Sorry guys. I know this is past deadline but I wanted to post about my experience anyways.
I had never read a Graphic Novel before, and to be honest, I was not interested. I have never been interested in comics, video games, ereaders. I could probably be called a “lit snob”. I was all about novels, poetry, and film. I had nothing against other forms of literature for other people, I just personally wasn’t interesting in them myself. I can definitely say that I have changed my mind.
Like Sarah and Katie, I also read American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I couldn’t put it down! I was hooked from the first page. I must say, though… I had a TERRIBLY hard time looking at the pictures. I just wanted to read the words. I was so interested in what was going to happen and since I always read books that are strictly text, that was the way I knew to find out what was happening. I had to force myself to look at the pictures. Even still, I want to go back and read the entire thing again. I am sure there are some pictures that I entirely skipped over! This was definitely an eye-opener. I am sure most of my students will not have this problem! Something to be aware of.
That being said, I thought it was an amazing book. Sarah and Katie have already touched on a lot of the major issues that the novel addresses so I will try not to be too repetitive. I found the message about accepting who you are to be such an important one. Even as an adult, I sometimes struggle to be myself and not what I think someone else wants me to be. As much life experience as I gain, I am not sure if that is something I will ever outgrow completely. I would LOVE to teach this in high school. It was such a quick easy read and super relate-able. As a white, Christian woman, I wasn’t sure how much I would relate to a story about a young Chinese-American boy. There are, however, allusions to the Christian faith that made me feel super connected to the story. There were a lot of powerful messages and allusions that I feel made it so pretty much anyone could read and connect to it.
I am very happy to have lost my graphic novel virginity. I can’t wait to read more and find ways to bring them into my classroom.
2 responses so far ↓
mdry // Sep 26th 2012 at 3:29 pm
I wonder if a happy medium exists? Equal attention to text and image…
sarahmoir // Sep 26th 2012 at 3:31 pm
The first time I read a graphic novel, other then Archie comics as a teen, I also found it really hard to look at both the pictures and text. However, now I am finding that I look more at the pictures then the text. I have to remind myself to read and not just look at the illustrations. I find this creates a level of challenge that I was losing in just reading novels.
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