American Born Chinese (by Gene Luen Yang)

When a Graphic Novel manages to win a Printz award, as Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese did in 2007, it comes with a definite anticipatory feeling of excellence and long-lasting merit.  The same year, not only Zusak’s The Book Thief was an Honor Book, but also this book and this book (and also Sonya Hartnett’s Surrender, but the cat hasn’t read that one)! So anything that manages to “win” over those aforementioned books must be something else entirely.

And something else entirely it is: it’s a graphic novel. So in terms of ‘format’ it is definitely something else. It’s also not hard to see what the appeal is of American Born Chinese. Whenever a book includes the discussion of social and/or cultural identity and heritage, it is bound to attract the attention of committees such as that of the Printz Award. The concept of “identity” is a big issue in literature, YA or otherwise. Some of cat’s most beloved (YA) books touch upon the concept of finding and/or pursuing identity in one way or another: Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Going Bovine, Punkzilla, Octavian Nothing, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian…  So I guess, the main question for the cat is, looking beyond the fact that American Born Chinese is a Graphic Novel, is it equal to – or does it even surpass – novels that deal with the same ‘topic’? To that question, the cat would have to say no, but not because it’s a bad book or anything, just because there just aren’t that many books that are better (for the cat) than Vera Dietz or Going Bovine. Just a gut thing.

Which doesn’t mean the cat didn’t like it, because she did. To get to the core of American Born Chinese, and understand the conflict of the main character(s) of being caught between cultures (the Chinese culture of his parents and the American culture of his homeland) and finding your way to cultural and personal identity, it was advisory to get more background information about The Monkey King. Oversimplifying things, The Monkey King is a tale of transformation.  And a tale of transformation is – you guessed it – the universal tale of, well, mankind. In American Born Chinese, mankind, is not what we’re dealing with, of course, but we’re dealing a kid who doesn’t know who he is. Again, oversimplifying things, it’s one thing to be a kid growing up into a teen and then into an adult (and that in itself is a complicated and often messy affair), but it’s possibly even more complicated to do that when your family and cultural history is not the same history as everyone else’s history around you. The universal questions of ‘where do I really belong’, ‘who am I really’, ‘who do I want to be’ are all referred to here, which is why American Born Chinese will appeal to such a broad audience.

Does American Born Chinese have long-lasting merit? Yes, I’m sure it does. It will appeal to reluctant readers (always a great thing!) and it will definitely appeal to teens who have had the same (immigrant) experience (whether the heritage they have to refer to is Chinese or not). The cat recognizes all that, but she wasn’t as blown away by this tale of being caught between cultures as she was with for instance Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Interview with Cecil Castellucci

The cat had the chance to interview the wonderful Cecil Castellucci, who has a new book coming out in May, The Year of the Beasts, which she wrote together with Nate Powell. Enjoy reading the interview!

The cat: The Year of the Beasts is coming out in May. What should readers know before reading it?

C.C.: I think that some people might have a little bit of a learning curve with regards to the alternating chapters of prose and graphic novel.  I would say, to hang in there!  It will all come together.  And if you are not used to reading comic books, think of this as a way in!

The cat: What is it that you find fascinating about the mythological Medusa story?

C.C.: I always thought that it was fascinating that she turned people to stone when they gazed on her.  But it captured my imagination that in some stories she was born beautiful and then turned ugly after suffering a trauma by Athena.  This duality of her intrigues me.  And I think that image of it served this story well.  I think that when we are in crisis, or grief or trauma we are hard to look upon.

The cat: Can you tell us something about the collaboration with Nate Powell? How did the two of you decide to work together?

C.C.: Working with Nate Powell was a dream.  I was such a big fan of his book Swallow Me Whole and his new books, Any Empire and Silence of Our Friends are amazing as well.  Nancy Mercado thought that maybe his art style would go well with my story.  I agreed!  I’d had the great pleasure of meeting Nate before at the Toronto Comics Art Festival, so we already knew that we liked each other and got along well.  The collaborative process was pretty easy.  I had written the novel including a script for the comic book elements.  For this script I wrote a loose idea of the setting and the mood I was going for along with the dialogue.  Nate then broke this down into panels by drawing thumbnails – or loose sketches- of what he thought a good pacing of action would be.  We both, along with Nancy Mercado, our editor, talked about what worked and then he drew and inked and lettered the whole thing.

The cat: At a certain point Jasper says to Tessa there’s a monster inside all of us. So what monster is inside of you?

C.C.: I don’t know!  Or maybe I do but a lady shouldn’t tell! But I can tell you that I would be afraid that I’d be one of the Graeae.  I would really hate to share a tooth and an eye with two other ladies.

The cat: What is your favorite part of the book?

C.C.: I love all of it because it was such a different kind of book for me to write.  But I really love chapter nine and chapter ten.  I think they flow into each other so nicely.

The cat: Where do you get your inspiration from in general?

C.C.: Every book springs from a different well. I think inspiration comes from paying attention and looking for random threads on how to stitch a story together.  I also think you have to be out and about and interested in lots of things.  This one came from a time when I was in deep crisis.  I felt that I was terrible to look upon and that as I tried to sort through what I was going through, people were frightened away by my violent emotions.  I didn’t want to write a book and I didn’t want to write a graphic novel and I just thought well, why not do half and half.  I knew I wanted it to be about two very different kind of girls who were somehow twinned.  But like I said, every book comes from a different place.

The cat: Can you tell us something about your own creative process? Where do you work? Do you have a certain routine?

C.C.: I like to think of the page as always being open.  So I don’t have a specific routine per se.  But I will say that I love sunny days.  I often sit on my porch.  I live in Los Angeles, so that’s pretty much possible to do year round. It depends what part of the process I’m in, I like to revise in cafes or even in bed.   I am a big fan of deadlines, in that way I give myself a chunk of time to dream about the book knowing that I have to get things down.  For example, right now I am giving myself three weeks to get down a skeleton for my new novel.  I’m hoping to get the bones down so I’ll have something to flesh out.

The cat: To say that you are a multi-talent is really an understatement. Have you always been this creative? Were you a creative child?

C.C.: You are too nice!  I think the answer to that is yes.  I mean, I have always known that I wanted to be a creative person.  To live my life as an artist.  I never wanted to do anything else.  When I was little other kids wanted to play kick ball and I tried to get them to put on an opera.  And for me, it’s always been stories.  I just love stories.  All of the different things that I do seem as though they are all the same to me.  A book, a play, a novel, a movie, a performance piece, an opera, a song, they are all ways of telling a story.

The cat: Did you read a lot as a child? Are there any books that you fondly remember?

C.C.: I did read a lot as a child!  Favorites were A Wrinkle in Time, The Tripod Trilogy, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, A Secret Garden,  Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz.  Oh!  So many!

The cat: What is the best book (YA or other) that you have read in a long time? What are you reading at the moment?

C.C.: The best book I read most recently was The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt.  The way that he wrote about the West and the two brothers was great!

I am currently reading Grave Mercy by RL LeFevers for the panel I’m moderating at the LA Festival of Books and I’m enjoying it very much.

The cat: You’ve made music, you’ve written (YA) novels, you’ve written graphic novels, contributed to film projects… Is there a certain form of art that you prefer? Where does your heart really lie?

C.C.: My heart lies in storytelling.  For me all of these things are the same thing.  They are  all ways to tell a story.

The cat: What is your attitude towards storytelling? Why do you like to tell stories?

C.C.: I guess what I like about stories is how much exploring you can do.  You really become an adventurer of the human condition either by writing a story or by reading them.  You can go under the ocean, back in time, to outer space.  You can be a mother, a wife, a crone, a witch, a queen, a man.  It’s a way spelunking.

The cat: Have you ever experienced writer’s block or just ‘creative block’? How do/did you deal with it?

C.C.: I don’t believe in writer’s block.  I think that sometimes you are just not ready to write what you are meant to write.  It’s just not coming organically.  But if you just breathe, take a walk, read a book, do the dishes, eat some bon bons… you’ll get there.  And sometimes you have to just write through it.  You just have to sit there and get words down on the page knowing that once they are down you can revise them.

The cat: Do you think you are influenced by other authors? If so, which ones?

C.C.: It’s more that I’m influenced by all kinds of art.  I take my influence from all kinds of literature, films, television, paintings, opera, ballet…whatever!  All art is trying to understand the human condition and to express a tiny point of it.  There is something to be found that is totally right in that expression and is the very color you need to paint with for your own work.  When I was writing The Year of the Beasts I was at an artist colony and I had all the artists there draw me a portrait of Medusa and the other beasts.  All of them were different,  but all captured a different piece of her angst that I needed.  So, what I’m saying is that every single artist inspires me.

 The cat: What book do you wish you had written?

C.C.: I wish I had written Persuasion by Jane Austen.  I love that book so much.

The cat: Is there anyone you’d like to work with for one of your next projects? Who and why?

C.C.: Oh!  I feel as though I’ve already worked with such dream people and it’s been such delightful surprises about how those collaborations came together that I don’t dare disturb the machinations of the universe by wishes!  Instead I will say who I would have loved to work with. Luis Buñuel.  I think we would have cooked up some cool stuff.

The cat: What’s the best and the most frustrating aspect of being a writer?

C.C.: Writing stories.  Writing stories.

The cat: Is there anything you regret in your creative career?

C.C.: I regret the moments where I lose a little bit of hope and begin to despair.  I wish I would remember to just push that feeling aside and remember that I just need to keep writing.

The cat: I just finished Dear Bully and I noticed that you and Mo Willems contributed the only graphic stories. Why did you decide to add a graphic story and not a ‘regular’ short story or essay?

C.C.: I believe that a story tells you how it wants to be written.  When they asked me to write an essay, I couldn’t think of anything.  But I did think of writing a little comic book about the silent treatment.  I recruited my Mom to draw the pictures.  I kind of love that the images are naïve and innocent.

The cat: Did bullying change you as a person?

C.C.: I think it’s more that group dynamics and my struggle to understand that that has changed me as a person.  Sadly, I think that group think doesn’t go away just because we aren’t kids anymore.

The cat: In your opinion, what is the most important thing for a person to do when they witness bullying?

C.C.: Speak up.  Help out in whatever way you can. But stay safe.  Talk about it.  Silence is the real trouble.

The cat: What one advice would you give someone who is being bullied?

C.C.: You think that no one knows what you are going through.  But you are not alone.  And there is definitely an adult in your world who has been there and knows and that you can talk to.   So find them and talk about what’s going on.

The cat: Finally, can you tell us anything about new projects you are working on?

C.C.: Yes!  My next book comes out in Spring 2013.  It’s a comic book for younger readers called Odd Duck and it’s illustrated by Sara Varon.  It’s about two ducks named Theodora and Chad.  I’m very excited about it.   And I’m currently working on YA novel called The Tin Star.  It’s book one of a two book sci fi series I’ve got coming out.  It takes place on a space station far away from Earth and it’s full of aliens.  It’s due out in Fall 2013.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions!

Wonderstruck (by Brian Selznick)

With The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the cat was introduced to a new level of originality: the novel in words and pictures, completely different from ‘your average graphic novel’, yet equally as subversive as many a comic book once was. Though not really a sequel or a companion book to the much-praised Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck does more or less follow the same method of story-writing: words as well as exquisitely drawn illustrations are used side by side to enhance the reader/viewer’s experience.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret (by Brian Selznick)

For the cat, who’s not really a graphic novel buff, what Brian Selznick tries to accomplish with The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a unique feat: fusing together elements from such different artistic worlds such as picture book, graphic novel, children’s book, historical novel, silent movie and photography… It takes a daredevil or a con artist to pull it off, and Brian Selznick is probably both.

Sharp Teeth (by Toby Barlow)

With all the Twilight-fodder out there, one might forget that there are contemporary (Young) Adult books about werewolves and other assorted fantastic  content, that are actually worth reading for more than the guilty pleasure of a ‘fantastic love story’ that lovelorn maidens seem to be interested in these days. One of these books is Toby Barlow’s debut Sharp Teeth. The book deals with packs of lycanthropes (werewolves) who are not only battling each other, but who’re also planning to take over Los Angeles, with each pack having a different strategy to reach that goal. The originality of Barlow’s novel is that it’s written in free verse. Now, for someone who’s not interested in poetry or heroic epics, this might souns like a hard read, potentially boring even. However, the language Barlow uses is so strong and captivating, that at every step of the way it feels as if you’re reading a noir thriller.  “Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat”. This Robert Frost quote is the motto of the book, and that’s what this book does in more ways than one.

Barlow weaves different subplots together like the best auteur (the movie references are never far away in this book, by the way, and you can easily see how it could be another Sin City – Barlow himself refers to it as “a graphic novel without the pictures”) .   The story starts with Anthony Silvo, a self-professed dogcatcher who falls in love with a mysterious woman. She leads a second life as a lycanthrope, working for Lark, the leader of a pack of dogs. Her growing feelings for Anthony makes her regret choices she made in the past.  Lark suspects that competing packs of lycanthropes are after his power and he prepares for battle (leading an undercover dog’s life (as Buddy) with Bonnie, who fondly scratches his ears every evening…). Other subplots include detective Peabody’s investigation into murders which are clearly dog-related;  underground bridge tournaments tied to the LA drug trade; and Baron’s tale of betrayal.

As I said, the language reveals great artistry, but at the same time, it never feels contrived or self-conscious (there’s nothing worse than a writer who knows he’s writing a good book and feels smug about his writing skills).  On the contrary, for every violent outburst (of both the language and the ahum…dogs), there’s an ironic and sometimes even laugh-out-loud joke hidden beneath the words (notice the names of the characters, for example, or dogs loving tacos and other fried food, anyone?)

Highly recommended is the accompanying website http://www.sharpteeththebook.com/, which brings out the humor of the book even more (watch the Public Service Announcement!).

Though the book is by no means perfect (the end feels somewhat sudden for some of the characters in the book), Toby Barlow is definitely a writer to watch.