Recently, this author was able to read a news article on how one teacher is using graphic novels as a way to improve literacy in her students. Before, graphic novels have been used, albeit rarely, as a tool in more mature classrooms such as those in a college or university setting. So what could having graphic novels in classrooms in high school, junior high (middle school) or even elementary schools do to the genre and the art form as a whole?

The most obvious and optimistic answer is that using graphic novels as tools in a school room setting will do nothing but help promote the genre and open doors to the brilliant but overlooked novels that are in the world. Students becoming more literate in a time when so many children and teenagers care so little for books and reading is also something positive that could be taken from this. After all, reading is still reading whether it is Laura Ingalls Wilder, or a graphic novel based on the R.L. Stein Goosebumps series.

Of course, the other side of this coin is the ever-touchy topic of censorship and what is appropriate for students from age seven all the way to age seventeen. Controversy over what is an acceptable amount of violence, sex, and stereotypes are always on the minds of parents and those connected with schools, and while graphic novels depict these topics frequently, they are also used more often in some books than in others. A possible outcome could be additional book-banning in schools because someone is offended by the portrayal of Judaism in Will Eisner’s “A Contract With God” while others are more concerned with the adult themes.

While some graphic novel titles are more risqué than others, they also bring important messages to the table. When is it too soon for students to learn the difference between right and wrong from someone in a gray area such as V in V for Vendetta? When is it too soon to give students a strong code of moral ethics such as the one Batman is known for? Do these stories have to wait simply because a few parents are more concerned with how their children are being babysat when they are not in front of a television showing him or her the exact same thing, in the form of the deceptively innocuous Saturday morning cartoon?

Graphic novels used as tools in schools promote literacy. Let’s leave it at that, and let the teachers do their job when picking out appropriate reading choices for our students.