Mike Carey's Re-Gifters (art by Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel, DC Comics, 2007) according to Library Journal is a "delightful martial arts romantic comedy [that] shows fine plotting, simpatico characters, and fluid, manga-influenced art." It also is a excellent multicultural book as the reader learns about the Korean immigrant community. Dixie's father, when he gives her the $100 for the tournament fee, explains that hapkido is second only to school in importance. When the Japanese occupied Korea, their culture was repressed and now that they are free hapkido is part of that freedom - "The warrior tradition is one of the ways we tell the world who we are." I really enjoyed reading this book. It is a quick read and students in grades 7-up will like the story line and graphic presentation. To introduce it I would quickly describe the predicament that Dixie creates for herself and share a few pages using a document camera.
4 comments:
I've heard about this book, but I wasn't sure if I'd like it since it was a graphic novel and because it seemed a little too girly for me (not that I don't like reading those types of books occasionally!) I think books like this would make students, especially girls want to read graphic novels and be more open to different book formats.
This book sounds interesting. Also it seems like a good way to get students reading about other cultures while also keeping their attention.
I like that the book is a graphic novel. I think that being able to use different formats to promote cultural awareness is a great tool.
I agree with Shari about using interesting formats to promote cultural awareness in reading. I could see middle school boys and girls at least picking it up and looking through it. Sometimes that's all it takes to get sucked into a story.
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