I think they should be part of every single classroom, picture books and graphic novels. They exercise a different part of your brain. That whole thing that I was saying about maybe somebody needing them to help — needing the pictures to help read, but they’re actually — they’re translating all these pictures. That’s visual stuff that’s really hard, and that’s actually hard for some other kids that need to practice that.
So I think — I really feel like graphic novels especially have been embraced by just about everybody across the board. There might be a few people who think that’s not reading, but, you know, reading is reading. And with a picture book and graphic novels both, they’re bringing art into the lives of everybody. It doesn’t matter what age; everybody needs to be able to enjoy and appreciate pictures. And I’m all over it. I’m all over it. I mean I’m kind of yapping, but I would love to see high schools with picture books and on the book shelves in the classroom.
You know, some of the nonfiction ones too. I don’t have — I don’t remember things very well, but — like about history because often it’s presented and it doesn’t have this human component to it, but the picture book versions of like the life of Rosa Parks, I’ll read that, and I’ll look at the pictures, and I’ll remember so much more about her because I looked at that book than if I had just looked her up in the encyclopedia and read a little passage. So they need to be everywhere. Everywhere.
