American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

March 23, 2009

Title: American Born Chinese
Author: Gene Luen Yang
Pages: 240
Publisher: First Second
Copyright: 2006
Format: Paperback
Rating:

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American Born Chinese won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2007. That is how it found its way onto my reading list – for the Printz Project. Having read (and loved) two of the honor books that year, The Book Thief and An Abundance of Katherines, I was ready for this book to wow me. It didn’t quite wow me, but I liked it.

American Born Chinese follows three story lines that converge unexpectedly. The first story is that of a monkey king who thinks he is better than the gods. The second story is that of a second-generation Chinese immigrant who has adventures with his best friend and his first crush. The final story is that of a white boy who is humiliated when his stereotypical Chinese cousin comes to visit every year.

I must confess that I am not a visual learner. I usually skip over artwork in other books. I don’t particularly enjoy picture books. And, I’m not really enthused about the graphic novel genre. Thus, while I thought American Born Chinese was intriguing and innovative, I was rather nonplussed. The artwork was nice but didn’t really do anything for me. I can recognize, though, that this is a piece of art and literature and that those who appreciate graphic novels will likely love this one.

American Born Chinese, by Gene Luen Yang

Other Reviews:
1morechapter
5-Squared
Bermudaonion’s Weblog
Book Addiction
The Hidden Side of a Leaf
Nothing of Importance
Stuff as Dreams are Made On

Buy American Born Chinese at Powell’s Books or at Amazon.com.

Tagged as: 3 Star Reviews, Graphic Novels, Literary Awards, Printz Project, YA/Children's

{ 9 comments }

1 Kathy March 23, 2009 at 11:52 am: This was my first graphic novel ever and I enjoyed it.
2 Nicole March 23, 2009 at 12:57 pm: I can’t say that I am a big fan of comics and graphic novels either. Thanks for the review. For some reason I don’t think I realized that this was more of a picture book.
3 blake March 23, 2009 at 2:02 pm: This book deserves at least four stars for having a monkey king in it at all.
4 Nick March 23, 2009 at 7:02 pm: I’m certainly going to read this book now. I’m hopping that it’s at least a small step in another culture’s shoes.
5 gentle reader March 24, 2009 at 8:46 am: I have to say, I haven’t quite gotten the hang of graphic novels yet, and I wonder if I’m the wrong generation for them!
6 Amanda March 25, 2009 at 2:05 pm: This book was really bizarre. I haven’t really learned how to enjoy the graphic novel genre yet, either. This one just surprised me so much! I would never have guessed how those plot lines came together.
7 Matthew March 31, 2009 at 5:24 pm: This reminds me of China Boy, a novel, by Gus Lee.
8 Suey April 7, 2009 at 8:16 am: Question: Are you doing this Printz Project just on your own? Or is there an official challenge for it out there somewhere? I’m looking and I can’t find anything except one of Dewey’s from over a year ago. What do you think about making an official challenge out of this and hosting it together? I’ve never hosted one, and if there isn’t one for the Printz Award, there needs to be!
9 Sara April 10, 2009 at 10:44 am: I wasn’t sure if I’d like the graphic novel format- and I’m still not sure, thought I did love this one in particular. I need to read more. See my review here: http://yalitgoodbadugly.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/american-born-chinese-yang/