Why adapt a Classic Novel into a Graphic Novel?

I realized when I started this project that for those who grew up reading Robert Heinlein's "Have Space Suit –Will Travel", I could never compete with their childhood imaginations. I've read HSSWT to my kids when they were young, and even their interpretations were different from mine but none the less surprising. I sometimes wondered if we were reading the same story. Those moments of reading and discussing the book with my kids were priceless. 

My children don't read anymore. Or at least they don't read for fun it seems. They will speed through a book on tape or hock down the highlights of a classic novel just enough to pass a test like they were gobbling down a delicious steak without taking the time to savor the flavor. But a graphic novel is an entirely different beast altogether. When they read a graphic novel, they tend to slow down and look all over the page. A graphic novel doesn't take itself too seriously, and the reader tends to relax more. Some readers get lost in the colors, the scenery or the expressions, and nowadays, everyone want's to know the backstory. That's when I point them to the book. No one tells it like Robert Heinlein. I've always looked at graphic novels as a way to get kids to eat their meat. 

Now that my daughter is older she has become quite the artist, and she was incredibly helpful during the whole process of creating and publishing the HSSWT graphic no. I asked her what she thought of the finished book, and she said she loved it, but somehow it seemed like a different story than the one I read to her as a child. I suggested to her that she needs to reread the original book. Last night she sat with me and told me she has started rereading HSSWT and she pointed out some details that I totally missed. She's 17 years old, and we talked till 2am. This was the longest conversation I've had with her in years. It was priceless. 

 
You can still get a copy of the HSSWT graphic novel at VirginiaEdition.com