American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Three stories that become one.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Born-Chinese-Gene-Luen

Jin Wang wants more than anything to fit in with his all-American classmates. When his family moves, and he has to attend a new school, Jin Wang discovers that he is the only Chinese-American student at his new school.  The teacher didn’t introduce him correctly to the class, his classmates made fun of him. Jin Wang befriends another Asian-American boy, Wei Chen. Together they struggle with being two of three Asian-American students attending this predominately all-American school. Jin Wang then falls for an All-American girl, and wants nothing more to just like everyone else.

The monkeys of the world flocked to the great Monkey King of Flower-Fruit Mountain. He was a good leader of the monkeys, until he no longer wanted to be a monkey because of one fateful incident. The Monkey King made some bad choices because no longer wanting to be a monkey that he was buried under a mountain of rocks. He finally learned his lesson about being true to your character from a disciple of Tze-Yo-Tzuh, and helped the disciple with his journey.

Danny wants more than anything to just be a popular kid who plays basketball, but that all changes for Danny when Chin-Kee shows up. Chin-Kee comes and acts like a normal Chinese boy and Danny feels that he is ruining his life. Danny finally confronts Chin-Kee when Danny finds him dancing on a table in the library.

After the confrontation between Danny and Chin-Kee all three stories become one. The characters learn how to be true to their character, and value where they come from. 

I cannot say that I loved this book; actually I cannot say that I even really liked this book. It was a struggle to get through. I just wanted the book to be over so I could move on and not pick it up again. Thankfully the author chose to write it as a graphic novel, otherwise it would have been turned it back into the library without being fully read. Graphic novels are a fun alternative to reading a book for me. I do not read a lot of them, but I have students who love them. It is important to offer a different style of writing to the students in your classroom.

Even though it was not my favorite book, I would use American Born Chinese in a high school classroom (9^th grade and above).

There were a lot of good examples how sometimes we judge people based on where they come from, and it does not give us a fair picture of who they really are. I would have the students find stereotypes in current events that were happening in our society, and relate them back to the graphic novel, making a text-to-world connection. I would also have the students make a text–to-self connection when someone judged them based on their looks, culture, or any other thing.

American Born Chinese has a theme of accepting who you are, as well as accepting others. I would do a project with the students about finding out were their ancestors came to America from. This would show the students that they all have different backgrounds, and it is important to appreciate where you come from.

I would teach students about different myths/legends. I would have the students’ research different myths and legends about stereotypes and accepting oneself, that way it stayed with the theme of American Born Chinese.

I would also use the graphic novel to teach about different writing styles, and have the students create their own graphic novel about stereotypes, and accepting yourself. This would add in some art to your lesson.