Newest Teaching Tool: Comic Books?

CBS News "The Early Show" national correspondent Thalia Assuras discovers that some Maryland schools are using comic books as reading tools, with positive results.

School officials are hoping comic books will help improve reading proficiency, especially among boys.

In elementary and middle school, their reading scores are 10 percent lower than those of girls, and 12 percent in high school.

The pilot prgram is the brainchild of Maryland's superintendent of schools. Nancy Grasmick says graphic novels motivate reluctant readers. She emphasizes they're used to supplement -- not replace -- traditional reading material.

"This is something that is pleasurable and motivating and yet, embedded in that, is an increase in vocabulary from reading, anticipating plots, Grasmick points out. "There are a lot of good skills embedded in this."

As I mentioned earlier, any way or method that gets comic books into the hands of younger readers is good. And as many of us can attest, reading skills can be quickly honed in a fun and enjoyable way by reading comics early in life. Personally, if it wasn't for Spider-Man, Archie and Batman, I probably wouldn't love reading as much as I do today. Sounds silly, but it's true, and I think it applies to most comic fans. Now's the time to build a new generation of readers, no?