As a computer scientist, Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang says the way he can explain the specialness of a printed book is that it can have both sequential access and random access … meaning, the reader can read the story in order or can jump around.
Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang believes that reading about someone who seems different , even on the surface, highlights our common humanity … one of the most powerful aspects of literature.
As a kid, Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang often felt “in between.” Not surprisingly, most of his books are based on the theme of finding oneself.
Teachers have found using graphic novels like those of Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang in certain settings like for students learning a second language or for reluctant readers can be an effective teaching tool.
Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang remembers vividly characters from Dr. Suess as well as from comic books that impacted him as a child and still as an adult.
“Can you write a character who is very different from you?” Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang understands the challenges around writing characters different from oneself, but it can be done with research, input from people who have lived that life experience, and humility.
From the time he could read and started loving books, Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang has kept an “awesome shelf” of books. One book on that shelf about graphic novels convinced him that the medium of comics/graphic novels could carry any story he wanted to tell.
