Flotsam and American born Chinese

Last night was a productive evening of reading. I finished Flotsam, the 2007 Caldecott medal winner and American born Chinese, the 2007 Printz award winner.

Yang, Gene.

American born Chinese / Gene Luen Yang ; color by Lark Pien.-- New York : First Second, 2006.

233 p. : col. ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781596431522

Subjects:
Chinese Americans--Comic books, strips, etc.
Christian fiction
Graphic novels
Identity--Comic books, strips, etc.
Schools--Comic books, strips, etc.
Self-acceptance in adolescence--Comic books, strips, etc.
Self-acceptance--Comic books, strips, etc.

741.5973

Annotation:
The stories of Monkey, Sovereign Ruler of Flower-Fruit Mountain, who wants to be accepted into heaven, Jin Wang desperately trying to fit in to his new suburban American school, and Danny a high school student mortified by visits from his outrageously behaved cousin from China, Chin-Kee are expertly drawn together in this graphic novel

Review:
The stories of Monkey, Sovereign Ruler of Flower-Fruit Mountain, who wants to be accepted into heaven, Jin Wang desperately trying to fit in to his new suburban American school, and Danny a high school student mortified by visits from his outrageously behaved cousin from China, Chin-Kee are as expertly drawn together in this graphic novel as are narrative and illustration. Both in drawing and telling Yang has captured vivid essential elements to excite the reader’s imagination. His faces are expressive and his characters act realistically, even in the most imaginative fantasy sequences. His smoothly inked lines make this a work that could easily be transformed into animation without loss of characteristic style.

In one sequence Jin Wang chides his friend Wei-Chen to “Stop acting like such an F.O.B!” someone Fresh Off the Boat, still an alien to American culture. At the Chinese Community Center in Bellaire, Texas, the Chinese American students learning Mandarin use another acronym, A.B.C., American Born Chinese. It’s sometime used as a synonym for the uncomplimentary terms, “banana, or Twinkie," someone who has so assimilated into American Anglo culture that they have lost all connection to Chinese culture. In Yang’s work Danny is a banana. He wants so desperately to be accepted by his peers in high school that he cannot accept himself.

The Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association, gave the 2007 Printz Award to Yang for American Born Chinese. It is the first time that a graphic novel has been honored in this way. The Michael L. Printz Award is an award for a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature.

Wiesner, David.

Flotsam / David Wiesner. -- New York : Clarion Books, c2006.

[40] p. : chiefly ill. ; 24 x 30 cm.
ISBN: 9780618194575

Subjects:
Beaches--Pictorial works
Cameras--Pictorial works
Seas and oceans--Pictorial works
Stories without words.

759.13

Annotation:
In a series of imaginative watercolors Wiesner depicts a boy on a beach. He finds a camera as a bit of flotsam. When he has the film developed he discovers a series of fantastic images: mechanical fish, octopi lounging on overstuffed chairs in their living room, starfish islands rising up to stretch, tiny underwater flying saucers, and finally, a self-portrait of the last child who found the camera holding a picture of the previous child who found the camera, holding a picture of the previous child who found the camera, holding a picture of the previous child who found the camera, and so forth for ten regressions. The boy takes a picture of himself and casts the camera upon the waves to continue its cycle.