Friday, November 22, 2013

American Born Chinese

                At first when attempting to read this book I found myself often wandering as I have never attempted a graphic novel and struggled time to time. Having three narratives mixed into one could create a problem for anyone. I found that the individual pages were easy to read but the overall message I lost time to time because of the multiple times having to start and stop when reading it.  I also found myself very curious on how students would react to this story and if they would be able to keep up with it. I believe that many students would enjoy this book because it is so quick to get through, but some people might struggle through the lack of words and not being enticed by the story itself. While even I struggled at points, I know for certain students this would not be a top choice and may lose some of the class.
            When it comes to the story itself, by the title itself we could have guessed a lot of things going on and guessed at what is possibly to come. The fact that the three narratives are mixed in throughout helps with the feelings of how Jin does not fit in with the school he now goes to. He is constantly part of the unpopular crowd and sees himself as not fitting in which may relate with many students at any age. Fitting in may be one of the toughest things for students to do so the fact that this book uses that as a main point would help create some pretty interesting discussions and class opinions.

            My main sticking point with this story was how Jin in the end stuck with his best friend Wei-Chen and how he took Jin back after everything that happened. Best friends always stick together through thick and thin and in the end this is a similar story and is something that everyone should read about many times. The best friend view is also something that can be taught and expanded on that many students could relate within their own lives and use as a stepping stone for friendships. This book has great teaching points, I am just not sure the book would relate to everyone so the teacher would have to work hard to keep everyone happy and excited about this book. 

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