by Jen Wang | by Sara Varon
As a Chinese American myself, Jen Wang's Stargazing has a special spot in my library. Not only does the story bring color and life to the often-marginalized stories and experiences of Chinese-American youth, but it also presents itself in an accessible and unique format. Graphic novels have become recently more accepted in upper education classrooms (middle and high school) as text sources that have the potential to engage a larger variety of readers and offers an entirely new opportunity for creativity and challenge in the classroom; and in some cases, the graphic novel format even emphasizes themes and details that would likely be overlooked in the traditional print format. Especially for the story told in Stargazing (and later in New Shoes), the illustrations and art within these pages are essential to the characterization of Christine (and later Francis').
But, first things first... before we can dive into the details and discover the mysteries hidden within such crafts, it might help to provide a brief recap of our stories at hand.
STARGAZING
Drawing from her own childhood, Jen Wang weaves a tale about two young girls trying to find their places in the world, specifically as it pertains to growing up in Chinese American families and finding the balance in where exactly they fit in. Perhaps one of the most disorienting challenges that Chinese American adolescents face is understanding their role in both Chinese and American perspectives, since both cultures are distinctly different and it can often feel as though neither culture is familiar. While Christine is the embodiment of the traditional Chinese American youth, devoted to doing well in school, practicing violin, and learning Chinese, Moon represents everything Christine wishes she could be: confident, funny, and not asian, in terms of lifestyle, that is (p. 47). As the two friends become closer, Moon introduces Christine to a whole new world where vegetarian dishes, nail polish, dance routines, and starry dreams thrive, and Christine finds herself longing for Moon's spirited persona and lifestyle. But not everything is as it seems, and Christine comes to realize that even Moon was fighting her own battles. The juxtaposition of the two girls' lives emphasize that although they both share many of the same identities (young, Chinese American, girls, ) their experiences and personalities are still totally different. Essentially, Christine and Moon's friendship challenges Christine to find new ways in which she can express her own interests, regardless of whether or not they fit into the perfect mold that others have encouraged her to fill.
NEW SHOES
Sara Varon brings to life the lives hidden in the jungles of Guyana; using her own photos and research from her travels to Guyana, South America, Varon creates a magical setting in which readers are introduced to the flora and fauna of the local region as they follow Francis' adventure. Francis, a renowned shoemaker, prides himself on making shoes out of only the best materials. But when he is forced to venture out of his comfort zone to retrieve the missing delivery of Wild Tiger Grass, he realizes that his role in the community is so much more than just providing high-quality shoes; with the help of his friends and the new encounters that he faces along the way, Francis comes to understand that his customers valued his work, not for the shoes in and of themselves, but for the thoughtfulness that Francis put into each pair in order to best meet the unique needs of his customers. Through quirky illustrations and skilled attention to detail, Varon records Francis' maturation and character development, which might come across as seemingly small yet it mimics a fundamentally critical stage young children are expected to reach.
What's mInD-bLoWiNg to me this week was the use of graphic novel features to encourage teachers and readers to recognize the social-emotional development that our characters experience and to become conscious of such development when it is present in our children's environments. In other words, both Jen Wang and Sara Varon, whether they were aware of it or not, utilized the graphic novel format in order to tell their story in ways that went far beyond the surface-level plot line. Their use of graphic novels allows teachers and readers to exercise, develop, and mature social-emotional skills when concepts such as reading body language, acknowledging inner dialogue, naming feelings and emotions, engaging in self-reflection, and dealing with social-emotional situations in effective ways. The value of using books as a platform from which teachers can help students realize how their attitudes and behaviors are interpreted by those around them cannot be overlooked (Laminack and Kelly p. 117). Interpersonal relationship skills are critical for students to learn, and studying and practicing such skills with students allows teachers the opportunity to instill more effective, accepting, and responsive cultural norms and behaviors in their students.
New Shoes illustrates the intentionality behind this craft in a more simplistic, yet nonetheless equally as brilliant, manner, compared to Stargazing. One brief example from this text would be any time that the panels rely on Francis' body language to convey his thoughts and feelings (indirect vs. direct characterization)(1.1). Developing such awareness where children and adolescents can infer that a character is feeling or thinking a specific way is crucial for social-emotional development and eventually leads to effective communication and interpersonal skills when readers can transfer this practice to interactions in their own
In addition, allowing the reader to see an entire scene through two different perspectives encourages students to consider how their own thinking and feelings differ from those around them (1.2). This critical period in development can even be supported by child development theorist Jean Piaget's egocentrism concept, which recognizes the importance for children to move from a me-centered thought process to an us-centered thought process. Tracing these instances where the panels themselves direct the reader's attention to such reflection and details throughout the book yields a pattern that follows Francis as he works through this social-emotional developmental stage.
Stargazing has numerous instances where Jen Wang's brilliance shines through her use of graphic novel features, too. With regards to social-emotional intelligence and development, Wang's incorporation of scenes where the reader must rely on Christine's body language are well balanced with scenes where the reader is able to "hear" her inner dialogue, be that through her tone or her thoughts. In addition, the scenes where Moon names her feelings and talks about how to deal with them normalizes such emotions and allows readers to reflect on how to healthily handle them. Both Christine and Moon represent a number of more complex emotions that are typically difficult to name and appropriately deal with, such as jealousy, self-confidence, frustration, and self-doubt. Encouraging students to engage with these emotions is extremely healthy and affirming, especially as readers are able to follow the character's development. Here, Christine is seen dealing with a number of complex emotions that may or may not be familiar to different readers, but allowing the reader to see how these moments develop and are resolved encourages students to modify and/or reflect on their own responses, were they ever in a similar situation. *See activity below for more detailed analysis.
BOOK COMPARISON CHART
TRY IT!!!
Direct student attention to Christine's facial expressions and body language throughout these two scenes/strips. QUESTIONS: what exactly is she feeling/thinking? How do you know? If there were thought bubbles for Christine, what would they say? Have you ever experienced something where you felt like Christine? How did you handle it?
[use arrows to navigate pages]
Example Analysis for Stargazing spread (Teacher Reference):
In the first spread, we see Christine and Moon sitting together outside after Moon got into a fight. One of the most impressive panels is when Moon names and identifies her feelings of ANGER. This first step seems simple, but it is fact critical for social-emotional intelligence. Now that Moon knows the emotions, she is able to work through ways in which she can deal with such an intense feeling. We can see from her body language that she is conflicted with what the school counselor said to her about her mom and we can sense her reserve with regards to trusting this school counselor. Maybe we can infer that she is defensive of her mom and their family lifestyle or maybe she feels "at fault" for some part of her family's situation (bottom panels on page 100). We can also read Christine's body language; her posture (more so on page 101) suggests that she wants to help Moon but does not necessarily know how. In the last panel on page 100, her facial expression may suggest that she never realized that Moon was fighting her own battles, too.
Comentários