Expectation: Students are EXPECTED to read the book critically. When you enter the class at the beginning of the year, there will be an assessment to determine the depth of your reading and the critical thinking used to connect to the Author’s Purpose and Style, Themes, Characters, Setting, and Point of View.
Purpose: We read during the summer to ensure we cover the material necessary for the next year and beyond… What Research Says About Reading:
The following points are from “Reading In and Out of Schools,” a publication prepared by the Educational Testing Service for the U.S. Department of Education, and Patterns of Reading Practice, a publication of The Institute for Academic Excellence.
- The amount of reading that students do for school and do out of school are both positively related to their reading achievement.
- Students who reported discussing their reading had higher average reading achievement than students who reported never having this opportunity.
- When ranked according to the amount of reading they do, students in the top 5 percent read 144 times more than students in the bottom 5 percent.
American Born Chinese Novel by Gene Luen Yang
A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.
American Born Chinese is a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, an Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring and a 2007 Bank Street – Best Children’s Book of the Year.
Tips:
“What is a Graphic Novel? (Part I)”: A Literary Guide for English Students and Teachers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPES7Z2fjIY