Reading Response for American Born Chinese

Reading Response for American Born Chinese

Please answer five of the eight questions.

This response is due on July 5.

An A quality response for this response should include at least one reference to a required reading/audio or video clip.

This assignment is worth is 50 points.

1) If you are not an experienced reader of graphic novels, describe/discuss your reading of American Born Chinese. Was it difficult to get used to reading a story in this format? Did you enjoy the experience?

This was the first graphic novel I have ever read. Having been a huge fan of comics as a kid, I was excited to have the visual aspect of the story. I found myself looking closely at the panels and experiencing how they added to my impressions of the book. I loved the onomatopoeia and found the HAHAHAHA’s and the CLAPCLAPCLAP’s at the base of the Chin-kee panels powerful to my interpretation of the story. I definitely got the V for Visual Literacy, as described in Gail de Vos’s article The A B C’s of Graphic Novels, that “Comic book artists play with every possible visual element.” The sounds effects, the color and graphics, the angles and varying text all added to the experience. I enjoyed it.

5) Racism also plays a major role in the overall theme of American Born Chinese. For me, Yang handles this troubling theme with genius. Please write a thoughtful paragraph about the theme of coping with racism in this novel.

I was impressed with how subtle this story exposed the racism that occurs for the American Born Chinese. Each storyline representing an aspect of the cultural that an American born Chinese most likely experiences. The spiritual story of the Monkey king, representing China. The story of Jin Wang, an American born of Chinese lineage, representing the coupling of two cultures. One that is imbibed through family and family history; the other through everyday experiences outside of the family. The third story, of Chin-kee, which exposes the very ugly root of American stereotypes of the Chinese. Through these stories and their panels, a subtle impression on the cultural challenges and racist views of a person with dual cultural identities. The stories are non-threatening, and funny, and awkward and embarrassing. The reader leaves the book realizing that there are subtle sides to the nature of racism.

6) Yang delicately balances the difficult themes of coming of age, the search for identity, and coping with racism with humor. Please locate and list five panels (with the page number) which you personally find humorous. Of these five panels, which is your favorite? Why?

Panels on pages: 26, 55, 78, 95, 106. The funniest panel for me was the panel on 106. For me it was spot on. His big, goofy smile and the feeling to the yes, running down the walls and resting on the bed like a warm, satisfying blanket. This is a beautiful image capturing how good it feels to have the person you like, say yes.

7) My 5th graders are big readers of graphic novels, but the content of American Born Chinese is probably too mature for most of them. Identifying the audience and determining age appropriateness are two difficult tasks when building a graphic novel collection for teens. Who do you think the audience (the teens most likely to read the book) for American Born Chinese is? What age group do you think the book is most appropriate for? Book reviews at amazon.com and on the Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database (accessible via UTK’s library databases) might help you to answer this question.

I think this book, if displayed, would easily be picked up by those enticed by the cover and then the graphics. The ‘appropriateness’ would be dependent on the individual child and their opportunities to discuss what they are reading. Amazon states this book is for 12 to 17, grade levels 7 and up. To get the most from this book, these age groups would most likely be the ones to understand the layers of this novel if opportunities for discussion where not part of the reading experience.

8) American Born Chinese is a National Book Award finalist and a Printz Medal winner, thanks in part I believe to the brilliant plot twist at the end of the narrative. Write a short paragraph in which you discuss your thoughts and feelings as you read the final pages of the book.

I really struggled with the Chin-kee story line. I felt embarrassed, and swear, I have seen a televised version of the Chin-kee character as a child. I remembered it being funny then and now it made me squirm. The surprise ending was poignant and yet encouraging for Jin Wang. It nicely brought all three stories into each other and I was ready for that, as just a few pages before I was wondering where it was going. My favorite panels are the one on page 160, where Wong Lai-Tsao and the Monkey King begin their journey to the west; and the fourth panel on page 223, where the Monkey King tells Jin Wang that he would have saved a lot of time if he would have only “only realized how good it is to be a monkey.” I interpreted that as realized how good it is to be American and Chinese. To take the strengths and opportunities that both offer and forget the rest.

Bibliography

de Vos, G. (2005, February). The A B C'S of graphic novels. Resource Links, 10.3, p. 30. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A130350418&v=2.1&u=tel_k_rms&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&asid=d8669b89978e5d5e47a2c249b651df86

Yang, G. L. (2006). American Born Chinese. New York: Square Fish.