Gene Luen Yang
American Born Chinese (2006)
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Genre: Graphic Novel (Literary)
Plot Summary:
This novel begins with three separate stories that are blended together in the end. The first story deals with the ancient Chinese tale of the monkey king and his quest to become one of the Gods. The Gods claim that the monkey king will never be a god because he can only be a monkey. The second story is about a young Chinese-American boy, Jing Wang who moves from Chinatown to a small town in the suburbs and is outcasted by his classmates. He befriends two other Asian kids and falls in love with a white girl. The third story deals with an all-American white boy, Danny coping with a visit from his racially stereotypical, buck-toothed Chinese cousin. In the end, the novel centers around Jing Wang has he struggles to understand his minority experience and fear and closes with the three stories coming together to show the reader acceptance in one's identity and kindness to others are most important. SPOILER: Jin Wang's best friend's father and Danny's stereotypical cousin were both actually the monkey king, which ties the three stories together.
Geographical Setting: American towns and China (ancient fable)
Time Period: Contemporary, except for the Monkey King fable
Appeal Characteristics:
This graphic novel is paced wonderfully, with easy descriptions and a quick-moving storyline. Aside from the monkey king fable, most of the novel is set in an American public school setting, which amplifies the differences between white children and the singled-out Asians. While there the three stories all have important main characters, Jin Wang is the strongest. His feelings of isolation and longing for love translate easily for all readers. An interesting secondary character is revealed in the third story of Danny and his Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. Chin-Kee will make readers cringe with racially themed stereotypes, but make the story of understanding one's identity becomes stronger overall because of him. The tone of this novel is usually light. The author uses comedy in a light-hearted way in order let readers understand these difficult issues easily, especially for those in middle or junior high school. Yang's writing style is simple and funny. This is especially shown when he explains the tale of the fabled monkey king, as no prior knowledge of this tale is needed, even though it is not explained in-depth. The novel uses the classic comic book theme, with linear panel arrangement in its illustrations. The colors are rich and the text is captured in word balloons.
Read-alikes: If readers enjoyed the theme of trying to find out where you fit in the world and a relatable, strong main character, they might like Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci. In this story, Jane's parent's the family from a big city to the suburbs after a terrorist attack. She can't seem to make any friends, but then find solace in three outcasted girls, all named Jane. If fables and legends incorperated in humorous stories, that are set in a teenager's perspective interest readers, they may enjoy Drawing a Blank: Or How I Tried to Solve a Mystery, End a Feud, and Land the Girl of My Dreams, by Daniel Ehrehaft. This novel uses comics intermittently as the author tells the story Carlton, who is a seventeen-year-old from a New England boarding school that has to rescue his father in rural Scotland after he is kidnapped. He has to deal with normal teen problems of bullies and girls in one section of the book, but then as to go on a quest for an ancient dagger that will save his father from his captors. If readers enjoyed the classic feel of a comic with rich colors and issues dealing with Asian-Americans, they may also enjoy Same Difference and Other Stories, by Derek Kirk Kim. This collection of stories that revolve around people that deal with love and regret. In its core story, Simon and his friend Nancy go back to Simon's hometown to find the man that Nancy has been swapping love letters with, even though she has never met him. Both Simon and Nancy have to deal with their nerves when dealing with finding love and not seizing the moment. Readers that enjoyed multiple stories being drawn together to a combined ending and issues of teen problems of bullies, best friends and love may also enjoy Bleed, by Laurie Stolarz. This novel is divided into interconnected short stories chronicling the lives of ten teens for one day and how they deal with serious and not-so-serious teen issues. Readers who liked reading about racial stereotypes and cultural assimilation may like Shortcomings, by Adrian Tomine. In this story, the main character, Ben Tanaka travels cross-country to find contentment. On his journey, he deals with relationships, racial politics, art and pop culture.
Red Flags: Strong racial stereotypes and bathroom humor
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