American Born Chinese
27 May 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: 2007 Michael L. Printz Award Winner
American Born Chineseby Gene Luen Yang
Published by First Second, New York & London, 2006.
233 pgs.
Recommended reading age: 13-19 years old
VOYA rating: 5Q, 4P, MJ, G
This is a fractured-folktale graphic novel that interweaves three different tales that all converge into one. It follows first the tale of the Monkey King, kung-fu master, which lets be honest, was my favorite tale. The Monkey King tale is reminiscent of a traditional Chinese folktale and it is pretty obvious from the start that there will eventually be a clear moral. The next tale is of an American-Chinese boy growing up in public school and trying to fit in with the other American kids. This second tale uses Chinese parables as part of the storytelling even though it takes place in modern times. We follow Jin Wang (whom always has his name mispronounced) from grade school up through high school. The third tale is of an average Caucasian boy whom has his EMBARRASSING cousin Chin-kee come to visit him. The third tale concentrates on Danny and his distaste for his cousin whom is presented as an embodiment of every terrible Chinese stereotype that exists. Even the name, Chin-kee is suggestive of a racial slur against Asians. The three tales are told throughout the course of the book and switch on and off every couple of of pages or so. By the time the book has ended you find out that all three tales are related, that the Monkey King is really cousin Chin-kee in disguise, that Danny is really Jin Wang who has transformed himself into the more acceptable white, commercialized American boy. You get the moral that it isn’t worth it to try to conform yourself to be something that you aren’t.
I feel there are many different elements in this graphic that would appeal to teens. First of all the author/illustrator does a fantastic job with the color illustrations using humor in the writing and the dialog. The faces that the characters make, particularly the Monkey King, are priceless. They use things that would be entertaining and mature enough for older teens but not so much for the tween population while still being a little silly with a little magic. The lessons taught through this book are the main worth of this title. It uses tabooed stereotypes and exploits them very smartly as way of making the point that culture and identity are hard things for young teenagers to deal with when they are not strictly a white Caucasian. The three tales ultimately show that the character Jin/Danny must learn to embrace his culture and be himself.
The cover art is done by the author/illustrator and shows little, innocent Jin with his transformer-esque robot action figure drawn in color while the background in yellow faintly depicts the wistful tale of the Monkey King after he is punished for his pride.
