Blog #1

Hello! I am Victoria Ballantine. I am a senior and will be graduating this may. My interests are painting, playing with my two rescued dogs, and reading books. My major is Psychology, and I don't have a minor. Psychology has made me specifically interested in children. I think it is extremely fascinating what children can be subjected to throughout life in unfortunate circumstances, and how it affects each one of them differently. The most interesting are the children of resiliency.

My current skill level with reading comics is moderate. I have read a graphic novel in high school for a project, and I have also read a graphic novel in my free time, and it was about the Holocaust. My observations are that it takes getting used to reading novels formatted this way, because at first, it may seem or feel a little confusing. Another observation I had was that the graphics can add much more meaning and feeling to the context of the novel.

I do not watch anime, and I am not familiar with visual novels. Quite honestly, I am not entirely sure what a "visual novel" means. I do play video games occasionally. I play Arcade Hockey, Call of Duty (Nazi Zombies), and all of the Mario games. The Mario games are my favorite because they are so simple and simply classic.

I don't have any preexisting attitudes or beliefs about readers who read graphic novels. I understand that there is a stereotype though, in which says that those who read comics are nerds or geeks with little to no social life. I don't believe this though, since I am none of those things and have read graphic novels before and found them to be interesting. They are an acquired taste that not everyone can understand. I don't consider myself a reader of these texts because I prefer to read long, non-fiction novels. They seem to grasp my attention much more easily than other novels have in the past.

I haven't read a graphic novel in a very long time, but are there barely any words in the book? If so, wouldn't we be able to read the graphic novel very quickly then? Also, for someone who hasn't read many graphic novels, what would you recommend for me to do to get used to the style and formatting? I am curious to learn a new reading style and explore different aspects of literature. I am also hoping to learn more about graphic novels in general, such as terms or the particular way they should be read. I anticipate that I will take away skills that will allow me to read graphic novels and capture the meaning behind the graphics and texts. I also will walk away with more general knowledge of the topic, since I have little to no knowledge about graphic novels at this point in my life.