Synopsis

Kurt the Kernel Escaping the Kitchen is an adventurous type of graphic novel. It is about two popcorn kernel friends, Kurt and Ken, embarking on a life altering journey around a small neighborhood. It involves both courage and strength in order to survive. The need for teamwork and motivation is also important to make this adventure successful. Kurt and Ken wanted change from their normal everyday life in the Smith’s kitchen. They encounter challenges and situations that require good decision making and good teamwork in order to accomplish the task at hand. Overall, this graphic novel, Kurt the Kernel Escaping the Kitchen, teaches life lessons to when you set your mind on something, follow through and never give up, no matter how hard it may seem to accomplish.

The title of my graphic novel is Kurt the Kernel Escaping the Kitchen. The main story line in this novel is mainly about the adventures and troublesome a popcorn kernel, Kurt, goes through in order to change his life. With the help of his kernel friend Ken, they both encounter problems that may seem to be leading to an unsuccessful trip. This trip is mostly being taken to prove to the other popcorn kernels that life does not have to be the same throughout a lifetime. Kurt's main goal is to travel around the neighborhood and visit other kernels in different kitchens. As a result of a successful journey, Kurt can live in another kitchen and meet new popcorn kernels. Overall, the kernel experiences life alternating situations and problems.

The main character, Kurt, lives a normal life as a popcorn kernel with his fellow kernel family and friends in the Smith's kitchen. He loves adventure and is the most outgoing in the group and loves challenges. Because of this, Kurt embarks in an adventure of a lifetime. During the journey, his personality is challenged and he risks his life to experience the unknown wonders outside of the Smith’s kitchen.

The main theme in this graphic novel is to never give up, no matter how hard something may seem. This brave, adventurous popcorn kernel comes upon problems that require difficult decision making. Not only does he have to look out for himself, he has another fellow kernel, Ken, following along in the journey to look out for.

The main conflict in this novel, on one hand, contains an emotional conflict within Kurt. Kurt has a hard time dealing with being apart from loved ones. This includes his father, mother, sister and brother. He feels like he is missing out and also feels he has made the wrong choice in deciding to embark in such an adventure. But on the other hand, Kurt encounters physical struggle to the outside world. Weather, animals, cars, and people are only a few of the problems Kurt and his friend experience along the way. The windy, rainy outdoors obviously does not go well with popcorn. They struggle within the day and night to survive the elements of the outdoors. A stumble upon animals such as dogs and cats can lead to life and death situations because animals like these will eat anything they set their eyes to. Because of the busy neighborhood roads, the popcorn kernels experience encounters with cars all throughout the day. While crossing the road, a simple mistake can have devastating results. However, people are popcorn’s greatest fear. Not only can humans eat the popcorn kernels, it does not help that popcorn is one of America’s favorite type of snack on a summers day. This poses a risk for Ken and Kurt when they run into little children playing in the back yard. These children are hungry and see popcorn on the ground. Kurt and Ken risk their life to complete this tiring journey but will all these obstacles stand in their way? In the end, both Kurt and Ken wind up circling the whole neighborhood ending back to the Smith’s kitchen. It’s then that they both realize that they have always loved their kitchen and the other popcorn kernels there. Even though they traveled the neighborhood, met other kernel friends and experienced the most risky situations, there is no place like home.

One of my favorite parts in my graphic novel, Kurt the Kernel Escaping the Kitchen, is the encounter of the dog in the yard while the kernels were just escaping Smith's kitchen window. Not only is it just a dog, it is a massive and aggressive dog that has not been fed yet. Kurt and Ken experience the first major problem and one of the most dangerous encounters, and almost end the big adventure right then and there with the dog. However, with teamwork and motivation, both the popcorn kernels get through the yard and are able to continue their journey through the neighborhood.

There could be many age groups that could read this book. Even though it is a kid based graphic novel, young adults and maybe even some adults could enjoy this novel because of the main themes contained in the novel. These themes in this graphic novel could teach many children and adults lessons that are beneficial and positive towards their life.

Setting and Time

1. The time period in my novel, 'The Diary of a Wimpy Kid', is present day. It never says the date, but i assume it is present day because they do not talk about any specific events to make me think otherwise. The pictures tell me whether its day or night, or different seasons of the year, however, in the novel, it states what day and month it is while reading.

2. My main charactor, Greg, does represent the ideals he was expected to represent. Like the title states, this story is about survival for a young boy, in middle school, dealing with normal, everydays problems of that age.

3. The time period works within this story because its relatable. Things would be a little different if they set this story into a different time period, 10 years before or after. However, the story wouldnt be that much different because all middle school kids go through hard times with friends, teachers, and even bullies. So a change in the time period would not alter the overall story line, it would just make it less modern. The author chose this time period because I think he wanted it to be easier for readers around my age or younger to relate or understand.

4. My story's setting is real fiction. The place where this story takes place does not really exsist in real life but it does look realistic and a place could exsist like the one in the novel.

Characters

The protagonist, main character, and also the narrator in the graphic novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, is a middle school boy named Greg Heffley. The antagonists in this novel includes a lot of characters. They include the parents of Greg because he always gets in trouble and the bullies in school. It could also be the teachers, neighborhood friends, and Greg's little brother, depending on different points in the story because each situation changes throughout the novel. Even though these characters did not do anything terribly wrong, for Greg, they caused problems. Some of the strengths of Greg is he is determined to accomplish anything he strives for, however, he always gets caught doing something wrong at the wrong time. Greg's best friend and neighbor, Rowley is another character in the novel. Rowley is a unique character and is not afraid to be different. Rowley and Greg are always together. The author, Jeff Kinney used these characters in the graphic novel to draw the reader in by using everyday problems of an average middle school child. We have all been that age before so in some way we can relate to their problems. This story, however, is aimed towards the middle school and high school students because it is fresh in our mind, but as adults, some can remember the junior high days. The characters are young and cause a lot of trouble because of their young age so it makes me believe this graphic novel is aimed towards this age group. All the characters in this graphic novel, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, are familiar because they all are experiencing different life situations in middle school including bullying, taking tests and quizzes, making friends, dealing with siblings, and dealing with parents. 

graphic novels over the years

The Platinum Age-

Before there were comic books, there were comic strips. Some of the first comic strips were "The Little Bears and Tigers," in the newspaper and "Down in Hogan's Alley," the first successful comic series. These comics were basic and black and white. The plot line was also basic.

The Golden Age-

Around the 1930s, America was introduced to comic books. World War II was during this era, so comics acted as a form of entertainment. The first action comic book was Superman. Other masked marvels appeared after Superman like Batman and Wonder Woman. These comics were more complex and color was being put into them. The plot line became more detailed.

The Silver Age-

During this time, comics werent as popular. It was probably because of the creation and growing popularity of television. Spiderman became popular because he was a nerd, a student and had no money so he had to earn and make eveything himself. These comics were more artistically advanced.

The Bronze Age-

Around the 1970s and mid 1980s, comic books had colored superhero titles, darker plot elements, more mature storylines dealing with real world problems like drug use. All Marvel comics were examples of these types of comic books in this era.

The Modern Age-

The comic books were more becoming story-oriented in the 1980s such as The Watchmen and The Dark Knight. The pictures became more detailed and colorful. Because of computers and internets, comic books became very popular and well known around the world.

The layout of my graphic novel, Marvel, follows the rule of thirds. The pattern in the novel reads top to bottom and left to right. This is formed because it helps the reader read the novel more smoothly. This type of reading is different then any other type of reading becuase some of the boxes pop out and that tells you it is important.

My graphic novel's style of drawing is very detailed, colorful, and almost realistic. The colors throughout the novel change based on the mood of the scene. But for the most part, the color of the comics stay the same. I get the sense of realism and it reminds me of a movie. This makes me think that instead of reading a comic, I am imagining the actual scene like in a movie.

The layout in the graphic novel I am starting to read, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, does not follow the rule of thirds as much as other graphic novels do. The novel reads top to bottom, however, it does not read left to right. There are not many pictures on each page because there is more writing. This type of graphic novel is different then others because there is alot more reading then usual graphic novels. Although there are not many pictures in the novel, the pictures they do show mean that they are important.

My graphic novel's style of drawing is very basic and colorless, compared to my other graphic novel, Marvel. The black and white, basic pictures do not change throughout the novel. Even though there is not many pictures in this graphic novel, it is still interesting to read and gives me a visual moving image, like a movie.