It’s not easy being Green

            The next book for class is a graphic novel, American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang. My first taste of a graphic novel came during the last English class when we had a chance to create a comic based on a profile essay. I can see why some prefer a graphic instead of all text. It is easier to read and the drawings help to interpret what is happening. Although I have not personally read any graphic novels before this assignment, I had a blast creating a comic. I loved the chance to be creative in the pictures as well as the words and I hope to find reasons to create more.

           

As far as American Born Chinese, it is three different stories braided throughout the book. They all have one theme – something about the main character makes them different and not accepted. One, for example, is a monkey. He tries hard to hide that fact. The thing is, it is not possible to hide who you are. The closest who is able is Danny, until his cousin is around. When Danny is on his own, he gets away with people not knowing his background. Once everyone is aware of who his cousin is, then they believe that Danny is more like that, and Danny is bullied and eventually switches schools. Since he is on the basketball team, he wants to be able to stay, and confides in someone on the team who says it will be ok, and the friend may even mean it. Then there is the third story with Jin. At first, he is one of the only Asian students. Mostly, he sounds shy and like he wishes he could fit in and does not more because he is awkward more than anything. He makes friends with Wei-chen. While Wei-chen learns to be more American, he also teaches Jin to be more forward. I like their dialogue because it could be any two guys talking about girls and how to get through life. It will be interesting to see how all of the stories end.