American Born Chinese

Yang, G. L., & Pien, L. (2006). American born Chinese. New York: First Second.

Summary: American Born Chinese consists of three interweaved stories that eventually combine into one narrative.  The first tale is based upon The Monkey King who is has lived for thousands of years and has mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines.  He tries to defeat how he is treated like a god by training day and night to get rid of his identity as a monkey.  He later learns to accept himself and disguises as Danny’s cousin “Chin-Kee.”  The second tale is the story is about Jin Wang, who moved from San Francisco's Chinatown to a town with white Americans. Jin Wang struggles to fit in at his new school, and the white American culture. The third tale is about an American boy named Danny.  His cousin Chin-Kee comes to visit and has many American racial stereotypes.  All of the characters have problems, and they have trouble solving their problems. By the end of the book the characters start to figure out solutions to their problems.

Questions:
What are stereotypes?
What are some stereotypes that people have towards Americans?

Reflection:
This multicultural book is about American and Chinese people who have stereotypes.  This book is written in cartoon artistic style using comics content.  Every page in this story was just like the picture below.  This was an interesting way to read a book.  This was the first graphic novel I had read with comics content.  I believe students would love this type of book.  With the great pictures this was an enjoyable book.