People are so busy these days, it seems some would love to just have the time to sit down and read a good book.

Ask a kid, and they might say they'd rather do chores instead -- but not some students at Mark Twain Elementary School in Springfield.

These students are growing up in a world of computer graphics. A visiting teacher is capitalizing on that by bringing graphic novels into the classroom, with interesting results.

Inside Chris Wilson's portable library lies a treasure trove of comic books.

"I realized how powerful they were to engage readers who are reluctant readers and struggling readers," he says.

The ten members of the comic book club carefully choose their graphic novel.

Chris Wilson/Comic Club Teacher: "I don't assign them any kind of reading," Wilson says.

And then all you hear in the typically noisy classroom is the silent joy of reading.

"Parents or grandparents or guardians will call up the teacher or the principal and say, 'What are you doing, because Johnny and Sally want to read now. They're asking me to buy them these comic books,'" Wilson says.

Virginia Davidson used to hate reading, but she recently asked her mother to take her to the bookstore.

"She was like, 'You never like to read and now you want to,'" she says.

You may think more boys would be interested in joining the comic book club but if you take a look around the classroom, it's mostly girls taking in the adventures.

"I got like a collection of books that I'm reading right now," student Nicole Tharp says.

Girls and boys can choose genres like romance or superheroes, depending on what they like.

"Well I just started it and it's about this god that's really strong," student Merrick Altis says about his Hercules novel.

"From there you can expand their reading interests, by 'If you like Mouse Guard over here, then you're probably going to like The Hobbit. Well I just so happen to have that,'" Wilson says.

He says comics are a non-traditional bridge from kid books to novels.

In the meantime, they just make reading fun again.

"Novels well, they don't have pictures," Altis says. "When comic books have pictures that kind of helps you understand the story more."

Ironically, Wilson was not a fan of comic books until later in life. He is a graduate student at Missouri State University's College of Education, and the comic book club is actually field research for his master's thesis.

He has a website for parents and teachers to pick up some ideas for how to get kids to read: http://www.graphicclassroom.blogspot.com