— Gene Luen Yang, American Born Chinese
Big Read Lakeshore 2024 Book
American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
“It's easy to become anything you wish . . . so long as you're willing to forfeit your soul.”
Book Summary
A tour-de-force by New York Times bestselling graphic novelist 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. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.
American Born Chinese is the winner of the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature, the winner of the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, an Eisner Award nominee for Best Coloring, a 2007 Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year, and a New York Times bestseller. Gene Luen Yang was the fifth the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and is a MacArthur Fellow, a recipient of what's popularly known as the MacArthur "Genius" Grant.
About The Author
Gene Luen Yang
Gene Luen Yang is the bestselling writer and artist behind American Born Chinese, Boxers & Saints, the Avatar: the Last Airbender comics, and many other iconic works. Him and illustrator LeUyen Pham join forces for his latest work Lunar New Year Love Story–a heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, and falling in love–available now.
Gene began drawing comics in the fifth grade. His rise to prominence as a cartoonist began in 1997. During that time, he received the Xeric grant for self-publishing for his Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. After putting out several issues on his own, it was picked up by the independent comics publisher Slave Labor. They published it and Loyola Chin and the San Pelegran Order (later collected into a single volume as Animal Crackers). While working on these comics, Gene received his Master’s degree in education from Cal State East Bay. And, he began teaching at a San Francisco school. He is a founding member of the Bay Area’s Art Night Crew, a local group of cartoonists.
American Born Chinese, Gene’s first graphic novel, was the first-ever graphic novel to be named a finalist for the National Book Award. Furthermore, this caused a firestorm of controversy about whether graphic novels were eligible for the award, and whether they were “real books.” The book went on to win the Printz Award. It also won te ALA’s award for the best young adult book published that year. And, the book won an Eisner Award, one of the most prestigious honors in the comic book world. His follow-up solo graphic novel, Boxers & Saints, was also a National Book Award finalist and won the Printz Honor and the LA Times Book Prize for Young Readers. The book now has a Disney+ adaptation.
Currently, Gene is writing the graphic novel series Secret Coders, illustrated by Mike Holmes. This middle-grade series uses narrative to teach kids about computer programming. Gene is a strong proponent of using comics in education, and of representing diversity through the comics medium. The editors of Foreign Policy selected him and Holmes as two of the Top 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2015.
In early 2016, the Library of Congress named Gene the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. He is the first writer who works primarily in graphic novels to be named ambassador. During his two year tenure, Gene promoted Reading Without Walls, a platform he developed with the Children’s Book Council and his publisher, First Second. The platform aims to excite young people about reading outside their comfort zones. In September 2016, the MacArthur Foundation awarded Gene a fellowship and the accompanying prestigious “genius” grant.
A strong believer in collaboration, Gene has published books in partnership with esteemed cartoonists Derek Kirk Kim (The Eternal Smile, Duncan’s Kingdom), Thien Pham (Level Up), and Sonny Liew (The Shadow Hero). His work has also been included in anthologies. Anthologies include Up All Night, Secret Identities and Strange Tales. Additionally, his work has appeared in the anthologies Nursery Rhyme Comics, Shattered, Open Mic, and Comic Squad: Recess. Gene spoke out against the lack of diversity in the casting of the Avatar: The Last Airbender movie. The creators then asked him to write the Avatar: The Last Airbender comics.
Reviews
As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the schoolyard, gets picked on by bullies and jocks and develops a sweat-inducing crush on a pretty classmate. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan. This much-anticipated, affecting story about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it’s a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. Jin’s hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee’s destructive glee or the Monkey King’s struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character’s expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar. True to its origin as a Web comic, this story’s clear, concise lines and expert coloring are deceptively simple yet expressive. Even when Yang slips in an occasional Chinese ideogram or myth, the sentiments he’s depicting need no translation. Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you’ll already have reached out to others.
— Publishers Weekly