Book Review on “Stargazing” and “New Shoes”

“Stargazing”

Written by Jen Wang

Colored by Lark Pien

Summary

The graphic novel “Stargazing” is about two Asian-American girls who become close friends after suddenly moving in together. Christine’s family graciously take in Moon and her mother after hearing about their financial struggles. Christine seems weary of Moon at first but quickly adapts to her quirky personality and even finds joy in her differences. Throughout this graphic novel, the characters deal with struggles to fit in, rumors, cultural differences, academic pressure, different family dynamics, death of a loved one, and even serious medical issues. Overall, it is Moon that shows Christine that finding contrasts in people can be an eye-opening experience that may allow you to try and enjoy new things.

About the author

The author, Jen Wang, wrote a note at the end of the novel (the “Afterword”) about how the story is based on the events that have happened in her own life, including having had a brain tumor like the character Moon. Jen Wang is also an Asian-American like many of the characters in the book. It is because of her cultural background that she is able to bring an authentic and realistic perspective to the story. She is hoping that by making her characters diverse and relatable, she can inspire others to reflect on and accept their own uniqueness.

Personal Reflection

I enjoyed this book very much, especially because it is a graphic novel. Reading a graphic novel isn’t as common so like the differences in cultures and characters in the book, the difference in how the story is written is also appreciated. The author makes a note at the end of the book on why she decided to make it a graphic novel instead of making it a traditional story. Because she had a brain tumor as a child near her visual centers, she has a deep appreciation for her ability to see and thankful that the surgery was successful for her to still be able to see afterward. The author also represents the culture she wrote about in this novel. Growing up as a Buddhist and Asian-American, she had a lot to contribute when bringing that culture into the pages of her book. She was able to authentically say that because she was a Buddhist as a child, her family was also vegetarian and valued all life. She was also careful to show different dynamics in Asian-American homes. One common stereotype of Asians is that they prioritize academics to an extreme point. And though while Christine was serious about her academics, her family never seemed too harsh on her about it. The author also showed Moon as taking her academics a little less seriously. Both portrayals help break down the stereotype of that culture. Another thing that the author did with the characters is make Moon and her mom marginalized. Unfortunately for the character, Moon’s father died and left their family in a financially devastating state. Briefly it was mentioned that Moon and her mom were considered homeless had Christine’s family not helped them out. This is a different kind of character backstory that is not too familiar to a lot of readers. This allows a bridge to be made and connected to the readers and the character’s story.

Critical Issues

This graphic novel has several different critical issues in it. The two main critical issues are understanding cultural differences and different family dynamics. In the story, the two main characters, Moon and Christine, come from Asian-American families. As the reader, we know this by several interactions such as Christine showing off her homemade Chinese dumplings or Moon talking about why her father wanted to move to a America. Even though these two characters have similar backgrounds, the author shows how different the two can be. Christine learned from Moon about her Buddhist beliefs and her love for K-Pop music whereas Moon learned from Christine about her family’s somewhat traditional nature and a celebrity that shares their culture. Both characters had to learn about the differences in their cultures to truly appreciate their friendship.

The other critical issue in the story is learning about differences in family dynamics. Christine comes from an upper-middle class family with traditional values and viewing academics as a priority. Christine is shown getting frustrated when she didn’t get a high score on an exam in class and immediately enrolls in a tutoring program. She also is involved in other extracurriculars such as violin lessons, Chinese language lessons, and the school’s talent show. Moon, on the other hand is with her single mom who struggle financially. Moon’s father died when she was young which has affected their family. Moon also doesn’t take academics as seriously as Christine as she left halfway through the Chinese lesson, exclaimed that her ’B’ on an exam was the best she’s gotten in a while, and explained that she would rather be suspended than having to go to counseling sessions for her behavior. By having the close friendship that they did, Christine and Moon were able to learn from each other about their families’ differences and in turn, give the reader two different characters to either relate to or empathize with.

Illustration Considerations

Because this book is written as a graphic novel, the illustrations on each page play an important part in creating the story and characters. The dialog is written into words but everything else has to be observed by the reader and analyzed. Towards the end of the novel, Christine was getting noticeably annoyed by the circumstances she’s in compared to Moon. She received a poor grade on an exam when Moon received better. Because of that she made herself attend a tutoring lesson and afterwards went to her Chinese lessons. While Christine was busy trying to do well with her academics, Moon was able to have more freedom and watch a new video that came out and hang out with a new friend. While some of this was dialog, the majority of it was visual clues and references. The reader had to pick up on the facial expressions that Christine was making and understand that she was probably feeling a little envious of Moon at the time. This teaches the reader that expressions are an important indicator of someone’s emotional status and should be paid attention to just as much as spoken words.

Instructional Goals & Steps

For this book, it would be a good idea to stop at this part of the book with your classroom and talk about it. This is one of those moments that isn’t written into dialog or blatantly obvious. It can be easily overlooked by students but can also represent a strong talking point and teaching moment for the classroom.

The discussion should be made and brought up by asking students to look at the picture and ask what she has written down. Ask students why they think she’s doing that and what it means. Why has she written down “not Asian”? Have students talk about it as a class and keep it in a safe realm without letting it dive too far into negative and harmful stereotypes about Asian culture. The instructional goal in this conversation is to point out how these two characters both represent Asian-Americans but each character represents their culture in a different way. They are both different yet similar and that is okay to be representative of your culture in some ways and not others.

“New Shoes”

Written & Illustrated by Sara Varon

Summary

This story is about a Donkey named Francis who takes pride in his shoe fabulous shoe store where he designs and creates new shoes for his customer. One day, Francis is told that the famous Miss Manatee wants to buy his shoes for her concert coming up. He is elated and decides he needs more materials to make the shoes. He goes to Nigel’s home, the monkey that usually gets the materials for him, but realizes he is not home. He cannot wait for Nigel to return and decides to set off into the jungle with his parrot friend, Rhoda, to get the materials himself. On the way, he learns from many different new animals about how to safely make it through the jungle. When he arrives at the place with all of the tiger grass, he learns that Nigel has been held captive as a prisoner for stealing the materials from Harriet, the jaguar. Francis has to think quick on his feet to free Nigel and bring back the tiger grass to make Miss Manatee’s shoes. He makes a trade with Harriet and is given some lemongrass so he can grow it himself for all his future orders. At the end of the story, Francis learns that his journey in the jungle has been an eye-opening experience where he was able to learn and grow.

Personal Reflection

This book is a great story to have in the classroom for students who are looking for a different book to read. Being a comic story, it provides a new style of reading that will keep many kids engaged and intrigued. The readers have to take in a lot of visual cues from the illustrations and can even learn about new things from the artwork. For example, the author points out several different local fruit and animals in Guyana, the country where the story takes place. The author adds some realism and authenticity to her writing by adding a note at the back of the book stating that she got her ideas from her trip to Guyana. There were many photographs at the back of the book that she states that she took herself in order to create a culturally authentic story. For the readers, it is a gift to see these images and realize how her artwork was brought to life from her experiences.

This story is also a great way to bring up fair trade and consumer awareness to children in a safe way for children to learn about. It wasn’t just brought up at the end of the story about when Francis exchanges his book for Nigel’s freedom after learning he’s been stealing from her. Francis was constantly trading throughout the entire story. He exchanged food for safe passage and knowledge a couple of times. This is a great thing to mention to students and bring up in a discussion what major themes are in the story. Students can be prodded at to think about other times the characters might have traded items and whether or not they believe it to be a fair trade or not. This story is fun and light-hearted but will surely get young students interested in the characters and the critical issues they are facing.

Critical Issues

A critical issue that the characters are facing was realizing that Nigel, someone they thought to be a very respected member of the community, was stealing the products that Francis uses to make shoes. Francis had to think quick on his feet to correct the wrongdoings of Nigel and still find a way to get the grass so he could use it to make shoes for Miss Manatee’s concert. Francis gives Harriet the book he carried because he knew she was interested in it. For confronting their mistakes, Harriet allowed Nigel to go free and even gave Francis a small pot of grass to tend for himself so that they would not need to take the grass from her any longer. These issues are mainly focused on three themes in the story: overcoming ignorance, confronting wrongdoings, and fair trade. The book also takes the correct steps to show readers the correct way to confront a critical issue like the ones the characters were facing. The characters have been confronted with an issue, reflected on it and talked to each other about their experience to learn more, worked hard and took action against the issue, and finally have created a solution that will continuously fight off the injustice in a more permanent way (Laminack & Kelly , 2017). They have taken the steps necessary to invoke a true change to their lives and their future.

Book Comparison Chart

(Laminack & Kelly, 2017, pp. 121-122)

Connections to “Reading to Make a Difference”

Like it states in the book, “classrooms can be a tapestry of friendships woven from threads of differences that exist in our communities, indeed, from the world at large” (page 118). This is what the characters from “Stargazing” symbolize. Christine and Moon are both so different even though the represent one community. However, these two characters have bonded and created a strong friendship that those differences have made them stronger. They have created understanding and empathy for one another. Reading books like these will create a strong sense of community in a classroom where students can be bonded by their friendships and use their differences to make the classroom stronger.

References

Veron, S., (2015). New Shoes. New York: First Second Publishers

Laminack, L., & Kelly, K., (2017). Reading to Make a Difference: Using Literature to Help Students Speak Freely, Think Deeply, and Take Action. New Hampshire: Heinemann Publishers.

Wang, J., & Pien, L., (2019). Stargazing. New York: Roaring Book Press.