Read for my young adult literature class.A unique message and vivid writing - I loved how he was able to weave together three stories in such a short story!

One thing that stood out most is that the author focused on exploring the inner self-conscious shame of the immigrant or non-Western, instead of making his main characters perfect, full of mature pride for his identity. In fact, the students around Jin Wang and Wei Chen were portrayed pretty realistically too - some of them were disgusting bullies seeing only one stereotypical image of the Asian, some were more subtly bigoted, and some others don't treat them any different. Although I'm Asian, n...

I’ve been hearing about Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese for months. The book won the Printz Award, was a National Book Award finalist, and was chosen the best book of the year by Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, etcetera, etcetera. This book has amazing credentials.Considering all the buzz, all the acclaim, my expectations were so high that perhaps I could not help but be disappointed. The book is good, but is really great?This is only the

I started reading this in the middle of the night because when you can’t fall asleep after a certain hour, you surrender and pick up a book.And for once in my life I was pretty happy about being awake in the early morning hours because I realized rather quickly that American Born Chinese is one of the best graphic novels I've read so far. This review contains *spoilers*.All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he's the only Chinese A...

It's funny that the most notable thing I can tell you about this book is that it's in colour.That might not strike you as odd, but really, for the type of story Yang tells, the comics industry has almost universally awarded such stories a black and white printing. If not autobiographical, American Born Chinese is the kind of story that might very well be.Examining the difficulty with which a child born in one country from parents of another country, the author explores the kind of dissatisfactio...

Surprised by how sophisticated and layered this turned out to be.

I hate this one with all my being. Read upto 49 pages. Do not want to waste my time anymore. Too racist and REALLY TRYING MY PATIENCE! BORING AS HELL. Art is below average.

I liked Gene Luen Yang's The Shadow Hero a lot, so I had to finally check out the author's most well-known graphic novel, American Born Chinese. Both books are about the immigrant experience, a topic difficult to write about in ways that are (more or less) politically correct but not too obvious and predictable. In both cases I had my doubts early on as to whether Yang would be able to pull it off, but both times he eventually won me over with surprising plot twists and a flood of well-observed

Reference information: Title: American Born ChineseAuthor: Gene Luen YangPublisher: First Second Year: 2006# of pages: 233 Genre: Graphic NovelReading level: 6th grade Interest level: 15 yrs oldPotential hot lava: some racist language, some violenceGeneral response/reaction:I was surprised at how quickly I finished this graphic novel. This book was so easy to read (probably because it was a graphic novel). When I read the inside flap for the plot of the book, I was surprised to read that there w...

"American Born Chinese" has three stories combined into one: the story of the Monkey King and his fight for acceptance among the pantheon of Gods; a lewd Western caricature of Chinese people called Chin-Kee; and at its heart the coming of age story of Jin, a young Chinese boy growing up in America. The story is drawn in a cartoony/Manga type style and coloured by Lark Pien. The overall effect is a very attractive comic. The story though is brilliant. There were moments in Jin's story where his l...

The second book in my classroom book box, this graphic novel quickly captured my attention as it tackled many Asian stereotypes. Although it did take a bit longer than I would have thought to figure out how the three storylines intersect, my overall experience was enjoyable.Goodreads review published 13/09/19

Gene Luen Yang does a good job telling his story about his life (or not his own maybe) as a Chinese American. I was very excited to read this book becasue first it was a graphic novel and second his story sort of connects with me since I am a Chinese American myself. Yang chooses an interesting title, "American Born Chinese". Its not one of those clever, thought provoking titles, but it is a rare one that you don't come across often. I sort of anticipated on what this story will be about, but w

An incredibly captivating graphic novel! But I personally don't recommend it to anyone....All you need to know before diving in is that it creates awareness about self appreciation and accepting yourself for who you truly are.The illustrations were mediocre, the back story however was pretty engrossing and philosophical. The message it put across was expressed in a perspicuous way. I would have rated it higher but the plot didn't really 'wow' me. "It's easy to become anything you wish so long as...

this book is the perfect antidote to the "graphic novels aren't real books" crowd's poison. it takes full advantage of the medium (lgm with the local boy scout troops), and just runs with it. this story could not have been told as well or as broadly using a more traditional narrative structure. and at the end, there is a perfect collapse - the three storylines streamline so perfectly into one message about cultural acclimatization and race-shame and why it is bad. but not in a preachy way. it is...

Man this hit me in the feels. This would have been a momentous book for me as a pre-teen. I totally identified with Jin Wang and in him recognized the need to fit in as a second generation Asian surrounded by a majority of white peers and the undercurrent of Asian stereotypes that still bubbled to the surface from Long Duk Dong to William Hung. It is a coming of age story that explores this overwhelming need to fit in while wresting with a larger cultural identity. It works absolutely perfectly

This took all of about an hour to read and was totally worth it. Three stories of quiet power unfurl--the Monkey King, who undertakes a quest for dominance after a slight by the gods; Jin Wang, the title character and one of a handful of Asian students at his elementary school, trying to maneuver through bullies, love, and American culture; and Danny, a white teenager, and his Chinese cousin, Chin-kee, the embodiment of the racist Chinese stereotype. All three stories intersect in the climax, wi...

A graphic novel with a wonderful overarching message about identity and a solid representation of Asian-American characters. In American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang details the story of Jin Wang, the only Chinese-American at his new school. Yang intertwines Jin's struggle with the tale of Chin-Kee (say this name aloud), the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, as well as the legend of the Monkey King, one of the most famous Chinese fables. These three plots come together in an unexpected way t...

SO FLIPPING GOOD! Quite a quirky book, but it benefits from it. It does it's own thing and completely does it well. The themes were powerful and well delivered: I loved seeing the three different stories comment on racism, but more than that, self acceptance.The art wasn't /necessarily/ outstanding, in the terms that I didn't find myself ogling over the illustrations. BUT, it was perfect for this story. It was wonderful! I liked it! Don't get me wrong! The monkey pictures were so cute!I'll defin...

I wrote a poem many years ago about wishing I was black so I could have an afro. How do you beat afros as a hairstyle? About the only way is by having afro puffs, which white dudes also can't have. Partially because they are white, and partially because they're dudes. I used to skip over that page of job applications that asks your ethnicity. I thought it was stupid that anyone would care what my race, or my sex, was before deciding whether or not to hire me. Hahahah, I was soooo naive!Since the...

American Born Chinese is an exceptionally well-executed novel in so many ways. Visually, each page contains one square panel surrounded by a large amount of white space, with a red Chinese character in the upper center. The artwork is straightforward and does not vary much between the three interwoven narratives. When you begin the novel it is unclear how Jin, Danny, Chin-Kee, and the Monkey King will all fit together, but when the pieces of the puzzle are slowly revealed, I was so impressed wit...