Lan Dong

This essential discussion of Amy Tan's life and works is a necessity for high school students and an enriching supplement for book club members.A tour-de-force in Asian American writing, Amy Tan has created works that are essential to high school and undergraduate literature classes and are often book club selections. Reading Amy Tan is a handy resource that offers both groups plot summaries of five of Tan's novels, as well as character and thematic analysis. The handbook also provides an overview of Tan's life and discusses how she emerged onto the scene as a novelist. Tan’s typical themes, including Asian American issues and mother-daughter relationships, are examined in relation to today's current events and pop culture. Readers will also discover how and where they can find Tan on the Internet, and how the media has received her works. The “What Do I Read Next” chapter will help readers find other authors and works that deal with similar subjects. This handbook is an indispensable tool for both high school and public libraries.Summarizes each of Tan’s novels, offering a plot summary and a discussion of themes, settings, and charactersProvides questions that can be used to generate classroom and book club discussionIncludes sidebars to highlight interesting information about the author and her workOffers a selected, general bibliography of print and electronic resources to facilitate further study

Heroic women warriors as reflections of social and moral values

Heroic women warriors as reflections of social and moral values

A 2016 MacArthur Fellow, Gene Luen Yang (b. 1973) is an influential figure in independent and mainstream comics. His work for children, young adult, and adult readers promotes understanding between different cultures and peoples. His American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award and the first graphic novel to be a National Book Award finalist. As an educator, he uses comics to teach mathematics, writing, and computer programming. As a public figure, he is a strong advocate for comics’ power in education. Yang is known for engaging stories featuring marginalized characters and building empathy. They draw inspiration from folklore, history, literature, and popular culture and reimagine well-known characters like the Monkey King and Superman in the context of Asian American experience. Gene Luen Yang provides a critical account of his journey from self-publishing minicomics to creating award-winning graphic novels and superhero characters for DC and Marvel. This first-ever book-length study of Yang looks at how his life shapes his career, together with the inspiration behind his characters and stories. It examines Yang’s significance and impact in academia, in the comics community, and among general audiences. Organized thematically, it weaves together a literary biography of the cartoonist and critical analyses of his work. The book draws on extensive research and covers Yang’s entire body of work. It connects his comics and graphic novels with his personal experience, while providing critical insights on his unique styles.

A 2016 MacArthur Fellow, Gene Luen Yang (b. 1973) is an influential figure in independent and mainstream comics. His work for children, young adult, and adult readers promotes understanding between different cultures and peoples. His American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award and the first graphic novel to be a National Book Award finalist. As an educator, he uses comics to teach mathematics, writing, and computer programming. As a public figure, he is a strong advocate for comics’ power in education. Yang is known for engaging stories featuring marginalized characters and building empathy. They draw inspiration from folklore, history, literature, and popular culture and reimagine well-known characters like the Monkey King and Superman in the context of Asian American experience. Gene Luen Yang provides a critical account of his journey from self-publishing minicomics to creating award-winning graphic novels and superhero characters for DC and Marvel. This first-ever book-length study of Yang looks at how his life shapes his career, together with the inspiration behind his characters and stories. It examines Yang’s significance and impact in academia, in the comics community, and among general audiences. Organized thematically, it weaves together a literary biography of the cartoonist and critical analyses of his work. The book draws on extensive research and covers Yang’s entire body of work. It connects his comics and graphic novels with his personal experience, while providing critical insights on his unique styles.