Exploring Learning

Boxers and Saints boxed set Boxers and Saints by Gene Luen Yang Boxers and Saints are two graphic novels that tell the same story from a different perspective of one of the most controversial episodes of modern Chinese history. I read Saints first. In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, the protagonist is a young girl who, born as the fourth and only surviving child, on the fourth day of the fourth month is deemed bad luck. Synonymous with death, Four Girl is shunned and miserable in a village that has no place for her. She is taken in by Christian missionaries and finds, for the first time, a home with them. As the Boxer Rebellion gains momentum, Vibiana (as her new name is given to her by the foregin devils) must decide whether to abandon her Christian friends or to commit herself fully to Christianity. Boxers tells the opposite side of the story from the perspective of Little Bao, a Chinese peasant boy whose village is abused and plundered by West...

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Persepolis is a graphic novel chronicling the story of the author's unforgettable childhood and coming of age in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution. Having lived and taught in the Middle East for four years, I have first hand experience of women and girls who live the kind of double-life shown in the book, where "behavior in public and... behavior in private were polar opposites" (p . 305). I enjoyed reading about the feelings and opinions of women who had lived without the veil, but who are then forced to wear it. I especially loved Satrapi's statement to a mullah, interviewing her regarding her 'ideologies' for a place at university (once they re-opened having had the curriculum re-written to support Islamic beliefs):  I have always thought that if women's hair posed so many problems, God would certainly have made us bald. (p. 284). I enjoyed Satrapi's constant questions about the 'regime', an...

Daytripper  by Gabriel Ba  and Fabio Moon What are the most important days of your life? Daytripper  is a beautiful collection of ten stories by Brazilian twin brothers that uses the quiet moments to ask the big questions. Orignally  published as ten comics, Daytripper follows the life of one man, Bras de Olivias Dominguez. Each of the ten stories features an important period in Bras’s life and each ends the same way: with his death. Like a puzzle, the stories fit together to weave a complete tale. Each starts up at a different point in Bras's life, oblivious to his death in the previous chapter, whilst at the same time, ends with him dying again.  Told in non-linear chronology, the story follows him through his entire existence and the many possibilities life holds for us. Like a book, we read ourselves; we write our own stories. Like books, our lives all must have an end: No book is complete without its end. And once you get there, on...

A Wrinkle in Time is a classic children's favourite . Somehow - don't ask me how - it had gone under my radar until I read When You Reach Me  by Rebecca Stead, in which time travel plays a huge part due to Miranda, the protagonist, being a fan of L'Engle's novel. And so I bought the graphic novel. Time travel is something that both fascinates and baffles me. No amount of Back To The Future  (the second one in particular) can help me wrap my head around the concept of travelling through time, which in itself is an abstract concept I struggle with. L'Engle's novel was first published fifty years ago and graphic novelist, Hope Larson, has brought it to life for a whole new generation to enjoy. According to the School Library Journal, Larson's illustrations remain "true to the story, preserving the original chapter format and retaining L’Engle’s voice. Black-and-white artwork is accented with blue, echoing the original cover color" (Amazon). C...

Solanin  by Inio Asano Asano wrote Solanin  when he had just graduated from college. It is a document of the transitional time between leaving education and entering the real world. Asano said he "was feeling a bit insecure about my ability to succeed as a manga artist and whether I would be able to continue to draw manga that were true to myself . In my anxiety and impatience, I felt that all I could do in my manga was try to get a true depiction of the times as experienced by my generation." I remember this time well. I remember beginning my final year at university with a sense of dread. Since 5 years old, I had known what was coming next. Infant School, Junior School, Secondary School, College, University ... but then what? For the first time in my life I did not know where I was going to be the following year, or what I was going to do. This beautifully drawn manga depicts Tokyo and the lives of a group of friends in that very position. E...