12. Extra Reading: American Born Chinese

Citation:

            Yang, Gene Lucn. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. print.

Annotation:

Jin Wang is an Asian American student trying to fit in at school.  Unfortunately at school he encounters some racism and ignorance from other students.

Justification for Rejection:

The story in this graphic novel really does not make sense.  In the beginning of the graphic novel there are three different storylines.  The storyline about Jin Wang appears to be the main focus of the graphic novel, the monkey king story looks like an introduction into Chinese mythology, and the story about Chin-Kee seems like some bad racist joke that made no sense.  At the end of the graphic novel all three stories come together and that really seems to mess up the story about Jin Wang, because up until that point the main plot seemed to be realistic fiction.  So not only did all of the storylines not make sense, but at the end the main story line goes from making sense, to extreme bizarreness.

The text in the graphic novel does go with the illustrations.  The use of color seemed to add an interesting dimension to the graphic novel, because graphic novels are usually in black and white.  The characters are drawn the same throughout the novel.  The drawings and text do keep the reader traveling though the storyline.

The entire graphic novel did have teen appeal.  Jin Wang’s high school drama will speak to the teens about fitting in with their peers and the racism that minority groups sometimes have to deal with.  The story of the monkey king will interest teens with its colorful telling of Chinese mythology.  Chin-Kee’s story would speak to the teenage audience about being publicly humiliated, by an embarrassing relative. 

Although this graphic novel had some positive elements to it the main downer about this book is how the storyline did not make any sense.  If the author would have kept Jin Wang’s story serious and the monkey king tale as an interesting introduction to Chinese culture, then the graphic novel would have been way better.  The Chin-Kee story seemed completely unnecessary and distracts the reader from the rest of the story. 

Genre:      

Graphic Novel / Multicultural              

11. Extra Reading: Rainbow Boys

Citation:

Sanchez, Alex. Rainbow Boys. New York: Simon Pulse, 2001. Book.

Annotation:

Kyle, Jason, and Nelson are all at different stages of accepting their homosexuality.  These high school teens face trials every day from confusion, homophobia, and coming out to their parents. 

Justification for Nomination:

This book explored not just the coming of age for one boy, but three.  Each of them was trying to fit in with their peers and be accepted by their parents.  All of them had to work towards accepting who they are.

The language used in the story made the characters feel very authentic.  In this book the author occasionally uses italics to put more emphasis on words being used in the story.  Key vocabulary in the story reminds the reader that this is a GLBT book.

The narrative in this story is limited omniscient and that is because the narrator only knows what the character knows.  An interesting component of the narrative style is the point of view shift between the three boys.  To help the reader remember what character they are reading about the three names are listed at the bottom of every page and the relevant name is highlighted.

All of the characters in this story matured in different ways from the beginning to the end of the story.  Jason at the start of the book is very much in denial about being gay and this is causing him extreme confusion.  By the end of the book he comes to accept that he is gay and this is not something he can control.  Kyle accepts that he is gay, but through the course of the book he has to deal with people finding out and dealing with telling his parents.  Nelson accepts he is gay, his mom is very supportive, and the whole schools know.  The issue he has to deal with is body image issues.  By the end of the book Nelson learns to respect himself. 

The dialogue in the book feels very real.  Instead of tagging the dialogue, the author puts a lot of actions that the characters are doing right along with it.  That style helps let the reader know who is talking in a less odd feeling way.

The plot of this book is very thrilling.  This author keeps the reader frantically reading trying to figure out what would happen next in the story.  The pot has some interesting twists, like how Kyle’s mom finds out he is gay.

Genre:

Coming of Age / Romance / GLBT                 

10. Humor: The Adventures of Blue Avenger

Citation:

Howe, Norma. The Adventures of Blue Avenger. New York: Henry Holt and Company, Inc., 1999. Book.

 

Annotation:

David changes his name to Blue Avenger.  This name change gives him the courage to be brave and help people.  During his exploits David explores the possibility of pre-determinism.

Justification for Nomination:

This book was flowing with humor from when David changed his name to the quirky discussions of pre-determinism.  Another attempt at humor is when the book would talk about the chain of events that led up to something happening in the book.  Even the very first part of the book where David discusses if his Dad was killed by an ice cream cone or a spider on windshield was humorous.

The language in the book reflected how a sixteen year old would talk, especially in the arguments with his ten year old brother.  Curse words are something that the main character morally objected to so when someone swore in the book symbols were used instead of the word.  Colorful vocabulary words like monkeyshines really added to the humor of the story.

Omniscient is the style that was used in this book.  It was Omniscient style because not only did the narrator know what the characters were thinking, but also events that were distantly outside of any knowledge of characters was also know by the narrator.  The narrator’s point of view really helps add to the humor.

David changes as a character right in the beginning with the name change.  As Blue he frequently thinks that he is doing something David would have been unable to do.  After his initial change of personalities Blue remains a pretty steady character.  He is always looking for some good to do for others and is working to meet his ultimate goals as a hero. 

The dialogue in the book seems to flow pretty naturally complete with interruptions.  The speaker of the dialogue is marked with tags of he said, she said.  Things beside dialogue that were added in this particular story are emails and news paper articles. 

This book was 230 pages, but because of the large print it was a really fast read.  That caused the books plot to move really fast.  Blue and the other characters were so quirky the plot stayed very exciting.  It was a treat to keep reading to see what zany thing was going to happen next. 

Genre:

Humor           

9. ALEX Award Winner: Soulless

            Citation:

            Carriger, Gail. Soulless. New York: Orbit, 2009. Book.

Annotation:

Alexia an English spinster accidently kills a vampire at an upper-class ball.  This leads to an adventure that involves werewolves, vampires, and fanatical scientists. 

Justification for Nomination:

This book was written for adults, but defiantly has a teen appeal.  The main character is searching for her place in society and is not content with only being that out of control spinster.  The world this book takes place in is Victorian steam punk and that is also something teens really seem to be into right now.

This book was written from the limited omniscient perspective.  That is because even though the book has been written in the third person only the thoughts of the main character are known.  Characters in the book are interesting and full of depth.  This is especially true of the main character and from the beginning of the book to the end she gains bravery and social class.  Although Alexia cannot help the fact that she is part Italian and Italians are frowned upon by British high society.

The dialogue in this story felt very real and was entertaining.  Key vocabulary words were used that gave the since of the book taking place in Victorian London.  Some of those words were sensibilities, spinster, and coquette.  The author is English so that was probably a good factor in how authentic the British dialogue sounded.

The plot had mystery as well as action and that kept things moving at a thrilling and rapid pace.  From sneaking out of her home, to fighting werewolves, and vampires the excitement was really intense.  It was really hard to put the book down until the very end. 

Genre:

Fantasy / Horror / Paranormal / Mystery

8. Challenged or Censored Title: Vampire Academy

            Citation:

            Mead, Richelle. Vampire Academy. New York: RAZORBILL, 2007. Book.

Annotation:

Ever since Rose miraculously survived a horrific car accident, she has been feeling her best friend Lissa’s emotions and even occasionally ending up in Lissa’s mind.  To make matters worse after two years on the run they have finally been captured and dragged back to St. Vladimir’s Academy just in time for their senior year of high school.

Justification for Nomination:  

This book was banned by a school district in Texas for language and nudity.  As far as the language complaint was concerned the book contained only one mild swear word.  There was really no nudity described in the book.  So it is unclear what the Texas school district was talking about unless they meant the two mild sexual situations that appeared in the book.  If that was the case that is what the school board should have said they meant, because it is not clear why the book is banned for language and nudity.

The book is written in first person, with Rose as the main character.  As a character Rose changes from the beginning to the end.  At the very start of the book she thought she knew her best friend very well and she also felt that she was a very good bodyguard for Lissa.  By the end of the book she has faced one of the creatures that she is supposed to be protecting Lissa from and comes to the realization how very weak she really is.  Not only that, but she learns Lissa is not just her sweet innocent friend, that Lissa has a dark side.  These events and others cause Rose to mature as a person by the end of the book. 

This author really made the dialogue sound like the average high school students.  Some of the dialogue was tagged with actions and who said the words, but mostly the dialogue was left unmarked.  The dialogue also felt more natural in this book because of the pauses and complete interruptions added to it. 

The plot of the story was very engaging, because of the wide variety of problems happening to the main character in the book.  She is dealing with being in trouble for running away, vicious rumors about her, helping her best friend, a love interest, and grueling training for becoming a bodyguard.  The end of the book was also very exciting, so the author did a good job of keeping the reader engaged throughout the entire book.   

Genre:

Fantasy / Paranormal / Thriller           

7. Romance: Intertwined

Citation:

            Showalter, Gena. Intertwined. Ontario: Harlequin Teen, 2009. eBook.

Annotation:

Since meeting Mary Ann, Aden has become a magnet for the paranormal.  Witches, goblins, fairies, vampires, and werewolves are all after him.  To make things even weirder Aden is now dating the princess of the vampires. 

Justification for Nomination:

This book truly fits into the romance category because of the adventure undertaken by the main characters, as well as the budding romantic relationships in the book.  The writing style took on a very interesting style of using a point of view shift in the book.  Because of the point of view shift between Mary Ann and Aden it felt like the book had two main characters.  The narrative style was limited omniscient, because the narrative voice only know what the character point of view it was covering at the time and not what the other characters were thinking and doing. 

Both main characters change from the beginning to the end of the story.  Mary Ann was an innocent happy girl; she changes when she learns about the harmful secrets people keep and when she discovers the world of the paranormal.  Aden was a tortured person that shared his body with four other souls.  He changes because of friendship, finding a girlfriend, and discovering he is not the only freak in town.

In this story the dialogue really does not consist of he said she said.  Many of the statements are untagged and many times the main characters thoughts and actions continue between the statements said out loud.  Despite the actions and thoughts interrupting the conversation, the conversations still seem to flow really smoothly in the book.

Even though there was some intense action in the beginning of the story, it took a good one hundred pages to get involved in the story.  Over all the story was good and got very thrilling at the climax near the end.  The end was a cliffhanger and really drives the reader to want to run out and get the next book.  That seems to be a really common element for romance. 

Genre:

Romance / Paranormal / Fantasy