American Born Chinese VS. Naruto

* I read American Born Chinese over Christmas break and I absolutely loved it.  I couldn't put the book down, and I finished it in 45 minutes.  I felt the message of American Born Chinese was inspiring for students because it showed the life of Chinese born in America. This book showed some stereotypes of Chinese through the language. I think it was sad that Wei-Chen changed at the end of the novel in order to fit in with the rest of his peers at school, including Kin.  I think the ending of this story has a good message for students to learn, and that is to be yourself no matter your background. 

* Unfortunately, I didn't care for Naruto as much as American Born Chinese.  Reading Naruto took me a little longer to finish than American Born Chinese because I kept getting confused and lost throughout the story.  I got confused with the different characters and the way this book was read.  I can see male students getting interested in this graphic novel because it does involve a young ninja in training and there is some battle scenes.  

* When it came to the text and dialogue I liked American Born Chinese's format better. I liked the colors and the pictures of American Born Chinese.  The pictures were easy to follow.  The balloons were clear and I knew exactly what I should read next. The white bubble with black text was easy to read. The narration was easy to follow and the words were clear and easy.  I liked how this novel was broken up between the different stories of the different characters.  When Gene Luen Yang wanted to show a sound effect, the words were written in big, bold lettering and usually a symbol like stars were around the word. In Naruto the text was in all black, white, and grey.  Because the text was also black, some words were not as easy to read.  I thought it was really creative on Masashi Kishimoto's part to start the book from the back to the front and read from right to left.  Although I thought this was creative, trying to read some of the pictures got confusing.  When I got to the pages on the left with a lot of boxes I wasn't too sure which box I was suppose to read first at times.  The pictures in this book were very detailed.  The balloons were big with bold text, which was easy to read most of the time. Not every page in Naruto was numbered and I wish that they were. Just like American Born Chinese, Naruto has sound effects and the text is in a different font than the rest of the text and is bigger and bolder. 

* I think the characters in both books were very creative.  It takes a lot of time to write a graphic novel because it is more than just writing words.  I liked in Naruto how the author provides the very first sketch on page 60. Something as small as goggles becomes very detailed.  I think the characters in Naruto were more detailed.  I liked the characters in American Born Chinese too. The colors in American Born Chinese really helped bring the characters out.  In American Born Chinese I feel there were more detailed objects such as bookshelves, detention slips, a diner, and a car. Although they are cartoonish, the objects help make this graphic novel. In Naruto the detail of the town on page 86 is amazing. 

* I wish Naruto would have some type of boarder.  The text covers the whole page and it is so much text. American Born Chinese has a nice boarder, but may have a little bit too much white space on certain pages.  Naruto has clear gutters dividing each box. The gutters in American Born Chinese aren’t as thick, but the different boxes are distinguishable. Like I said, I like the backwards layout of Naruto but the backwards reading becomes challenging in some areas.  I like the clear color in American Born Chinese to help bring the story to life.

* In American Born Chinese there are a lot of medium shots of the characters, and in Naruto had medium shots with some close-ups.  In Naruto there weren’t really any full-figure shots. In American Born Chinese there is a full-body shot of the “Monkey King.” I think a full-body shot is effective because it helps readers see the whole character.  There are a lot of head-shoulder shots in both novels, helping readers see the emotions and reactions on the characters’ faces.

* American Born Chinese can identify with people because at some point people may try to change their appearance and behavior to fit in.  There is conflict in this novel between Wei-Chen and Jin. Amelia and Jin also have a conflict because Jin likes her.  The “Monkey King” has conflicts too. In Naruto he has a conflict in trying to pass as a ninja.