Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. First Edition. New York, NY: Square Fish, 2008. ISBN 13 978-0312384487 $18.99 240 pages Ages 12 & up
Genre: graphic novel, school life, culture clash, slice of life
Awards
Winner of the Michael L. Printz Award
National Book Award Finalist
Booklist Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth
NPR Holiday Pick
Publishers Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year
The Reuben Award for Best Comic Book
The Chinese American Librarians Association 2006/2007 Best Book Award
Eisner Awards 2007- Best Graphic Album- New
Time Magazine Top Ten Comic of the Year
Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel /Comic of the YearSummary:
This graphic novel contains three seemingly unrelated stories that tie together in the end. The main story concerns Jin Wang and his struggles to fit in and attract the attention of his crush, a cute All-American blond. Then we have the folktale of the Monkey King's journey after he is denied his seat with the gods. In the third story Danny must deal with his annoying cousin, Chin-Kee.
Open-end & cut-back to title
How far are you willing to go to fit in? What would you do to make someone else like you? What happens when someone keeps making your life miserable? This graphic novel ties all these questions together and shares a glimpse of what it is to be American Born Chinese.
Pros & Cons:
If you note the award list, you'll see that Mr. Yang certainly did something right here and I would honestly agree. The book is a fun read and ties in a beautiful message about being yourself and fitting in. The cons here would be if you have some Chinese blood in you as I do, please be prepared to laugh and try not to cringe at the stereotypes here. The absurdity is one of the points and I would recommend reading this to anyone that has issues or wants to know more about "fitting in" and sometimes not as you can see in the drawing below! Go, Chin-Kee!
No comments:
Post a Comment