Is the rise in kids reading rates thanks to comics?

[Comicsareback]

I saw a news headline saying the tide may be turning on the decline in children's reading. According to the National Literacy Trust, more children are reading books than last year and there are "green shoots" after a pretty worrying drop in reading.

Excellent news. Long may it continue, because a less literate society isn't good for anyone. But this got me thinking….

AIBU to think comics might be due some of the credit?

I've got 2 kids and they love comics as do their friends. The bookshop is a treat for them now and I'm happy to oblige (money is never wasted on a good book). They also read Harry Potter, MG Leonard and plenty of chapter books, but they’re definitely more enthusiastic about books since getting into comics / the Phoenix.

I just saw that Pablo and Splash ( Sheena Dempsey) is currently No1 in the children's fiction chart. My son loves that series. And Jamie Smart was No. 1 out of ALL books in the UK for a few weeks this year, which is pretty remarkable I think for kids books given there are fewer kids than adults right?

Comics weren't really a thing when I was growing up, but they were for my older relatives. My dad grew up in a northern town (left school early to work) and swears that is was thanks to comics he’s functionally literate. He and all his mates (boys and girls) would buy them second-hand and swap them. I never had that myself, but I've enjoyed reading my kids comics and have got into reading adult graphic novels recently as they’re a great escape.

The only negative is the selection in our local libraries is pretty shite, so it's costing me quite a lot of money! I do worry that kids whose families can't afford to buy them are missing out though.

Anyone else's children obsessed with comics/graphic novels? Or am I overestimating their impact on kids reading?

Jamie Smart is a bloody rockstar to my kids and their friends!!

Sorry forgot to link the article:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cze93wggw74o

Just found this research…

• Nearly twice as many children and young people who read comics in their free time told us that they enjoy reading compared with those who didn’t read comics in their free time (58.6% vs. 33.1%).

Which is really interesting and kinda backs up my experience

literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-engagement-with-comics-in-2023/

Yes I agree. With Dogman leading the charge.

Comics were a thing when I grew up in the 60s. Did they go away and come back again? I agree that any reading - comics, football magazines, instructions, cereal packets is better than none.

No. Comics are far less common than they used to be. Im mid 50s and when I was younger most children had a comic every week/fortnight.

Yes I believe they did. They weren’t much of a thing in the late nineties/ early noughties for my generation.

Talking to the Waterstones staff, they’ve have boomed in popularity since Covid. The graphic novel section (which is what they seems to call comics now) is heaving with kids at the weekends!

"Children who enjoy reading are more likely to read comics in their spare time than those who don't."

Fixed the dodgy research headline for you.

Yeah and I think that’s what is happening now. All the kids I know are into comics. A teacher friend said it’s been noticeable the last couple of years.

My child’s teacher has banned him bringing Pablo and Splash into school, which I’m not very happy about! She’d prefer him to read school books.

I read loads of comics in the 90s! Saved my pocket money for them, and my grandma bought me one a week too.

Interesting! I literally didn’t come across comics. Didn’t see anyone read them besides Asterix and TinTin (old copies in school library) I was aware of the Beano but it seemed old fashioned? Never saw anyone reading it

Could it be that part of it is down the the backlash against screen time. We know a lot more now about the damage that screens do for children (links to mental health etc) than we did say, 10 years ago. Are parents potentially more prone to imposing limits?

Ah I see what you mean…so it’s either cause or effect? I guess its important to know if it’s the kids who come from homes without books who are getting into Dog Man etc. Whether disadvantaged children are reading comics - or it’s just limited to the middle class kids.

Speaking to my dad, who was dirt poor growing up (9 siblings in a 2 bed house!) they were all into comics. They read and traded them daily. They devoured every strip according to him. He showed me an Eagle anthology recently and it contained a lot of non fiction comic strips explaining all sorts of interesting science stuff, how things work, societal issues… it was very educational actually. Not just hero v villain stuff (although was plenty of that too). Kids today could do with a modern version this!

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

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.

This is a really good point actually- I’m definitely more aware than friends with older kids were. And we have probably been looking for alternatives and the timing with lots of comic books becoming available to engage the kids is leading to parents buying more. I’ve noticed lots more comics appearing on Sainsburys shelves this year, which seem to be replacing all the celebrity authored kids books.

@TheWineoftheChicken Ah I loved Sugar! That’s brought back memories. Smash hits and Just Seventeen. I knew an older neighbour who had a big Bunty collection but like the Beano, I thought it was old fashioned. I probably got into Smash hits age 8 or something. Quite young really to be reading mags for teens but that was the 90s for you!!

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.

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’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.

Thats interesting that the material was not focused on early readers back then. Now we have so many books for new readers including Biff Chip kipper.

Ahhh the Argos catalogue! I spent many enjoyable hours pouring over it through my childhood too!

and the Guinness book of world records! It’s still going- my child received three copies for Christmas- lucky we know family well enough to ask them to return and get something else. She was v disappointed!

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!

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

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.

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.