https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgHvFW5hCb0

In this video, there are three authors and scholars who are debating the credibility of graphic novels to the productivity of helping cultivate a culture of children and young adults who read on a thoughtful level. The video is a little lengthy but entirely worth the watch. The strong argument about these types of books is that a graphic novel can assist children who may not love or be interested in reading, and that they might be drawn towards graphic novels. The argument splits here because Mahtab Narsimhan says children should move on from graphic novels to engage in deeper, longer novels. Graphic novels in her opinion are a stepping stone. “The beauty of language comes from longer novels,” she says in the debate. Dr. Larry Swartz retorts that children of school age engagement with books is important no matter what type of novel they choose to read. “We have to invite them to read all kinds of texts and we have to respect the texts they’re reading,” he argues that the type of novel is not important rather than the fact that they’re reading at all. Author Jeff Smith has a very similar argument to Dr. Swartz and truly it’s a very interesting panel discussion.