels (especially manga).

I will say my younger child's class are noticeably and visibly more into books - mostly Bunny vs Monkey, Pablo and Splash, Dogman etc - than my elder child's class was at that age (overall) so I've personally seen a real shift in the last 4/5 years.

DD1 absolutely loves Bunny v Monkey, she loves graphic novels generally and will pick them over a straightforward chapter book. She’s very artistic so I think the blend of words and pictures really appeals to her in a way that chapter books don’t. I really enjoy graphic novels as an adult too honestly.

Her teacher said she’d noticed a lot of kids getting very excited about Bunny v Monkey, Dogman etc and that the school library had started stocking more books like this as they had noticed more reluctant readers being drawn to them and actually choosing to read them.

I reckon it’s because a lot of YouTube shorts and insta reels have subtitles! 🤣

Dogman, Bunny versus Monkey ( both comic style books) and Phoenix comics are all lapped up by my 11 year old (and his siblings aged 7-14). I think the 'silly' genre of comics is being encouraged more than it was when I was a young reader. When I first started teaching 20 years ago, only 'proper' books were allowed in the book corner. I think people are coming back round to whatever gets them reading.

I agree with you and have noticed that a lot of the boys at my sons school read for fun since starting to read comics last year.

My son is a good reader but he hated the graded school books (too dull) which almost killed off his enjoyment of reading. He was moved onto 'accelerated reader' last year at school so got into Jamie Smart's comics and now reads both comics and chapter books for fun. I don't personally love the Bunny vs Monkey books as they're quite crude but then I'm not the target audience!

I’m old enough to have been brought up on comics, my earliest reading memory is a weekly comic called Jack and Jill. This was before I started primary school. In those days there were few actual reading books for emergent readers, most were for adults to read to children.
During my teaching career, I taught many teenagers to become fluent readers and the correct interest level in the material was important. However, the most fought over books were the Guinness Books of Records. The photos of extreme phenomena enticed them to read and find out more. This also led to great discussions ( increasing vocabulary). The next best book was the Argos catalogue. Finding out the details of desirable products.

Comics aren’t a new thing though.

I had a reading age of 9 when I started school and had a mix of comics and books

i was born early 80’s, I was bought Mandy or Judy comics each week. Until they merged and became Mandy and Judy!

I have a a child that will read anything, but also loves bunny vs monkey, el deafo, dog man, unfaries and the rest.

My younger child doesn’t really like reading. Never has. The eldest as a toddler would thrust a book at you and demand ‘read’. The littlest is just not bothered.

We’re a house of books, visit the library, book shops and love a trawl of the charity shops for books. They see their parents read for pleasure at least once a day. We have two primary English teachers in the family. You can’t make a child who doesn’t want to read. Much to my dismay.

From memory, my brother had Match and Shoot (football comics) and I had Twinkle and Bunty. I then progressed on to teen mags like Sugar and Mizz. This would have been mid to late 90s. We also got the annuals for Christmas every year.

I suspect it’s more to do with the social stigma of ‘giving children screens’.