At first only one fourth grade student--a boy in the gifted program--picked them up. It was on my recommendation and I thought he would enjoy them. . . . It was not long until I had a group of nearly 10 boys reading Greek myth. The girls except one were uninterested.
When we finished our daily read-aloud book I introduced The Lightning Thief to the class. Instantly the boys became so excited when the story mentioned Perseus the Minotaur Medusa Zeus and other Greek characters. So excited in fact that they would often interrupt the read-aloud to share what they knew about the characters. There were times when they would stand up and shout and flap their hands.
Fourth grade boys
Shouting
About literature
I could not keep my Greek myth comics in stock. They were in backpacks and on desks and in hands some even read during recess.
I soon left the classroom to begin my rotations. When I came back four weeks later I discovered the kids had finished The Lightning Thief. Many of the boys had gone on to check out the next book from the library or purchased it from the Scholastic book fair.
I sat down with the students and asked them about it. The boys were almost uncontrollable in their excitement over both the comics and the novel. The girls on the other hand were not. I asked them about it.
They were confused.
The girls you see had not picked up the comics so they were very unfamiliar with the characters or the back-story. Thus they were so-so on the book. Just as the girls had been for the most part so-so on the comics. But might that have been because Greek myths--or at least those about heroes and monsters and gods hitting each other--hold more appeal for American boys no matter what format they come in?
Rick Riordan started the Percy Jackson stories to appeal to a boy--specifically one of his sons. And according to this interview that young Riordan already enjoyed Greek mythology.
Maybe someone could run Chris Wilson's experiment using comics and a novel thought to have more appeal for American girls and see if the students' responses are reversed.
(Pointer from Good Comics for Kids.)
