Warm-Up Complete the Anticipation Guide for American Born Chinese. For each item, write TRUE or FALSE and then explain why that is your opinion underneath each one.

American Born Chinese Book Trailer

Gene Yang – Book Talk

Graphic Novel Terms and Concepts

What is a graphic novel? Definition: A narrative work, often told in first person or autobiographical form, in which the story is conveyed to the reader using art

Graphic Novels vs. Comic Books LENGTH: some up to 400-500 pages long RESOLVED STORY ARC THEMES: more real world themes like identity, religion, death, fitting in, personal struggles SPLASH PAGES: used for mood, a strong emotion LENGTH: Between 30-40 pages USUALLY PRINTED IN SERIAL FORM THEMES: superheroes, comedy SPLASH PAGES: used for big reveals or cliff hangers

How do you read a graphic novel? A graphic novel is "not only something one reads but something one sees as well...[it is] like reading and watching a movie at the same time” (Gallo and Weiner, 115).

How do you read a graphic novel? Read from left to right like a traditional book Words and dialogue are the primary focus with the image coming in second Transitions happen much faster in a graphic novel compared to a regular book Read the text first, then look at the image within that panel before moving on to the text in the next panel

How do you read a graphic novel? A rule to remember: the bigger the panel, the more time you should spend looking at it and analyzing it.

Layout Panel: a section, usually a box, containing a combination of image and text in endless variety. Panels offer a different experience than simply reading the text.

Layout Frame: the lines and borders that contain the panels Gutter: the space between framed panels (contrast the gutters on page 62 with page 63) Bleed: an image that extends to/beyond the edge of the page

Layout Foreground: the parts closest to the viewer Midground: The artist places an image centered or off centered to create visual tension . Background: provides additional information for the reader, such as time period and setting

Figures Faces: Some faces depict an actual person, others are symbolic. They can be dramatic when placed against a detailed backdrop They can be drawn without much expression or detail, which invites the audience to figure out what the character is thinking. This is called an “open blank”

Figures Hands and Feet: the position of hands and feet can be used to express what is happening in the story. Hands with palms out might suggest surprise. Hands over the mouth might depict fear, shame, or shyness. Feet that appear in motion might create a sense of panic, urgency.

Text Captions: these boxes contain a variety of text elements, such as scene-setting, description (page 73) Special-Effects lettering: highlights or draws attention to the text. Think about onomatopoeia in Batman comic strips (Blam! Pow!) (page 17) Speech balloons: these enclose dialogue and come from a specific speaker’s mouth. External dialogue is speech between characters (45) Internal dialogue is a thought enclosed by a balloon that has a series of dots or bubbles going up to it. (97)

Graphic Novel Practice Use the handout with the panels to practice identifying and labeling terms and concepts associated with the graphic novel. Write all over it. Use arrows, lines, etc. to mark the different features.

Summarizer One word to describe your thoughts about ABC