Books at Bedtime: The Boy, The Bear, The Baron, The Bard
Marjorie and I at PaperTigers write the Books at Bedtime posts and these posts usually are about books appropriate for reading to children at bed time. However, I’m facing a bit of a dilemma having a 13 year old son and a 9 year old daughter. I no longer read to my son at bed time; he reads for himself and lately, his focus has been on comics and graphic novels. As a result, I’ve been getting hooked on graphic novels myself (although admittedly the fascination for this genre started for me when I was a teen and had access to Japanese manga even though I couldn’t always read them very well) so I have decided to start reviewing graphic novels in future posts while still also doing the occasional Books at Bedtime post to cover those titles I read with my daughter.
However, as with man
y things in life, there are cross-overs and overlaps. While perusing the graphic novel shelf at the library, my daughter found one for herself and brought it over to me. The Boy, the Bear, The Baron, the Bard by Australian Gregory Rogers (Roaring Book Press, 2004) is a story set in Elizabethan England told entirely in images drawn by Rogers. You would think a book like this wouldn’t be appropriate for bedtime reading, but quite the contrary! My daughter, having perused the book, brought it to bed with her and asked if we could narrate the story together, playing the different parts of the characters depicted (which include, needless to say, the title characters including Bard Shakespeare.) This was a totally appropriate way to read this book, considering that it featured the famous playwright himself and the world of theatre. And we had fun, moreover, doing it!
Do you ever read graphic novels to your children at bedtime? Tell me if you do; I’d love to hear of your experiences. As children become more increasingly focused on the visual medium through the use of computers (we’re fast approaching the age of reading off our Kindles and Ipads to our children at night), reading graphic novels to our kids may well be the middle road of compromise!
July 27th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Sally, I believe it’s not just the visual medium, but also the interactivity and social aspect that kids love in a book sharing like this. That’s so important. We find it also in wordless picture books, and (differently) with reader’s theatre. It gives kids a way to make the book even more special to them, a personal connection if you like.
My son and I used to often discuss rather than read comics like Calvin and Hobbes or Larry Gonick’s Cartoon History of the Universe. They aren’t as linear as straight narratives, and appeal to some kids more because of that I think.
July 28th, 2010 at 6:24 am
Oh, I agree with you totally! I was taken by complete surprise when my daughter initiated the reading of this book at bedtime. She wanted to ‘do’ the book, so to speak. It was this interactivity that was a different reading experience for me then normally, although she sometimes likes to quietly act out narratives that I read to her with her stuffies.
July 29th, 2010 at 4:29 am
Hi Sally,
I also thought initially that graphic novels might not be attractive to kids during bedtime. But, it turned out to be otherwise. We read the Amulet by Kazu Kibuishi (both the books) over a period of 3-5 days during bed time. My 7 year old enjoyed it a lot during the bed time; but, he refuses to pick it up and read it by himself.
I always thought kids would love comics – it turned out to be otherwise in our home too. Our 7 year old likes it be read and he never picks up one by himself – he infact says – he hates comics. But, he likes it when we read it to him. He says it is too confusing, not straightforward and he is not sure what he should read first (which frame and so on).
July 29th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Thanks for the comment. My son got introduced to reading through the Captain Underpants books which are like comics and somehow the comics like style of those books stuck with him. He would ask me occasionally to read comic books to him but I was loathe to do it; it seemed like something he was better off reading for himself. But with this experience with my daughter with The Boy, The Bear, etc., my eyes have been opened! Yes, you can read graphic novels or comics to your kids.
Book Chook — my son liked Calvin and Hobbes, too, and he read those for himself. It’s true that they make for better discussion than reading out loud to one’s child!