With so much great all-ages content out there and more arriving every week, whether you’re a parent, teacher, librarian or young reader, sifting through it all can be a daunting task. Of course, tastes and reading lists are subjective and even change over time. With an ever-growing collection of newly released and classic books, Multiversity’s Bookshelf Basics is designed not only to give you a place to start, it’s somewhere you can return to as your tastes and interests change. In today’s installment, we look at “American Born Chinese” by multi-award winning creator Gene Luen Yang.
Written, Illustrated and Colored by Gene Luen YangCover by Gene Luen YangJin Wang starts at a new school where he’s the only Chinese-American student. When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn’t want to be associated with an FOB like him. Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he’s in love with an all-American girl. Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls. But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee’s annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny’s reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again. The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines. He’s ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven. But there’s no place in heaven for a monkey. Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other? They’re going to have to find a way―if they want fix the disasters their lives have become.
Okay, Let’s Start with the Basics
“American Born Chinese,” creator Gene Luen Yang’s first full length graphic novel, is an undisputed classic. Published in 2006, it won the prestigious Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association the following year, becoming the first graphic novel to do so. It was also the first graphic novel to be a finalist for the National Book Award, Young People’s Literature category. Unsurprisingly, it also won an Eisner Award. Yang has since gone on to write for the popular series “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for Darkhorse Comics, “Secret Coders” for First Second and “New Super-Man” for DC. As a former high school teacher, Yang is a huge proponent of using comics and graphic novels in the classroom in various contexts and settings. In 2016, Yang became Ambassador for Young People’s Literature for the Library of Congress and won a MacArthur “genius grant.” Few creators have done more to affirm graphic novels as a legitimate literary form than comics creator Gene Luen Yang.
What’s It All About?
Any plot summary of “American Born Chinese” (which can be conspicuously abbreviated as “ABC”), probably makes the book sound way more complicated than it actually is. Indeed, one of the book’s most engaging and effective features is it’s remarkable structure. Framed by a fantastical folktale about the Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain, Yang seamlessly weaves together three distinct narratives to tell a story within a story within a story.
The overarching story is simple: the Monkey King is a god and the sovereign of all he surveys, but he cannot seem to shake “the thick smell of monkey fur.” He also doesn’t wear shoes, an unfortunate fact that keeps him from attending a fancy dinner party in Heaven.
Intercut with the epic tale of the Monkey King is the story of Jin Wang, an Asian American kid who is new to the generically named Mayflower School. Two months into the school year, another new kid arrives, Wei-Chun Sun from Taiwan. Eventually, Jin Wang and Wei-Chun Sun become best friends, though their friendship is often contentious and not exactly symmetrical, with American born Jin Wang as the dominant force and “fresh off the boat” Wei-Chun Sun in the subordinated role.
Layered on top of all this is the story of Chin-Kee, an intentionally grotesque, over-the-top amalgamation of virtually every hurtful and idiotic Chinese stereotype ever created. Amongst his many other conspicuously troubling traits, Chin-Kee sports enormous buck teeth and pupil-less slanted eyes. He also transposes his Ls and Rs, and speaks in horrifyingly trite, supposed “Chinese proverbs.” Arriving at the home of his blonde-haired, blue-eyed cousin Danny, for example, he expresses his happiness by proclaiming, “Chin-Kee happy as ginger root pranted in manure of well-bred ox!”
Continued belowYes, it’s squirm-inducing and by relentlessly not holding back on such hyper-aggressive caricaturizations, Yang simultaneously puts the reader in the shoes of the aggressor and the aggrieved. It’s difficult to endure and that’s precisely the point.
What Makes It Essential?
At it’s core, “American Born Chinese” is not dissimilar from dozens of other “coming of age” stories in which the teenage protagonist feels uncomfortable and out of place, grappling with identity, social standing and even self worth. At the same time, it’s also the story of a third culture kid suffering wrestling with notions of ethnic identity and tradition while constantly being misrepresented, misunderstood, overshadowed and even mocked by members of the dominant culture.
In many ways, Yang’s incredible script is the star of the show. That said, the book is also testament to the power of visual storytelling. With simple, but incredibly effective cartooning, Yang makes a very strong case that this story couldn’t be told nearly as well in any other medium. The straightforward visual vernacular of comics not only allows Yang to artfully string together three different but similar stories, it tacitly makes them one. With subtle visual clues sprinkled along the way and a brilliant, climactic reveal, Yang weaves a rich tapestry that forms an unforgettable, cohesive tale.
How Can You Read It?
“American Born Chinese” can be found, as they say, wherever books are sold in paperback and hardcover editions. As one of the rare graphic novels that’s perennially included on many middle school and high school reading lists, there’s also a decent chance that you can track down a used copy somewhere. There are also ebook editions for all major ebook readers and tablets.
In Conclusion “American Born Chinese” has stood the test of time. For those who’ve never read it, a content-rich, masterfully written and illustrated story within a story within a story awaits. For those who’ve read it before, it’s well worth revisiting as a testament to the unrivalled power of visual storytelling and consummate cartooning.
