American Born Chinese Response

First off, I have been a long time reader and collector of comic books since I was a kid.  That is my favorite hobby/interest.  Saying that, I have never heard of this one until this class.  I have always thought that comic books and graphic novels got a bad rap because of what they are.  It is great to finally see graphic novels becoming so popular.  Not only are they great material, they are great because they can be gateways to reading books.  Not that one is better than the other, but they go hand in had.  I don't imagine you will find a comic book reader who also isn't interested in books, but you wont necessarily find book readers who all read comics.  This book was good because it takes the theme of so many other adolescent books and puts it to a comic book.  This is a fun coming of age story that is put in comic book format, making it twenty times better in my opinion!  As someone who started reading with comic books, I definetly understand how comics can make students more interested in reading.  I think that this would be an okay book for anyone in middle school or high school, but may be hard to push for late high schoolers.  Since I have become an adult, I don't really care how most people see comic books or don't.  I know that i used to keep it almost a secret because people used to see it as a stage for kids, and adults who read comics are just overgrown kids.  Most of the comics out today are geared to older audiences.  The numbers show the growth in popularity of graphic novels and i think that this book is a great intro.  It may have some suggestive themes like peeing on the statue, but all coming of age books have some type of risky piece involved.