Professional Log #14

Dotinga, R. (2006, August).  ‘Tweens’ curl up with graphic novels.  The Christian Science Monitor.  Retrieved from April 1, 2011, from http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0816/p16s02-bogn.html. 

This article covers the topic of Tweens, children ages 8-12, that read “graphic” novels. What the article suggests in its title is not what is discussed throughout the document. For the older generation’s “graphic” means violent or visually disturbing not meant for younger eyes, “graphic” novels defined in this article are actually long comic books ranging from 70-600 pages.  Some of the books include the regular comic book classics extended, and others include everything from biographies to the classics. There are teachers who try to avoid these books because it is not structured reading, they do not like the idea of there being all these illustration within a book. On the other hand there are teachers who fully support this because it is getting their students to read.

I think this article is interesting because it presents the transition of a younger generation, one that our generation does not understand. There are different ways that each generation learns to absorb and digest information.  For the younger generations of the 21^st century that is to read extended comic books. I do not necessarily support the idea of graphic novels, but that could be because I think it diminishes the readers own imagination. With lack of imagination there is lack of creativity and before you know it those individuals will be unable to think for themselves. To be more optimistic though, these novels introduce some of the world’s greatest literary work and get the younger generations more interested in them. So there is an  up and down side to these graphic novels.