American Born ChinesePlot Summary
A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118944.American_Born_Chinese
Critical Evaluation
I enjoyed this graphic novel. It is an interesting format to tell the story of being an immigrant to the United States. It also addresses racial prejudice against the Chinese people and how everyone wants to fit in.
The thing I appreciate the most about this novel is the seriousness, importance of the message of the novel and that is told in a graphic novel. It does not lose any of its meaning in the graphic novel format.
Reader’s Annotation
Three main characters move throughout this book: Jin Wang, the Monkey King and Chin-Kee.
Information about the author
Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade. In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for "Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks," his first comics work as an adult. He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including "Duncan's Kingdom" (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and "The Rosary Comic Book," He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his lovely wife, Theresa, and son, Kolbe, and teaches computer science at a Roman Catholic high school.
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=184328
Genre
graphic novel.
Curriculum Ties
Cultural awareness. Chinese mythology.
Booktalking Ideas
*The United States is filled with peoples from all over the world. As we learn more about them we can be compassionate and tolerant.
Reading Level
age 12 and up
Challenge Issues
N/A
Why Included?
I have not read very many graphic novels. And I wanted to include at least one graphic novel is this database. American Born Chinese has won some awards so I thought it would be a good choice. It has won National Book Award Nominee for Young People's Literature (2006),Printz Award (2007), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (2007)
No comments:
Post a Comment