American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

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Bibliographic Information:

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

ISBN 978-0-312-38448-7

2006 Square Fish/Macmillan New York, NY

Plot Summary:

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel that weaves together 3 stories to complete the circle of a story that begins with the legend of the Monkey King. The Monkey King wants to be included in festivities in the heavens, so he studies the art of Kung Fu and the heavenly disciplines so that he can be worthy of inclusion in the Heavenly parties. The second strand in the graphic novel is the story of Jin Wang, a Chinese American boy who is in love with an All American Girl. Jin Wang becomes friends with a new immigrant from Taiwan and their friendship becomes his refuge. The third narrative is about All American Danny, who is terrorized by an annual visit by his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee. He is so embarrassed by Chin-Kee’s visits that he changes schools every year. As Monkey learns that he cannot out reach the gods, Jin Wang learns that he will always be Chinese, and Danny learns to accept his Chinese identity, too. All of these stories are woven together in the end by the Monkey King.

Critical Evaluation:

American Born Chinese uses color drawings with comic book narration and dialogue to tell three apparently unconnected stories. Each section is divided to uphold that separation, but the drawings are the same style throughout, implying connection.

The use of the Chinese Folk Tale about the Monkey King in connection to young Chinese American men has some good elements of foreshadowing. The Monkey King’s weakness is wanting to be something other than himself and the boys’ problems happen when they try to change who they are.

The characters who use some of the negative stereotypes of Chinese Americans can be a little jarring for a politically correct audience. The fact that Chin Kee is named what he is and that he pronounces English words in such stereotypically bad ways could perpetuate a racist idea about Chinese immigrants. I guess this problem goes away when the author himself is Chinese American.

This graphic novel won so many awards that it can only open doors for cultural exchange through comic format. The style of this comic does not imitate Japanese Manga, which is not related to the Chinese folklore this explores. I think the style reflects something more like Archie Comics, which is accessible to American kids.

Reader’s Annotation:

The Monkey King wants to be better than monkeys, Jin Wang wants to hide his Asian identity and Danny holds on to his All American identity. When the strands come together, we learn to be proud of our identities.

Author Information:

Hi! I’m Gene Luen Yang. Thanks for visiting my site! I began making comics and graphic novels over fifteen years ago.In 2006, my book American Born Chinese was published by First Second Books.  It became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award. It also won an Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album – New.In 2013, First Second Books released Boxers & Saints, my two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion.  Boxers & Saints was nominated for a National Book Award and won the L.A. Times Book Prize.I’ve done a number of other comics, including Dark Horse Comics’ continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender and DC Comics’ Superman!

In addition cartooning, I also teach creative writing through Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

retrieved from: http://geneyang.com/about on 8/3/2015

Genre(s):

Graphic Novel, Fiction

Curriculum Ties:

Multiculturalism, Chinese American Culture

Booktalk Ideas:

This title lends itself to talks about Chinese folklore, cultural sensitivity, and graphic novels as literature.

Reading level: Grade 5+

Interest age: 11+

Challenge Issues: There are no apparent challenge issues. Any questions about the title refer to the Challenge Defense File

Why I chose this book:

This book is a Printz Award Winner and a great example of how graphic novels represent literature.