By Gene Luen Yang.
American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang that follows the stories of 3 characters who seem completely unrelated to each other, but eventually, the stories come together to create an unexpected twist. The first tale tells the story of The Monkey King, also known as Sun Wukong who is best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. The second tale describes the life of Jin Wang, a Chinese-American kid who moves from San Francisco’s Chinatown to a mostly white suburb. He struggles to fit in because none of the other kids look like him, but his story connects with the previous tale. The third tale follows the story of Danny, a blond-haired and blue-eyed white boy, who is frustrated when his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee, who embodies the stereotypical Chinese person in regards to his accent, mannerisms, and physical appearance. While it may come across as confusing at first, it comes together in a lovely manner to display the overall message of pride and identify.
Gene Luen Yang is an American cartoonist. He began making comics and graphic novels in 5th grade. In addition to American Born Chinese, he has also worked on other comics such as Dark Horse Comics’ continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender and DC Comics’ Superman. He also teaches creative writing through Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. In January 2016, he was appointed as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress, Every Child A Reader, and the Children’s Book Council.
His website: https://geneyang.com/
Written by Pooja Manjakandy and Hannah Nguyen. Graphics by Haley Ma. Click here to see the original post!
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