The Magic Fish - Trung Le Nguyen

Eisner Award

This was a really cool book. I really enjoyed that the first the thing that you seen in the novel is the author note that the first 168 pages drawn traditionally on card-stock printer paper with markers that you can find at your local craft store. I like that detail because it makes it feel like anyone could make a good graphic novel. Another great detail of the graphic novel is the speech bubbles and how they are translated. Since the main character isn't from an English speaking family, his mother's speech bubbles are are placed in brackets to show that she's not speaking English. The art in this graphic novel is beautiful, and the develop of the main character and the struggles that he's dealing with feels relatable for many people on different levels. I feel like I can connect with Tien because I always felt like I was different from others.

I think there's tons of teens that would love this book. With the main character having to hide the fact that he's gay from others, can relate to so many teens. As a teacher, I can think of a few students by name that I might have to go and recommend to them. The art style is also very reminiscent of Japanese anime and in recent times, anime has become very popular among teenagers. I think this would be great for students that either have already read a lot of the popular series, or ones that don't want to read the most popular series. I think both groups would love this book. 

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