Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon (Book 1)

Introductory activities

General comments

Visual literacy is a vital skill in today’s digital and connected world. Students of today will need to be competent readers of both print and image literacies because, already, their world is a multi-modal one where text and illustrations interact continuously.

Graphic novels offer a way of teaching these vital skills which is both engaging and instructive. Because text and image merge and blend, students are easily able to decode and comprehend subtleties of the narrative such as symbolism, point of view, puns, intertextuality, intermodality, character, plot, setting and timing.

Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon by Brenton E. McKenna (who is both the writer and the artist) offers a delightful romp through the Broome of the late 1940s just after World War II, and just as the town’s pearling industry is going into a decline. The town is explored through the antics of various teenage gangs and nefarious characters from a variety of differing ethnicities and backgrounds. However, the two main cultures that are juxtaposed are Aboriginal and Chinese, which is interesting given our long and shared history.

This graphic novel begins with a cast of characters – good, bad and in between – and it pays to examine these in close detail as they appear and disappear with lightning speed. The Prologue (depicted, as all histories are in this book, in sepia) leads up to the beginning of the story proper and is set largely in ancient China, with an interesting foray into Australia and Australian mythology.

Briefly, the story is mostly concerned with the activities of two teenage gangs: Ubby’s gang of motley ‘underdogs’ from all corners of the world, and the Pearl Juniors, who are uniformly European. Ubby’s gang recruits the new arrival, a Chinese girl called Sai Fong, to become their fifth member, and this addition brings a wealth of intrigue and magical powers to the usual gang rumblings of the town. The story ends abruptly with the disappearance of Sai Fong, and the action is then continued in the second instalment, Ubby’s Underdogs: Heroes Beginnings*.

* Reading Australia title

In the section after the Prologue, entitled ‘Setting the Scene’, McKenna writes:

It is the late 1940s and Broome is recovering from the Second World War. Nearly one hundred years earlier, the Pinctada maxima, the largest pearl shell in the world, had been discovered in the waters of Roebuck Bay. It was the beginning of Broome’s heyday when the town supplied nearly all of the world’s pearl shell, and a fleet of over 400 pearl luggers worked out of Roebuck Bay. But times are changing, and Broome’s prosperous era is coming to an end.

Activities prior to reading

Some suggested activities to assist students to understand the context of this story:

• Students could create a website, imagining it is to promote the town of Broome as it appears at the time of this novel (the late 1940s) OR as it is now. The home page could be set out with general information about Broome taken from sites and pictures which already exist, and links could involve headings such as:
  • Broome in World War II (research needed)
  • the pearling industry (research needed)
  • multicultural Broome
  • a map of Broome (find one under ‘Setting the Scene’)
  • a map of Western Australia
  • Aboriginal peoples of the region
  • Chinese immigration to Broome
  • early conflict in Broome
  • fauna and flora
  • a history of tourism in Broome
• Students could take any of the ideas above, and instead of turning them into a website, they could research the individual topic and present it as an illustrated poster. Other topics they could use include:
  • Chinese legends
  • Chinese dragons
  • Aboriginal stories and beliefs
  • Broome today
  • street gangs
• Students could take several of the above items, or one, and expand on them in the form of a documentary, slide show, or PowerPoint presentation.
• Students could choose to research the author: his life, his work and the significance of both.

The above activities could be done singly, as in a homework/classwork project, in pairs or in small groups. All presentations need to be shared with the whole class prior to beginning reading.

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Personal response on reading the text

Looking first at the book cover

Ask students to write down every single thing they can observe on the front cover, including:

• colours used
• figures of people – their clothes, facial expressions, stance and relationship to each other
• symbols
• anything else they notice

A worksheet is provided (PDF, 123KB).

Sun Pictures still exists as a movie house in Broome. Ask students to find out what is showing there now, at the time of this activity. How many years has it been going?

McKenna dedicates this book, the first of the Ubby’s Underdogs trilogy, to his grandmother. Ask students to imagine that they have written a book, and then write out the dedication. To whom would they dedicate their books and why?

Prologue

Read the Prologue in pairs, looking at the text in the boxes, the frames and their borders, the pictures in the frames, and the use of colour.

Ask students to answer the following questions and discuss the points raised:

• What was the Great Empire of China?
• Who were the Barbarians?
• Who is the narrator?
• What colours are used in the first nine pages?
• Look at the black frames; notice that on the third page, there is just one big frame with the picture of the Phoenix Dragon, plus an inset frame in the top left hand corner. What does the inset frame tell the reader?
• Where is the Island of Komodo?
• Which country is even further south than the Island of Komodo?
• How did the Sandpaper Dragon make the fire?
• What did he do with it once he had made it?
• What role did the Warrior Woman play in giving back the Phoenix Dragon his ‘Druga’?
• Why, on the tenth page of the Prologue, is there suddenly a panel with colour? What effect does this have on the reader?
• On the next page, there are two small frames at the bottom left with no speech bubbles or words of any sort – what is happening in these two pictures?
• Look at the full colour picture on the opposite page. Students should discuss what is happening on this page and speculate where the boat is going. What point of view/perspective is given by placing the viewer/reader behind Yupman Poe – in the boat, as it were?

Cast of Characters

Still in their pairs, students are to read the ‘Cast of Characters’ section (the first page of the book, before the character sketches) and answer the following questions in discussion form:

• In which time period is this writing set?
• Any suggestions as to what the Secret Council of Magic might be?
• What does the term ‘ruffian’ mean? Look the word up in a dictionary.

Focus on the Underdogs:

• Why would a small gang need ‘speed, aggression, strength, patience, agility and grit’?
• Ubby is the leader of the Underdogs and the central protagonist in the novel. What is unusual in this?
• What is the dictionary definition of the term ‘underdog’?
• What is the significance of the four different ethnicities depicted by the children on this page?
• What do the colour bubbles on the left of the characters mean?

17 more characters appear before there is any mention of the other main gang in town, the Pearl Juniors.

• Who is in the Pearl Juniors Gang?
• How does this gang differ from Ubby’s Underdogs?

There are 35 characters in all. Students will often need to refer back to them as they read the story.

Use this true/false quiz (PDF, 106KB) to help students remember characters.

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Reading the story

Graphic novels are different. In order to guide students in their reading/viewing of Ubby’s Underdogs, it might be wise to introduce them early to a definition of graphic novels, and a glossary (PDF, 102KB) of the terms used in this unit. You can also share the helpful explanation on p. 2 of Scholastic’s Guide to Using Graphic Novels with Children and Teens.

This is a dense and complicated graphic novel, especially in the last quarter of the story where a multitude of plot twists, characters and settings are introduced in rapid succession.

Encourage the students, at this stage, to read only as far as the end of the part where Ubby’s gang attend the Sun Picture House and sit on the roof. This takes in the high point of action, the Game of Gruff, as well as exposing many subplots. This reading could be done in class time with different students taking different parts, and someone else doing the sound effects and inserted instructions (within the text boxes).

As students read, introduce them to the terms used in graphic novels (e.g. panels, balloons, borders, framing, colour) as well as the importance of character aspects such as gesture, facial expression, and gaze (PDF, 120KB), plus angle of the shots and perspective.

Obviously the entire story will need to be read later. This could be set as ongoing homework. Students will need to keep an ongoing plot outline summary or graph which will need to  be checked, as one of the major tasks in the Informed Reaction section flows on from the completion of this first book of the trilogy.

Activities while reading:

• Students to replicate the map (drawn below the ‘Setting the Scene’ section) on a large poster or A3-sized paper. Several of these could be put up around the room, and as the action occurs, students could fill in with bubbles what is happening and where.
• Another way of keeping track would be for students to create a depiction of a dragon or snake and fill in events as they occur, in pictorial style. This could even be turned into a dice game of snakes and ladders.
• Students could use a big piece of butcher’s paper and create a story map of events as they occur.
• Students could create a concept map with the central climax of the action (so far) being the Game of Gruff. This could be placed in the central circle, and events/characters leading up to it could be placed around it.

All the above methods should be helpful in that they are pictorial. Additionally:

• Get two volunteers to explain the Game of Gruff clearly to the rest of the class (here is a detailed explanation at the back of the book.)
• Get two others to explain how Sai Fong managed to trick the Pearl Juniors Gang into losing the game, against all expectations.

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Personal connections

The following questions and points of discussion could be done singly, in pairs or in small groups. It could be done as a writing exercise or as a partner/class discussion.

• Ask the students which character they most identify with and why.
• Ubby’s Underdogs and the Pearl Juniors are both gangs. What constitutes a gang? How does a gang differ from other collections of people such as tribes, clubs and teams? Look up and write down the definitions of all these words.
• Does anyone in the class belong to a gang, or know anyone who does? Would anyone like to be in a gang? Ask the student(s) to elaborate.
• What do students think of the punishment given to the losing gang after the Game of Gruff?
• How realistic, in present day Australia, is it to find such a multicultural group of students in one small town/suburb/school?
• Where is the presence of adult supervision or school? How can the lives of these youths be so unstructured and free?
• How does their sort of life compare to present day ways of growing up?
• Which is the better way to live? Why?
• Sai Fong uses magical powers on the boys of the Pearl Juniors Gang. Is this fair?
• Which gang would be most attractive to belong to, at this stage – and why?
• Why was the Secret Council of Magic set up? What role did it play in the life of the town? How could something like this work in today’s troubled world? Who would/should belong?

Students need to read the rest of the book in their own time, keeping a plot and character summary as they read.

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Outline of key elements of the text

Structure

In graphic novels, formatting is as important a component as plot, character and themes. In fact, as much can be learnt about these elements from the formatting as from any written words. The pictures provide at least 50% of our understanding, perhaps more.

Ask the students to look at the first page of the story, after the map of Broome. On this page, there is only one speech balloon, yet a lot is happening.

• Students are to discuss with a neighbour what is happening first in Chinatown, and secondly at the top of Kennedy Hill. Either together, or singly, students could write out exactly what is happening on this page. A model is provided (PDF, 103KB).
• Ask students to explain how they inferred this meaning.
• Who is speaking at the top of Kennedy Hill?
• Who is the figure in the bottom right-hand corner of the bottom panel?

Plot

The central plot/action line in this novel is the antagonism and continual sparring of the two main gangs: Ubby’s Underdogs and the Pearl Juniors. However, there is a host of subplots, and (as mentioned) the last quarter of the book gets a life of its own as regards the action. Students have already plotted some of the fast moving action in earlier activities. Now ask them to make a list of all the subplots they encounter up to the end of the part where Ubby’s Underdogs attend the movie at the Sun Picture House. For example: the Underdogs’ quest to find Medinga (Safa’s friend, the chess-playing baboon). There are many others:

• Gabe’s quest to retrieve his teeth
• Yupman Poe’s quest to find a cure for Sai Fong
• Paul Donappleton’s shady business deals
• the Council of Magic
• tensions between various groups in the town that had been festering for years
• the background hunt for the Sandpaper Dragon

Character

There are 35 characters in this graphic novel. Some are not human. Some have relatively small roles and only appear towards the end.

• Ask students to draw up two columns and title one ‘Good Characters’ and one ‘Bad Characters’. Assign each character they come across in their reading (up to the end of the movies part of the story) to one column or the other. They need to be be able to explain their decisions.
• Ask students to choose a character from one of the two main gangs and, using the character description at the start of the book (plus any information gleaned from their speech, gestures, facial expressions, clothes and commonly depicted traits), write a character sketch/outline of one to two paragraphs. Students need to be alerted to the constant background interactions, such as frames depicting casual and affectionate interactions between Gabe and Sel, or the strange nose-picking habits of Fin. A model has been provided (PDF, 227KB).
• Why does Fin say: ‘spitting is something you do when you mention the British’?
• How many gangs are there in Broome at this time? Make a list.
• Why is each member of Ubby’s Underdogs from a different nationality? Why are they called ‘the Underdogs’? What point is McKenna making by creating an all-white gang as the main rival of the Underdogs?
• What is Sel terrified of? And why?
• Who began the Council of Magic, and why? Who is the leader of the Council of Magic, and why?

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Themes

• Aboriginal culture
• Chinese history, legends and mythology
• Teenage gangs
• Colonialism
• Intercultural relationships
• Racism
• Sexism
• Magical realism
• Corruption
• The pearling industry
• Australian history
• Bullying
• Humour
• Satire
• Courage
• Friendship

Synthesising task

Students are to work in pairs (Student A and Student B).

Provide Student A with a couple of pages of a graphic novel/comic with the written text blocked out. Supply Student B with just the written text from the speech balloons, thought bubbles, sound effects, setting/time instructions, and any other writing.

Student A will fill in the written text on their pages, while Student B will create the graphics and frames. They could use stick figures, or provide instructions as if briefing an artist how to do it.

Students are then given the originals to compare with their own efforts.

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The writer’s craft

The writer

Students could watch this 2010 interview with McKenna. Here he talks about his own difficult experiences in mainstream education and how he coped.

Discuss with students:

• How did McKenna learn his literacy skills?
• What was the result of his being empowered by comic books and superheroes?
• Who is the character Ubby based upon?
• What were McKenna’s other sources for the book?
• Write down five questions you would like to ask McKenna: about life, craft, inspirations, future plans, ambitions, ideas… anything!

Structure

In graphic novels, the artist’s craft is as important as the writer’s. In the case of Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon, McKenna is both artist and author.

In the past, McKenna has described and demonstrated his skills as a cartoonist. He always begins with stick figures and then pads them out. Students could spend some time trying to emulate this technique in their own notebooks, on A4 paper, butcher’s paper, or in a drawing program on their laptops.

Students can then view the official book trailer for Ubby’s Underdogs. In this, some of the action from the novel is set to music and in a series of wonderful graphics, and episode headings, the story is very colourfully summarised (NOTE: A couple of the scenes are from the sequel).

Formatting

The joy of using graphic novels in the classroom is that because of their structure and formatting, students are able to pick up cues visually. They can in fact follow the storyline visually, and make assessments about characters without having to decode descriptions or direct speech with its convoluted punctuation. However, there are terms used in graphic novels that are not used in other ordinary fictional stories, and it would be useful for students to be able to speak technically about the structure.

The following instructions are adapted from Scholastic’s Guide to Using Graphic Novels. Teaching notes have been provided (PDF, 121KB).

Art

Every cartoonist has a unique style. It is always unrealistic to a degree.

• How easy is it to identify all of the many characters in Ubby’s Underdogs?
• What helps us to identify the characters so readily?
• Choose any one frame and comment on how the facial expression and gesture depicted gives insight into that character’s personality. Compare your ‘reading’ of the character with the character description at the beginning of the book.
• There are many examples of ‘bird’s-eye’ and ‘worm’s-eye’ views. Ask the students to find at least one of each and comment on how they assist the understanding of the situation, or add to the story’s progress.
• Why are the clothes important? What can we tell about a character by observing the clothes they habitually wear?
• The Prologue is all coloured in sepia tones. Find other sections of the story where regular colour disappears, and everything is in sepia. What does this choice of colour signify?
• How are inside scenes different to outside scenes?
• Blue and orange/red colours are predominant in all the outside scenes. What impression of the town of Broome and surrounding area do these colours give?

Approach to characterisation

McKenna’s characterisation is immediately accessible, humorous and vivid. Apart from his comprehensive character bank at the front of the book, all the main characters have unspoken traits and quirks that make them instantly recognisable and thoroughly human.

Why, for example, does Fin sometimes wear a red scarf around his face, and sometimes not? What other strange habit does Fin have? Why does a heart appear as Fin is about to describe his special gift to Sai Fong?

Students are to fill in the character table (PDF, 114KB) listing the various character traits of the central characters, and ascribing significance to them for their part in the overall story. A teacher’s copy is provided (PDF, 147KB).

After completing the table, students compare responses and then discuss the following questions:

• Why does Ubby wish to recruit Sai Fong to her gang the minute she sees her, before she even knows who she is?
• Of all her gang members, who is Ubby closest to? Justify your response using textual and visual evidence.
• How does Ubby demonstrate her leadership of her gang? Again, ask students to use both dialogue and imagery in their response.
• What impact has the death of Ubby’s father had on her?

Sai Fong has superhuman powers and after the snake has bitten her, she transfers her powers to Ubby (‘What is mine I give to you’).

• How is this exchange of powers shown visually?
• Students are to research a female superhero of their choice and then create a Venn diagram. Using Sai Fong for one circle, and their chosen superhero for the other circle, list the special powers of each, with the overlap listing what they share.

Characters in graphic novels do not have to say anything to become fully alive and recognisable. Their facial expressions, body language and gestures can speak volumes.

• Students choose any one frame where a single character is depicted and no words are used, and do a ‘reading’ of this character based on the above list of cues.
• Ask students to write down a state of being/emotion on a piece of paper (e.g. being surprised, amused, shocked, angry). Working in pairs, students are to act out their emotion with no words. Expression, gesture and movement must say it all. The partner is to guess the emotion being mimed before swapping roles.
• Students could create a story strip entirely out of emoticons, and swap it with that of a neighbour. Each student is to ‘read’ the story aloud.

Setting

The setting(s) are important in this novel – and there are many of them (e.g. Ancient China, modern China and Broome). Within the Broome area, some areas have special significance. What, for example, would be the significance of:

• Chinatown
• Hai’s House of Refuge
• Back Camp
• Broome Courthouse
• Donappleton’s Estate
• Little Nihongo
• Sun Picture House

Use of parallels and contrasts

There are several striking parallels in Ubby’s Underdogs:

Discussion points:

• What was the White Australia policy?
• Why did Broome receive an exemption from the White Australia policy?
• Discuss the risks that the divers faced.
• In light of this history, write a paragraph on the significance of Ubby and her gang.

Point of view

Read the students a short extract from an ordinary print text written in the first person, and ask whose point of view is being privileged.

Read a short extract from another story written in the third person, and discuss point of view.

Ask students:

• Who is the narrator in Ubby’s Underdogs? 
• Is any one point of view being privileged in this novel? If the answer is yes, how is it happening? Or are all points of view given equal weight?

Voice

McKenna uses humour throughout this book, both visually and within the written text.

The sudden appearance and disappearance of alarmed tourists towards the end is one example of this. Direct students to this section and discuss both the dialogue and images. Ask students to find other examples of each and explain to a neighbour, or to the class, why they were amusing.

Importantly, McKenna also uses humour to critique. As a class, do a close reading of the two spitting incidents. Apart from being amusing, this carries a powerful message. What is McKenna directing his readers to think/notice with this small detail?

Language and style

Consider the language of Yupman Poe when he is received off the boat by Clancy Blanker at Hai’s House of Refuge:

Thank you for meeting us. You can see we are… how you say, fresh off the boat. But I shall get to work once we have settled into our quarters. I see we are staying at Hai’s House of Refuge.

Compare this to Ubby’s language:

We Underdogs! We don’t care what we eat, as long as we wasn’t there when it got killed.

Students might be interested to learn more about Aboriginal English (AbE). Reading Australia’s teaching resource for Meet Me at the Intersection contains some useful information and resources (see Close Study > The Writer’s Craft > Language and Style > Exploring the Power of Language).

This would be a good opportunity to discuss register with the class. Register applies to the sort of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular setting. Ask students to reflect on this by thinking about how their own language would be different according to different settings:

• in the playground
• in the principal’s office
• at the dinner table at home

Students are to fill in this table (PDF, 107KB) about getting to know characters by the way they speak. Several cells have already been filled as a guide.

Text and meaning

Exploration of themes and ideas

Racism

Ubby’s Underdogs, the gang, is led by a feisty Aboriginal girl who is the equal of any youth in the town. With her motley multiracial crew she takes on the all-male Pearl Juniors and fights for good causes, such as finding Safa’s baboon. Obviously, McKenna is interested in highlighting racism, both as it was in the middle of the last century and, because he is writing now, as it is today.

In the character of Ubby, based on McKenna’s grandmother (Alberta Dolby), and her followers, such as Sel, McKenna exposes small-town racism and simultaneously subverts it.

• Ask students to find an example of racism directed at Ubby’s gang, and an example of personal racism, directed at a particular person.
• Would such racism be tolerated in Australia today? Perhaps as well as giving personal views and evidence, students could look up topics and news items such as:
  • Closing the Gap
  • The Australian Reconciliation Barometer
  • The Sikh boy denied admission to school because of his headdress

There are many films and television shows one could use to use to illustrate the appalling racism that existed in early Australian history, such as Rabbit-Proof Fence (based on Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence* by Nugi Garimara) or Episode 5 of the documentary series First Australians.

* Reading Australia title

Create an atmosphere (PDF, 117KB) in which students can talk over and reflect on their experiences of racism in this country. They may have also experienced casual racism such as jokes stereotyping and denigrating specific races, or this might be a good time to direct them to think about this. They may share with the class if they wish, or perhaps express their thoughts in writing.

Gender issues

Not only is Ubby Aboriginal, she is also a girl – and a leader of a tough gang. Sai Fong is another powerful female figure, as is the Warrior Woman who appears in the Prologue and passes on the Druga to the Phoenix Dragon (though her role is small).

Initiate small group or classroom discussion on the way that these three characters use their power:

• Is it always used for good?
• Who benefits from Ubby’s strength of character?
• Who suffers because of it?
• Who benefits from Sai Fong’s special power?

Bullying

Ask students to re-read the ‘Backdoor Singing Session’ punishment that is handed out to the teams who lose in the Game of Gruff. Students are to go to one side of the classroom if they think this constitutes bullying, or the other side if they think it typifies normal rough and tough gang/schoolyard behaviour. Get a spokesperson from each side to explain their positions.

Create a discussion forum in which students form small groups and choose one of the supplied statements (PDF, 115KB). You could add as many as you wish to the list. As a group, students decide which statement to present and how to justify their choices/preferences to the rest of the class. A spokesperson should be chosen to represent the group. Perhaps imposing a time limit would be a good idea.

Corruption

Paul Donappleton is obviously corrupt. Ask for a volunteer to explain his form of corruption to the class. There is also blackmail involved. Who is in a position to blackmail whom and how?

Discussion topic:

Could this happen nowadays, or do we have laws preventing this sort of thing?

Colonialism

What is colonialism and colonisation? Students are to look up these concepts and then be prepared to explain how this situation impacted the town of Broome – and in fact all of Australia – in the mid-20th century.

Discussion points:

• Look up the words ‘invasion’ and ‘settlement’. How do invasion, colonialism and settlement go together?
• Which nationality were the colonisers of Australia, and which nationalities were colonised during the time of Ubby’s Underdogs? 
• Has anything changed since this time?
• Is Australia still a colony of Britain?
• Has Australia ever colonised another country (e.g. Papua New Guinea)?
• Who were the most disadvantaged under the colonial system operating within Broome in the late 1940s?
• Are any of the nationalities mentioned in Ubby’s Underdogs discriminated against today? Why and how?
• Who has the power in Australia today? Why and how?
• How does Mckenna subvert this seemingly natural order in his graphic novel?

Gangs

• How is gang warfare understood today? Give some examples of gangs existing in Australia today.
• What sort of gangs existed in Broome in the 1940s?
• List all the gangs in the book (if not already done in the Initial Response section).
• How many gangs were multigendered and multicultural?
• Why is the Game of Gruff so important to the gangs?

Choose one of the gangs from Ubby’s Underdogs and create one of the following:

• a banner advertising your gang
• a rap poem/song celebrating your gang
• a special handshake for the gang
• a chant
• a slogan
• a logo/symbol

Synthesising task

Hypothetical scenario

Although the Year 7 students in your school have been allowed to study Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon, your school librarians have refused to stock graphic novels in the school library, believing that they ‘dumb down the art of reading’ and are ‘not worthy of the title “literature” because they are unrealistic, shallow and promote mindless and irresponsible behaviour’.

Your task is to create a YouTube clip or PowerPoint presentation in which, using specific illustrations and text from Ubby’s Underdogs, you persuade your librarian(s) and any doubting teachers/parents that graphic novels could indeed be classified as literature because of their accessibility to readers, themes, humour, graphics, characterisation or any other virtue you wish to point out.

The context can be one of the following:

• Full staff meeting
• Parent/teacher meeting
• National Librarians’ conference

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Ways of reading the text

In Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon, McKenna joyously overturns accepted norms and stereotypes of colonial Australia as it was in the mid-20th century.

Postcolonial literature

Colonisation is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Postcolonial theory is concerned with the past, present, and ongoing effects of colonialism. In Australia, colonisation is ongoing because the coloniser has not departed (Wiradjuri writer Anita Heiss has explored this at length in ‘Post-Colonial – NOT!’).

Students have already done research on the White Australia policy, Broome in the late 1940s and the pearling industry. Additional research areas could include:

• the fiction of terra nullius
• the 1967 referendum
• the Aboriginal Land Rights Act
• the Mabo decision

In this and other episodes in Australian history, themes such as racism, colonisation, oppression and dispossession certainly did (still do?) apply.

Ubby’s Underdogs plays with the discourses (ways of being) between coloniser and colonised. The text vividly represents the British dominion of township life in Broome in the late 1940s. Paul Donappleton holds a seemingly unassailable position of racial superiority over every other person of differing ethnicity in the town.

Students are to make a list of all the different ethnicities represented in Broome. Then in pairs or small groups, they should list all the ways in which Ubby’s gang and its various associates undermine this British authority. The list could include:

• Ubby – young, Aboriginal and female – being the leader of the gang
• Ubby’s followers – all of different ethnicities, all male – accepting her leadership
• Sai Fong choosing to join Ubby’s gang
• Sai Fong’s intelligence, ability and magical powers
• Medinga’s prowess at chess

In Australia, the date chosen as the day the nation celebrates its (colonial) beginnings is problematic. People of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent have always resisted the fact that in order to celebrate our national day, white Australia has chosen the day on which the First Fleet under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip berthed at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson.

Why would Australia Day celebrations on this particular day offend some people?

Show students some clips from Babakiueria (1986) and read the NFSA curator’s notes.

Afterwards, ask students to look up a definition of the word ‘anthropology’. Anthropology is the study of humans and their cultures, often in a comparative way. Though old, Babakiueria works because colonial-settlers from the 1770s ‘studied’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

After watching the clips, students work in pairs or groups and discuss:

• What is this particular genre called (mockumentary)?
• How effective is this movie in making us look at accepted norms in a different way?
• Babakiueria was made in 1986. Ubby’s Underdogs was published in 2011 and is written about events that occurred in the 1940s. What (apart from fashion) has changed for Aboriginal people in Australia between the 1940s and now? This might be a good time to check the latest Closing the Gap report.

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Gendered reading

A gendered reading considers the way in which characters conform to or subvert the traditional gender stereotypes of the society depicted – in this case, Australia of the 1940s/50s. Within this world, both Ubby and Sai Fong would, according to colonial and sexist views of the time, be at the bottom of the social ladder.

Sai Fong is particularly interesting in that she (unlike Ubby) does have adult supervision. At first, she is depicted as a meek and compliant Chinese girl. Ask students to describe three frames where Sai Fong is behaving in this way.

However, Sai Fong defies her uncle in a variety of ways.

• Describe three ways in which she deliberately misleads Yupman Poe.
• List her supernatural powers.
• How does she demonstrate the particular bond she has with Ubby?
• How does Sai Fong transfer her special powers to Ubby after the snake bite incident?
• Why is Sai Fong suffering from a mysterious illness?

After discussions in small groups, ask for a volunteer to describe the reason and the way in which Sai Fong is abducted. Students need to have read to the end of the book by this time, and should have been creating their plot summary (PDF, 133KB) along the way.

Students can then make a list of the ways in which Ubby overturns accepted gender norms.

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Comparison with other texts

Looking at the genre: comics

Manga comics

Students are to research manga comics in general. If possible it would be a good idea to bring a few manga comics into the classroom and pass them around.

Have students read a guide on how to read manga, either individually or as a class.

• What are some of the essential components of manga comics?
• What similarities/differences are there between Ubby’s Underdogs and manga comics in general? Consider visuals, sound effects, themes, plot, panel style, balloons, borders, inserted text, vividness of characterisation (facial expression, gesture, etc.), use of colour, symbols, caricatures, humour. This could be done as a Venn diagram.
• How commonly featured are dragons? Are they an essential element of manga?
• Ubby’s Underdogs contains aspects such as violence (low-level), a quest, magical powers – how common are these elements to other comics?
• Is there always a superhero?

Read this 2014 Deadly Vibe article about McKenna.

• What role did comics have in shaping Ubby’s Underdogs?
• How many comics did McKenna have in his collection?
• What does he mean by the term ‘visual literacy’?
• What are hieroglyphics?
• McKenna talks about ‘political cartoons’. How is Ubby’s Underdogs political?
• Could Ubby’s Underdogs belong in the manga genre, or is it something completely different?

Versions of the text in other modes, media and contexts

Many Aboriginal authors and illustrators have highlighted Aboriginal themes in picture books, if not in graphic novels. Bronwyn Bancroft, Gregg Dreise, Samantha Campbell, Dub Leffler, and Lisa Kennedy are just a few.

The Arrival* by Shaun Tan is a graphic novel that shares many similar themes with Ubby’s Underdogs.

• Students should view the pictures and notes on Tan’s website. What themes are similar to both books (e.g. belonging, dispossession, cultural identity, problems faced by migrants)?
• Students are to explain which form of text they find the most powerful. They should also explain which they prefer and why.

* Reading Australia title

Requiem for a Beast by Matt Ottley is a multimodal work with elements of a graphic novel, picture book, novella and musical piece. This clever and award-winning book deals with controversial themes of white power and the dispossession suffered by Aboriginal peoples. If possible, it would be worthwhile exposing students to this provocative graphic novel.

Reading Australia has a growing collection of graphic novels among its teaching resources. Remember that Ubby’s Underdogs is a trilogy, with The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon followed by Heroes Beginnings* and Return of the Dragons. McKenna also has a new series cheekily called Hairy Holes, with two instalments currently available (here and here).

* Reading Australia title

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Evaluation of the text

Representation of Australian culture

Multiculturalism

Australia prides itself on being one of the most multicultural countries on earth (though discussions about meaningful inclusion are ongoing).

Students could look up some statistics about cultural diversity in Australia and compile their own data (e.g. how many religions? How many nationalities? What percentage of Australians are born overseas?). It might be interesting to conduct the same research into their own classroom make-up. The SBS Australian Census Explorer will be useful here.

McKenna’s depiction of Broome as a multicultural melting pot (in the 1940s) is atypical of the Australian population in this period. How was it that Broome could be so different to the rest of Australia?

In Ubby’s Underdogs, there is evidence of problems associated with multiculturalism. Are there still problems associated with multiculturalism in modern Australia? Perhaps students could research the controversy stirred up by the 2017 Australia Day lamb ad. The provided worksheet (PDF, 129KB) may also be useful.

Students could work in small groups to explore these issues. Each group could take responsibility for a different cultural group. If there are different nationalities represented within the class, they may wish to explore their own history. Some research would be necessary. Students could prepare a short fact sheet outlining some of the difficulties faced by their chosen group and the steps undertaken to overcome these difficulties, OR a poster or informal presentation.

Students could also do some research on various government policies that have been implemented over the years, e.g. the White Australia policy, assimilation and multiculturalism. Do they have any suggestions for a new way of integrating and making new groups of people feel welcome?

Larrikinism/Australian sense of humour

Students look up and write down a dictionary definition of ‘larrikin‘.

• Why and how is the word ‘larrikin’ linked to Australia?
• Does this term only apply to males?
• Is there a link between larrikinism and Australian humour? Explain.
• Do students feel this is an old-fashioned concept of Australian humour, or does it still exist?
• Find an example of ‘larrikinism’ in Ubby’s Underdogs.

Mateship

Students look up and write down a dictionary definition of ‘mateship‘.

• Why and how is the word ‘mateship’ linked to Australia?
• Is the term ‘mateship’ more appropriate to the last century than this century? Why or why not?
• Does ‘mateship’, as a concept, only apply to males?
• In Ubby’s Underdogs, who manifests the most profound example of ‘mateship’? Explain.

Significance to literature/the world of texts

Some of the most significant books in the English canon have been turned into graphic novels, including Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Frankenstein, Great Expectations, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. If creating graphic novels out of serious and important adult texts has made them accessible to a wide range of learners, that can only be beneficial. Ubby’s Underdogs, though at face value seems a rollicking book of teenage gangs and Chinese legends, also contains some provocative and timely themes, as pertinent today as they were in the 1940s.

Identifying and justifying language/stylistic techniques for specific narrative or dramatic purposes

This has already been looked at in some detail during the Close Reading section, but as the upcoming Rich Assessment Task relies on students understanding the terminology used to describe the craft of graphic novels, a revision of terms and their meanings may well be in order.

As John Thomas writes in his teaching resource for Reg Saunders: An Indigenous War Hero, ‘Illustrated books provide a way into print texts for those who may otherwise not read anything at all’ (see his full commentary under Significance > Comparison With Other Texts > Genre). Indeed, graphic novels are rich in both language and stylistic techniques, many of which only reveal themselves slowly on second or third readings.

Approaches to literature and literary devices

All the usual ways of approaching literature (character, theme, plot, setting, etc.) are just as obvious in graphic novels as they are in conventional fiction texts, but some of the more elusive elements may also become more accessible in graphic novels. These include literary devices such as:

Revision of reading/decoding text

Refer students to the eleventh page of Ubby’s Underdogs. They may wish to revise the previously-provided glossary (PDF, 102KB) and relevant graphic novel terms and concepts (PDF, 120KB).

Students may work together to brainstorm how written and visual cues work together to make meaning. Points to consider:

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Rich assessment tasks

Provide students with a collection of images and portraits of various heroes, heroines and villains from an array of comics, novels, films, etc. Students should examine and discuss the ‘trademarks’ of how each character is designed (e.g. body type, expression, clothing, colours, gestures, shot angle, speech).

How easy is it for students to differentiate between hero and villain? How do they do this?

Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon combines the traditional comic/manga style genre with the subtle exposure of social issues of the era.

Students to complete ONE of the following tasks.

Task 1

This task has been adapted from Scholastic’s Guide to Using Graphic Novels.

Create a character (hero or villain) and, using the ‘trademarks’ listed above, flesh out this character as fully as possible. As in the ‘Cast of Characters’ at the beginning of Ubby’s Underdogs, provide a picture and a brief description of your chosen character.

Write one to one and a half pages of a story script. This only needs to be a first draft to indicate the idea of the plot. The character you have just created should feature in your script.

Create a series of storyboard sketches with words pencilled into balloons. The characters at this stage only need to be stick figures. This should also look like a first draft.

Task 2

Choose ONE of the following ideas:

• Social justice issue (e.g. racism, bullying, sexism)
• Adventure story
• A day in the life
• Historical occasion
• Any other ideas as negotiated with your teacher.

Create a character (who may have no relationship to traditional comic characters) who is going to fit your own idea for a comic/graphic novel.

As in Task 1, create and briefly describe the main character. Write one to one and a half pages of a script featuring your character, then turn this into a rough storyboard.

It might be helpful for both student and teacher if the student writes a short author’s note as a preamble to the task to clarify what they plan to do.

Criteria

Your teacher is going to be looking for evidence of the following:

Task 1

• A character that fits a comic stereotype of hero/heroine/villain.
• Thoughtful depiction of this character, plus a brief written description.
• The start of a story/plot that is typical to comics, involving action such as a quest, an evil deed that must be punished, mythological beings such as dragons or superhuman escapades.
• Some idea of dialogue and action in the storyboard.

Task 2

• A character that you have devised to fit the genre in which you choose to write, e.g. an unfortunate child (bullying), a mistreated animal, a historical figure, an everyday child about to have an adventure.
• Thoughtful description of this character.
• The beginning of a story/plot.
• Some idea of dialogue and action in the storyboard.

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Synthesising core ideas

Graphic novels are an important tool for encouraging reading and firing imagination. They are immediately accessible to students who are constantly decoding and ‘reading’ both written and visual texts in their everyday lives. And because, to many students, they seem less threatening than densely written texts, they provide an excellent vehicle for teaching both structural and abstract aspects of literature.

Rich assessment task 1 (productive)

Revisit the definition of a graphic novel from Scholastic’s Guide to Using Graphic Novels. Also show students this clip of American cartoonist Gene Yang.

Teachers and/or students may choose from the following tasks.

Option 1

Students are to create four pages in graphic novel format based entirely on Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon. In their work, they need to demonstrate their knowledge of graphic novel writing by incorporating elements such as panels, borders, framing, balloons for speech and thought, sound effects, text boxes, characterisation using expression and gesture, colour and angle of shot.

Students might like to:

• Depict events leading up to the opening of Ubby’s Underdogs. Ideas include:
  • Gunada stealing Gabe’s teeth
  • Ubby recruiting gang members
  • Fin defecting from the Pearl Juniors to join the Underdogs
  • Medinga’s kidnapping
• Depict events following on from the end of the story (do NOT consult the sequel, Heroes Beginnings*), such as:
  • the continuing quest to find Sai Fong
  • bringing in characters such as the Red Wolves, Snail, Frog and Crow and the Crown Spider
• Insert four pages into the novel, as life in the town of Broome unfolds. Ideas:
  • Council of Magic
  • gangs
  • Medinga and Safa
  • Hai’s House of Refuge
  • Donappleton’s corruption plans
  • the hunt for the Sandpaper Dragon.

* Reading Australia title

Option 2

Students are to create four pages of their own graphic novel, again demonstrating mastery of the various skills needed to create a graphic novel (not just a picture book or a comic strip). They should create a new storyline entirely with new characters. The story could contain conventional elements, such as a hero/villain or quest.

Alternatively, students could take on some social issue and explore it in graphic novel format, such as producing a story about bullying, racism or sexism. As a final alternative, in negotiation with the teacher, students could produce four pages of a graphic novel on a topic of their own choice.

Important notes

• Students who do NOT wish to draw could achieve the same ends by writing the script and then creating a storyboard, using stick figures and providing extensive instructions to the artist, frame-by-frame.
• Students who have easy access to computers and could use photographs instead of drawings to create their graphic novels.
• Students may draw on the ideas generated for the Rich Assessment Tasks at the end of the Significance section.

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Rich assessment task 2 (RECEPTIVE)

Teachers may choose from a variety of tasks.

Persuasive writing

In your school there are many types of learners: some use English as second language, some are struggling with literacy and others do not see the point of reading for pleasure.

Based on your study and reading of Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon, write ONE of the following:

1. A letter to your school’s librarian, urging the stocking and promotion of more graphic novels to be used in your school.
2. An article to be placed in the school newsletter (for parents and the school community) encouraging the use of graphic novels and explaining how/why they are needed.
3. A poster plus a book review on Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon to be placed in your school’s library or ESL classroom, encouraging reluctant readers and/or those learning English as a second language to read this book.

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2. Spoken persuasive task: debate

Recent NAPLAN results show that Australia is falling behind in both numeracy and literacy. Students are to debate the following topic:

Setting graphic novels as serious texts to be studied in the English class is not going to improve Australian students’ declining literacy standards.

A traditional way to arrange school debates is to set up teams of six students: three to affirm the topic and three to refute it. Each student needs to write out their speech according to their role (i.e. the first speaker defines the topic, provides the case line and outlines the main points to be raised). Allow time for students to practise together before holding the debate in class.

There are numerous online resources to assist with debating, including guides from The Arts Unit Creative Teachers and Cluey Learning.

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3. Opinionative/reflective writing

McKenna’s study of comics and graphic novels helped him overcome literacy difficulties. He eventually went on to obtain a Distinction in Creative Writing and become an accomplished author/artist.

Write an article for inclusion in your school magazine in which you, a student who has studied Ubby’s Underdogs: The Legend of the Phoenix Dragon, give your own opinion as to how the study of this book has helped you.

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