Prince of Persia: A Graphic Novel by Jordan Mechner

I started Prince of Persia the other night. I found it at the book store and it was reasonably priced at $7.99 so I picked up a copy for my classroom. I decided to start reading it that night for two reasons: (1) I don't read enough graphic novels...actually, I don't read any; and (2) I saw the movie and I really enjoyed the movie. Well so far...I'm not in love with it but I'm also not ready to say that I hate it either.

While I was reading it, I found the reading to go very slowly. I had to really slow down to "read" the pictures and interpret what was going on. The artwork is beautiful and colorful but I'm not used to "reading" pictures that way I guess. One thing that I've realized is that graphic novels sort of look like movie story boards with captions. It is interesting to read something like that; there are random close-ups of character's eyes or sometimes the picture will pan out to show you that the scene is ending.

One of the things I'm finding confusing is that it is jumping around in time. The opening scene takes place in "Marv, 9th Century A.D.," at a time where they are some sibling battles between two men and a woman that are all in power of this particular kingdom. But then only a few pages later, the book jumps to "Marv, 13th Century A.D.," and one of the characters Layth is in both. How is this possible? I'm not quite sure how that happened, it is obviously something mystical that has allowed this to happen but I'm not really sure what it is. The book keeps flipping between the two settings and for now I'm going to roll with it and hope that it will all be clear later in the story. I didn't go back to re-read because I read so slowly early on, I'm not sure that re-reading will help me.

Welcome...

Welcome to my English 10 Reading Blog!

I'll use this space to talk about my favorite books, teaching teens to read, and any big ah-haa moments I have about my own reading and teaching students to read.

I just finished reading Food Rules by Michael Pollan. It was a great short read and I think I finished it in about 45 minutes. I would highly recommend it if you are looking for a non-fiction quick pick. I just picked up Gone by Lisa McMann and unfortunately I was too slow to get to it so I've passed it on to Pam and others are waiting. I think I'm going to pick up a copy over February break for myself.

Blogging is new for me and for my students I'm really excited to start this project and also to have them start their own book shelves on Shelfari!

I'm in a reading group with some teachers here at school and this month our focus is autobiography, memoir, and/or biographies. For that group I'm planning on reading: The Glass Castle, Knots in My Yo-Yo String, and Teen Angst! Nahhh.... I'm also hoping to squeeze in a few others while we are off from school.

Happy Reading...

Basko