My son struggled to read. I did a lot of work with him at home, and I feared the whole process would discourage him from enjoying reading, but then I introduced him to comic books and graphic novels. When he was six, I also taught him how to create his own stories at home. Today, he is an avid reader and is ahead in reading ability, vocabulary, and language skills. He is also a published author.

We are in a literacy crisis here in Philadelphia, and as an educator and mother, I'm dedicated to doing what I can in my community to fill the literacy gaps. Research shows that comic books strengthen literacy rates and engage young, reluctant readers.

My background as a professor who studies comics (I did my dissertation on The Boondocks), entrepreneur, and mother led me to this question: What if comics could help other kids with literacy?

A few years ago, I piloted the workshop series at Mighty Writers. This summer, I put that idea into action at Eastwick Rec Center in Southwest Philadelphia. I led four free comic book literacy workshops for local children. We read comics together, explored how words and images tell stories, learned basic storytelling, and created original comics. We worked one-on-one with children on writing and spelling, and they practiced reading by sharing their stories with peers.

Now I want to continue this work during the school year through free after-school programming at Eastwick Rec Center.

With support from Awesome Philadelphia, I will offer another series of Create Your Own Comic Book Literacy Workshops, primarily for children ages 6–10. Children will practice reading, writing, vocabulary, comprehension, storytelling, and self-expression while creating their own comics. Each child will receive blank comic book templates and supplies to use during the workshops, so they can take their stories home and read to their families.

The idea is simple: sometimes the best way to get a child excited about reading is to let them become the author.