Others, such as the character of Chin-Kee, hit the reader over the head with it.

Many of these are everyday racism, such as a white teacher introducing San-Franciscan Jin Wang as “coming all the way from China” or schoolyard bullying with racial epithets. I love the unique way the author addresses modern Chinese stereotypes. 🙂Īmerican Born Chinese is funny! The humor is often subtle, and I laughed out loud many times. I did not think the stories meshed perfectly, but I liked how it all came together in the end. I loved how the Monkey King’s, Danny’s, and Jin Wang’s stories combined as the book progressed. Believe it or not, this is the first graphic novel I’ve ever really read! As a librarian, I have flipped through many, but I have never sat down to read one from start to finish. My students seem to like it quite well, so I picked it up to read on the bus on the way home. I read this book because it is one of the Shanghai Battle of the Books selections for 2015-16. Though they seem completely separate, the three stories are connected and intertwine nicely by the end. The third story is about Danny, a boy whose egregiously obnoxious Chinese cousin drives him nuts.

Though he was born in Los Angeles and is an American, bullying and stereotypes have led him to be ashamed of his Chinese heritage. The second story is about Jin Wang, a modern-day boy of Chinese heritage.

The first story is of the rebellious Monkey King, who achieves the 12 disciplines of Kung-Fu in order to become equal to the immortals.

The american born chinese