Avatar: The Last Airbender - Smoke and Shadow Part Two
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Graphic Design
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Smoke and Shadow Part Two Details
About the Author Gene Luen Yang began making comic books in the fifth grade. He has since written and drawn a number of titles. His 2006 book, American Born Chinese, was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association's Michael L. Printz Award. It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album - New. His 2013 two-volume graphic novel, Boxers & Saints, was nominated for both the National Book Award and the LA Times Book Award. Gene currently writes the graphic novel continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender.The Shadow Hero, his comic book series with Sonny Liew, revived the Green Turtle, an obscure 1940s character who is arguably the first Asian American superhero. The Shadow Hero is now available as individual digital issues via Amazon Kindle. The author lives in San Jose, CA.. Read more
Reviews
LOVED LOVED LOVED it! We wanted to thank you as both a woman and as a mother of a young son. We read every night before bed, and I cannot start to recount the amount of sexism there is in children's books --especially older books, which we inherited a lot of. I am not quite sure how I managed to survive my childhood (I read voraciously as a child) with my confidence and sense of self intact.The newer books are usually much better are portraying girls and gender, but often do so on a more superficial level. For example I am very grateful that the Ninjago series (which my son is obsessed with) included the character of Nya, but she somehow seems added on as an afterthought, and a lot of time is spent matching her up as a date with various of the Ninja.The female characters in the Avatar/Airbender books seems to be very different--at least judging from the Smoke and Shadows trilogy, which is the one we have. The female characters are central to the story. They are both heroes and villains. They are made up of the same balance of toughness and vulnerability as the male characters. The male and female characters interact both as team members and as love interests. And I love how the little girl asks Kiyi to "marry her".You would think, in 2016, that all this would be standard. But trust me, your books are the exception rather than the rule... well, except for books that are deliberately contrived to convey a socially just message about gender, race, ethnicity, etc., But my son seems to pick up on this --he seems to have an aversion to these types of books, unfortunately. (And trust me--as a progressive, female, African-American teacher of social justice issues, I have tried! :-)It is important to me as a woman, as a teacher, and as a mother of an impressionable 7-year-old son that you continue doing what you are doing! Much gratitude!
