American-Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

I blame my recent obsession with graphic novels on the Text Messages podcast I listened to this summer that discussed the popular graphic novels and their draw to teens. I have one student in my class who is currently reading American-Born Chinese, and having just finished it, I'm rather happy about this fact. Hopefully, he can identify with the idea that everyone, really, is trying to figure out who they are, and find a place to fit in whatever social/cultural circle(s) they choose to run in.

American-Born Chinese is told in the form of three parallel stories: the story of Jin Wang, a middle school student who has just moved to a place where no one looks like him; the story of the Monkey King who lets his pride stand in the way of understanding what it really means to be a diety; and the story of Chin Kee, a caricature of the Chinese stereotype in America. These three stories come together, and each of the main characters understands what it means to have a place in America.

I do have to point out one funny bit before I sign off. Do you remember William Hung of American Idol fame? American-Born Chinese wouldn't be complete if Chin Kee didn't make fun of him, too. As much as I'd love to show you an image of that particular page, I'm not going to. If you're really interested, you can see it for yourself. What I will leave you with, however, is a video of Gene Luen Yang talking about his graphic novel. Enjoy.

On Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

Before I begin and disappoint my reader, I do want to say I'm limiting my discussion of this novel if only because I'll revisit it once the semester starts. When I do, I'll post discussion/assignments here just as I have before.

Wintergirls (2009) is in the same vein as Speak (1999) and Catalyst (2002), though I don't think it occurs at the same school as these two novels (Melinda, from Speak is mentioned on page 150-something of Catalyst). In this novel, the title character, Lia, is struggling with anorexia and with the death of her bulimic friend, Cassie. Anderson, in an interview on the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)/readwritethink.org podcast Text Messages talks about the novel and about how she tried to discuss the topic in such a way that the novel didn't become a guide to those teens with eating disorders.

I did want to mention that Anderson made an interesting stylistic choice, in using strikethrough text, in this first person narrated story. I read some criticism of using this technique to get into Lia's head by another blogger a few days ago (and it's my luck I can't find that blog again). The gist of what the blogger said was that it takes away from the story. I must disagree. If Lia's emptiness, which she uses as a synonym for strength, comes from her self-denial, then the reader must be allowed to see that inner struggle. Without the strikethrough text, readers don't see Lia's fight with herself, between what she really wants, and what she wants. It a way, it reminds me of William Faulkner's Light in August where characters are thinking "one thing" and ... thinking something else in their subconscious altogether...

Also the blogger argues that Lia's use of figurative language wasn't authentic--especially not for a 17-year-old high school student. I have to refute with: if she's a reader, it's possible that the language used in Lia's head very well be authentic. If my notebooks from that time in my life still existed, the tone and metaphor use would be similar. Because of this, the language makes it easy for me to relate to and identify with Lia.

I think I'm going to leave you with a link to the poem that Anderson read at the end of the podcast. This one, her reading of it, made me tear. Not good when you're driving down I-10, but a moving poem nonetheless.

For more information about Laurie Halse Anderson, click here for her website, or here for her LiveJournal.

Anderson, Laurie Halse.(2009). Wintergirls. New York: Viking.

"Tiny" from The Rose and the Beast

For many adolescents isolation is a feeling that is all too prevalent in their everyday lives. In “Tiny,” the protagonist of the same name is familiar with this notion as well, and the story becomes a window to those who understand what it means to really feel different. Then again, maybe the message is about overcoming the differences to find what one really wants.

All Tiny’s mother wants is to protect her. As a result, Tiny is so sheltered that she doesn’t realize that she is different from anyone else. Not until she sees a boy and response to unrequited love in much the same way modern teenagers do—with retreat, depression and resentment. For her mother, Tiny is a star, a symbol of hope after losing eight other children. This hope is her mother’s motivation for keeping Tiny as safe as possible.

As with “Snow,” in “Tiny” the protagonist’s sexuality is activated upon seeing someone outside of the norm. We can see Tiny’s infatuation with the boy in the description of him blundering around the garden, and how she watches him and finds him both “full of wonder” and “terrifying” (Block, 2000, p. 41). Even further, we witness her discovery of musk as the boy watches Tiny’s mother. A scent that she says is “better than all the flowers in her garden” (Block, 2000, p. 43).

Tiny’s journey is a journey of self-discovery. She realizes that she cannot stay with her mother—that she must try to find what she desires. This desire instigated change in Tiny, though she doubts her own power. Many adolescents doubt themselves, especially when they are unsure of whether or not they can achieve what they want. No doubt some will identify with Tiny on her quest to be part of a world bigger than she is, and have a place that means something.

Block, F. (2000). The Rose and the Beast. New York: Joanna Cotler Books.

Full Tilt

The end of this novel was a long time coming. Due to school, work, etc. our read-aloud time was severely lacking. I read this novel because, when I was sitting next to Neal Shusterman at the New Mexico Library Association Conference in April, he told a story about a teacher who bet a student $5 that they would like this novel. If the student disliked the novel, then the teacher would cough up the dough. As it turned out, the student liked the novel and the teacher didn't lose any money. Of course, being the "extraordinary" reading teacher I am, I had to find out about this novel and see if I could entice my reluctant readers with the same bet. After finishing the novel, I'm fairly certain that many of my readers will enjoy it, if only for the intense ride the main character has to go on. They probably won't get the allusions to famous places around the world, or some of the novels the main character read (like Melville's Moby Dick), but even without that prior knowledge, students are in for an adventure.

Shusterman, N. (2004) Full Tilt. Simon Pulse.

Duckling Ugly

Duckling Ugly is the third in the Dark Fusion series by Neal Shusterman, the first two being Dread Locks and Red Rider's Hood. Duckling Ugly fuses the stories of "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Fountain of Youth." There's one particular piece of this novel that struck me. The protagonist says

How do you judge beauty? They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but that's not true. Beauty is in the spirit of the world in which you live. It's where the world tells you it is...and if your world finds beauty in the black pit of ugliness, then that's where your beauty lies. (Shusterman, 2006, p. 200)

With the discussion of commodification in my media class first semester last school year, and the stock that teenagers take on what they see on television, striving to be what can only be achieved with airbrushes, I'm inclined to agree with Shusterman here. I had a discussion with a friend of mine before school let out for the summer about Marilyn Monroe. We saw a picture of her on the wall at Dairy Queen. The question ended up being, at the time of The Seven Year Itch, how much did she weigh?

The idea is that people's perception of what is beautiful is what the media says is beautiful. So if Marilyn Monroe (who is still considered beautiful) is put next to one of the skinny models of today, who do you think people want to look more like?

Shusterman, N. (2006). Duckling Ugly. New York: Speak.

The Skin I'm In

I wasn't sure I'd like this novel when it was recommended to me. Interestingly, I might have been the one to add it to the list of books we ordered with the grant we received last year. The Skin I'm In was the winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 1998 and is on a YALSA book list.

One of the reviews in Publisher's Weekly said that the "novel will hit home." and it definitely did that. I was drawn in immediately by the dialect the first person narrator, Maleeka, used. Possibly because it's a dialect that I use when I speak with my cousins back home. And yet, the writing she does for her English class's extra project is written in a Standard American English dialect.

In my sociolinguistics class last semester, we talked about how student have a problem understanding the concept of register when speaking. Because for some, the language they use with their parents is the same as the language they use with their peers. Showing the difference between the two using a character in a novel (which I may very well read aloud) to show the difference might be beneficial.

The main thematic idea is understanding who you are and what you stand for. The new teacher, Ms. Saunders, seems more confident then she really is, Maleeka struggles within a gang-type situation, and Charlese, a main antagonist, only changes who she is in an effort to keep out of trouble.

The question I posed yesterday when I began this book, one that I will use to begin my self-identity unit in the fall, was this:

What does your face say to the world?

Then again, should we really be preoccupied with seeing ourselves through other's eyes?