American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. First Edition. New York, NY: Square Fish, 2008. ISBN 13 978-0312384487 $18.99 240 pages Ages 12 & up

Genre: graphic novel, school life, culture clash, slice of life

Awards

Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award

National Book Award Finalist

Booklist Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth

NPR Holiday Pick

Publishers Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year

The Reuben Award for Best Comic Book

The Chinese American Librarians Association 2006/2007 Best Book Award

Eisner Awards 2007- Best Graphic Album- New

Time Magazine Top Ten Comic of the Year

Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel /Comic of the Year

Summary:

This graphic novel contains three seemingly unrelated stories that tie together in the end. The main story concerns Jin Wang and his struggles to fit in and attract the attention of his crush, a cute All-American blond.  Then we have the folktale of the Monkey King's journey after he is denied his seat with the gods. In the third story Danny must deal with his annoying cousin, Chin-Kee.

Open-end & cut-back to title

How far are you willing to go to fit in?  What would you do to make someone else like you?  What happens when someone keeps making your life miserable? This graphic novel ties all these questions together and shares a glimpse of what it is to be American Born Chinese.

Pros & Cons:

If you note the award list, you'll see that Mr. Yang certainly did something right here and I would honestly agree. The book is a fun read and ties in a beautiful message about being yourself and fitting in. The cons here would be if you have some Chinese blood in you as I do, please be prepared to laugh and try not to cringe at the stereotypes here.  The absurdity is one of the points and I would recommend reading this to anyone that has issues or wants to know more about "fitting in" and sometimes not as you can see in the drawing below! Go, Chin-Kee!

Feed by M. T. Anderson

Anderson, M. T.. Feed. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002.

ISBN 9780763617264 $16.99 237 pages

Genre: Science Fiction

Awards: (Anderson, 2012)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner
New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year
Boston Globe-Horn BookAwards – Honor Book
Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
Chicago Public Library Best Books for Children and Teens
ALA (American Library Association) Best Books for Young Adults
Junior Library Guild Selection
Volunteer State Book Award Master List (Tennessee)
Riverbank Review Children’s Books of Distinction
Book Sense 76 Top 10 Picks
Horn Book Fanfare
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books – Bulletin Blue Ribbons
Booklist Editors’ Choice

National Book Award Finalist

Annotation:

Titus, like most of the people he knows, lives his life filtered through the feed. The transmitter implanted in his head works miracles by letting him instandtly chat with his friends, listen to new music just by thinking about it and learn about great bargains from his favorite brands. Life is pretty easy going for our hero until he stares across the room and sees beautiful Violet. Violet doesn’t go to SchoolTM and actually wants to see the forests.

Book Whisper technique

For Titus, life is just about perfect - except for the occasional ennui and those weird lesions that everyone is getting – until on a Moon trip he meets Violet and everything he thought he knew starts to slowly unravel in Feed.

Index card

Titus & fiends are “average” teens

Everyone is connected to the feed

Life is simple and concrete.

Story begins with a casual trip to the moon.

Titus meets Violet.

Hacker incident lets the lovers grow closer.

Violet is different and fun. Everything seems “new’ to her.

Moon incident left lingering issues.

Back on Earth, the couple gets closer.

Growing problems with the feed

Life quickly becomes uncertain.

Find out more about the book and author here!

M. T. Anderson. "Feed" M. T. Anderson. 2012. 25 Aug 2012 <http://mt-anderson.com/blog/his-books/books-for-teens-and-adults/feed-2/>.

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Funke, Cornelia. Reckless. 1st paperback. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2010.  ISBN 978 0316 056076 $8.99. 394 pages

Genre: Fantasy, action, fairytale

Snap n' Read booktalk:

 Ever since their father disappeared, Jacob Reckless has been escaping into the Mirror World where fairy tales are brutally real and even the trees are lethal but no matter what excitement, fame, or treasure Jacob finds there he always returns to his little brother, Will.  Things quickly go wrong when Will follows him one day and falls under a dark spell. Can Jacob save his brother in time?  From page 61:

  The voices of the will-o'-the wisps filled the air like the hum of bees. The raven cawed somewhere in the trees.  But Clara was listening for another sound: the sharp snipping that haddarkened Jacob's face with worry and had made him go back to the forest.  What was waiting out there, turning even the house of a child-eater into a safe haven?[read quickly & dramatically] Snip-Snap.  There it was again. Like the snapping of metallic teeth. [pause]  Clara backed away from the fence.  Long shadows were growing toward the house, and she felt the same fear as a child when she was alone and heard steps in the hallway.She should have told Will what his brother was planning.  He would never forgive her if Jacob didn't come back.He would come back.[pause]He had to come back.[pause and then read slowly]They'd never find their way home without him.

 

Check out more here from the book's website!