ABSTRACT
Ask any youngster about reading comic books or newspaper comic strips, and you are sure to meet with mixed reactions, ranging from vigorous justification to outright denial. Kids seem to know instinctively that comic books are “forbidden fruit” or “light reading”—a highly marginalized art form that suggests frivolous interests and low abilities (Dorrell & Carroll, 1981; Krashen, 1989). Everywhere, print-only books hold the highest position for literacy achievement; art forms that mix words with stylized pictures in bold colors receive attention primarily as commercial trivia.
