American Born Chinese

[onlyfiction]

American Born Chinese
By: Gene Luen Yang
Release Date: October 30, 2007 (First published September 1, 2006)
Publisher: First Second
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Summary: A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.

American Born Chinese is a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, an Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring and a 2007 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.



Review:It divided the book into three stories.

This first one is based on a Chinese folktale about The Monkey King. Over thousands of years, he mastered all heavenly disciplines. His desire to join the gods is rejected, since he is a monkey.

Another story is about Jin Wang, a boy who moves from Chinatown to a predominantly white suburb of San Francisco. He struggles to fit in at his new school, and he faces many stereotypes. His only friend is Wei Chen.

In the third tale, Danny is a white American boy whose Chinese cousin, Chin Kee, comes to see him every year. His Chinese cousin humiliated Danny after settling in at his new school.

I really like the artwork.There is a lot of insight into cultural identity issues, stereotypes, and privilege in the book, but I didn’t understand how the three stories relate to one another.

There is a twist ending to these seemingly unrelated three tales.

If you’re looking for a quick read, I would recommend this American-born Chinese book.