One other reason I like this day is because I know that comics played a large role in me becoming a life long reader. My mother fostered that early by giving me comics and later by sharing her books. Stacey and I have passed that on to our children. Now Kevin is grown and married, but one of his prized possessions is his library of books. Without knowing it, Stacey and I were arming our children with some of the most important tools in developing early reading skills - children seeing their parents read and reading with their parents.
A recent early childhood literacy study conducted by Harvard University concluded "young children exposed to lots of early reading began talking more and showing an interest in books that provoked further shared reading with the parent and, in turn, the momentum for additional cognitive and vocabulary growth" (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, Science Briefs: The Effects of Early Reading with Parents on Developing Literacy Skills, 2007). The flip side of this is that "the absence of early literary stimulation is the harbinger of sustained educational difficulties" (Jumpstart, 2009).
Parents, go out and get some free comics for your children. Help them develop a love for learning. Helping them love reading will equip them to be life long learners. If you are worried that comics have become too "adult," the comic book publishers and stores have made kid friendly issues available for free too.
This photo says it all:
I don't remember it, but my mother says I was never taught to read. One day around or before kindergarten she was braiding my hair while I looked at a comic book and she felt my head turning from side to side. "Are you reading that?" she asked, and I proceeded to read the dialog to her. She was a one-room teacher in her youth and knew about the theory of teaching reading, including not starting with all capitals, and she said I broke all the rules. I'd been taught letters, but never how to read. But I'd been read to a lot--I remember wondering what my father found interesting in the non-picture parts of the newspaper.
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