Book Review: Almost American Girl

“I didn’t exactly fit in Korea or America. I had become Korean American. And that was okay with me.”

Wow, do I relate with that or what?

I’ve been reading a lot of really good books lately, and I just couldn’t wait to share some of them with you! I like to post even more of my reviews on Goodreads, so if you’re looking for more book recommendations, feel free to check them out.

Book: Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

Genre: Graphic Novel, Memoir

My rating: 5/5 stars

One-word description: relatable

Having spent several years living overseas in Europe, I don’t exactly fit in Europe or my home country, the United States. I may not have half the struggles Robin had in integrating into a new culture, but I know what it’s like to be a part of multiple places. Suffice to say this book really hit home for me.

It also taught me a lot about Korean American culture. I particularly liked the way it contrasted how Robin saw the Korean and American cultures at the beginning of the book versus the end of the book and the way her perspective changed. You don’t get that a lot in books, though it is a common feature for people who have cross-culture experiences.

The art was super pretty, and the characters were well-portrayed. I didn’t have much difficulty telling who was who, which is a common problem I have with some Mangas. But this isn’t a Manga—it’s a memoir. I also really liked how even though most of the book was written in English, the Korean language was portrayed in blue while English was in black, giving English speakers like myself a good sense of when the language changed. Terms that were in Korean are defined in the back, some of which I actually knew.

In all I gave Almost American Girl 5/5 stars for excellent plot, cultural representation, and relatable, real people. I highly recommend it to anybody who enjoys graphic novels and cross-cultural stories, especially real ones.

Interested in Almost American Girl? Have you read it yet? You might also enjoy these books: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui, and March by John Robert Lewis

Let’s chat! Has Almost American Girl made it to your to-be-read list yet? Have you read it yet? Have any graphic novel recommendations?

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Similar book reviews: Kids Like Us, Full Cicada Moon, and A World Without You

Where Fiction Meets Art

I’m an artist at heart. I like visiting art museums and staring at wall-sized tapestries and miniscule paintings. When it comes to paintings, my favorite medium is impressionism. My gaze is drawn to bold colors, thick globs of paint, and a touch of imagination to figure out what on earth is going on.

Though I’ve tried my hand at painting and drawing, I’m not particularly good at it. And I’m okay with that. Art, like writing, takes practice. I simply haven’t dedicated the time necessary to a certain medium. Not yet, anyway.

All the same, I like to claim that the written word is an art form, and, therefore, my art is essentially my craft of writing. This post, however, will focus primarily on visual art and how it ties in with the wonderful medium called fiction.

Visual Art as Fiction

Like poetry, various types of visual art can blur the lines between fiction and reality. While some art reflects reality, others tell stories and others express emotions. Some pieces do them all at once. I particularly enjoy visiting castles and listening to the tour guide point to the paintings on the walls that tell of the legends of the castles, like the story of Saint Michael (similar to Saint George and the dragon).

Book Covers

Let’s just take a moment to appreciate the beauty in the following books!

Graphic Novels

I don’t seem to understand how people can appreciate art and novels, but novels featuring art and a storyline are somehow neglected. As if, for some reason, as soon as teenagers enter high school, they must put down their graphic novels and delve into “real books.” Or once students enter college or “the real world”, they must enjoy classics and not YA fiction. Like, excuse me? Double graduate student here. I still enjoy art. The Louvre has art. Give me pictures!

Some of my all-time favorite kids books include The Missing Piece and Harold and the Purple Crayon. Some of my favorite graphic novels include but are not limited to Maus (vols. I and II), M.F.K.: Book One, and The Best We Could Do. There are still plenty of graphic novels on my TBR list.

Fanart

Like graphic novels, you don’t see this one talked about a lot. But I still like to look at it, hence my Art of Fiction Board on Pinterest where I like to “collect” pieces from my favorite fandoms, from How to Train Your Dragon to The Greatest Showman. There’s also fanart on Instagram, and I like to find artists on Twitter, but I prefer Pinterest because I’m not very good at photography and I can keep all the pictures in one place.

Bookmarks

Recently, I added a Bookmark of the Month tab in the right-hand column because I have so many bookmarks that I thought I’d share them with you. I like to collect bookmarks from my travels. Aside from paintings and sketches, they are perhaps my favorite type of souvenir.

Recent bookmarks include the following:

Traditional Korean hanbok
my parents brought from a conference in Poland.

Tuscany, Italy. Watercolor.
Acquired from a trip to Siena with my sister.

Sainte Chapelle, Paris.
Bookmark my mom bought from her latest visit to Paris.

El Camino de Santiago.
Acquired from our 260 km pilgrimage.

Let’s chat! Are you an artist? What’s your favorite medium to create? To look at? Where do you like to share your art and find other’s?

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Similar posts: Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover, The Power of Fiction, and The Scholarly Fangirl

Film references: How to Train Your Dragon and The Greatest Showman

Literary references: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Other Stories, Lewis Carrol’s Alice in Wonderland, Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, Alison Croggon’s The Bone Queen, Hans Christian Anderson’s Classic Fairy Tales, Olivia A. Cole’s A Conspiracy of Stars, Azelyn Klein’s Last of the Memory Keepers, Lisa T. Bergren’s Remnants: Season of Wonder, Maggie Stiefvater’s The Scorpio Races, C. G. Drew’s A Thousand Perfect Notes, Shel Silverstein’s The Missing Piece, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Art Speigelmann’s Maus (vols. I and II), Nihal Magrunder’s M.F.K.: Book One, and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do