Library supports explosive reading trend in new collection

For assistant library director Jordan Foote, it’s a passion project. For the Gibson Memorial Library, it’s getting ahead of an explosive trend in youth and young adult literature.

With funds donated by The Friends of the Library, a dedicated adult graphic novel section will be created to ensure the young lovers of this genre will have something to read when they age out of the novels they are reading now.

Graphic novels are formatted similarly to comic books, but instead of being serialized episodes, these books are full-length stories. They also come in many different genres from fantasy or romance to memoirs and biographies.

“I love the marriage between the artwork and also the storytelling,” Foote said. “There’s a lot you can pick up in a story through illustrations. It’s a format of a book that I really love, and it’s really cool seeing these younger kids picking them up and checking out quite a variety of them.”

Though many adult readers may have never picked up a graphic novel before, these books have skyrocketed in popularity over the past six years.

Library Journal reports sales have risen over 100% since 2019, making graphic novels the third best-selling genre in the U.S. and Canada, with 35 million books sold. General fiction remains the best seller at 49 million and romance follows at 34 million.

The library is no stranger to this trend, Foote saying they are some of the most borrowed books in the collection.

“We saw this trend coming; we saw these kids wanting to check out graphic novels, wanting to check out manga specifically, and we’re just trying to get ahead of the curve,” Foote explained. “As these kids age up, we want to make sure that we have the reading materials available for them when they reach that more 18+ age range. What we have in mind is developing a pretty basic work collection of adult graphic novels that, when those kids age up, and then also just for the folks that are already of age, that are adults, have something to read that fits their reading tastes.”

While some readers may view graphic novels as lesser than traditional books, research shows they provide unique and profound benefits.

For instance, a study published in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature found that students who read graphic novels scored higher on comprehension tests than those who read traditional texts. The visual context provided by the illustrations helps readers grasp the storyline and character motivations more easily, which can be particularly beneficial for struggling readers or those learning a second language.

Graphic novels also serve as a way to bridge the gap for reluctant readers by utilizing the engaging format. Rather than reading about what the scene looks like during the dialogue, they can view it for themselves as they read the conversation.

“We’ve had some parents say, it’s about the only book I can get my kid to read, which is a blessing and curse,” Foote said. “That’s just the way things are going. Some kids just really don’t have the attention span to sit and read a novel with all just text, especially as we’re seeing more kids with specifically autism. Some kids with autism find that graphic novels fit with their reading style better. I definitely do think, if you can still push your kids, anyone who may be interested in graphic novels, to still read regular text print novels, that’s great, but what we’re also seeing is that it’s better than nothing, for sure.”

This collection will be specifically targeted for adults. After completing schooling, adults may not be tested on their reading abilities, but there are verified benefits to reading for fun.

The George Mason University says reading for pleasure manages stress, is good for cognitive development and helps improve empathy. Despite these benefits, less than half of adults report having read a book in the last year.

Adults looking to get into graphic novels have a wide variety of options to choose from.

For those looking for what they grew up with may enjoy some modern republishing collections of the Sunday morning newspaper comic collections.

“If you’re looking for more literary stuff, the books that are closer storyline wise to the modern literary novels that we get in, there’s a good selection as far as those classics, as well as the more modern ones,” Foote said. “Fantagraphics is one that I quite like, a publisher that publishes a lot of modern, more literary graphic novels. There’s some great ones there. Like I said, the range is quite wide, so depending on what you like personally, there are definitely some entry-level books that folks that aren’t too sure about them would read. ‘Maus’ is a classic one that I think a lot of folks would be familiar with since it is on a lot of banned books lists, just because it deals with the Holocaust. I think that’s a great entry-level one as well. It’s a great story, great story telling, the illustrations are fantastic. We do have those in the library here already, so if folks are curious, that’s a great one to start with.”

Foote plans to curate a collection of 80-100 adult graphic novels, adding to the 27 books the library currently offers. He plans to create an amalgamation of graphic novel classics and newer releases. This is being facilitated through the $1,200 donated by the Friends.

“We’re just super appreciative of our Friends of the Library group,” Foote said. “They have been so extremely supportive of all the projects we have in mind and things we have in coming down the pipeline. Not only just moral support, but also the financial support. This money for the graphic novel collection is coming from an arts restricted fund that is meant to be used for art-related projects, so I think this is a perfect fit for that money and I know we’re super appreciative that they’re able to help us out with this.”

Erin Henze contributed to this story.