American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is an interesting, award-winning, and unusual book.First, it's a stand-alone graphic novel. In other words, it's not part of a series and it's a novel written in "comic book" form.
Secondly, the author tells three seemingly unrelated stories: the first, about a Monkey King who can't accept being a monkey. The second is about a junior high Chinese-American who likes a non-Asian girl and is trying to fit in. In the third story, a popular "American" boy has to keep moving when his cousin Chin-Chu, the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, comes to visit from China. The author does a masterful job of tying all three stories together at the end.
American Born Chinese is also unusual in that it portrays a culture not commonly found in books for teens. Many readers are accustomed to the Japanese culture through Manga and Anime, but may shy away from this book because of the unfamiliar Chinese culture.
Despite its "unusuallness", this book is a winner - literally. For those who care about awards and such, American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to win the Michael L. Printz Award for best teen book.
This book is also a winning read and should appeal to boys and girls in grades 7 - 12. It may require some readers to step out of their comfort zone of what they usually read, but this book is worth the risk.
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