New Kid in Town

American Born Chinese

Gene Luen Yang

Henry Holt and Co., 2006

Genre: Graphic Novel

Read if: You've ever felt like an outsider.

Best for: This graphic novel will be enjoyed by a wide range of ages, from middle to high school students. 

If you like it try:

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Rating: 5/5

Jin Wang moves to a new school where he is the only Chinese-American student ;  the Monkey King thinks he is the best warrior in the land and spends hundreds of years locked under a mountain for his hubris ; Chin-Kee, the personification of the worst Asian stereotypes imaginable, comes from China to cause major embarrassment to his American cousin. American Born Chinese blends these three seemingly unrelated stories together using the graphic novel format to create an imaginative and powerful exploration of ethnicity and identity.

I have to admit that I had not read many graphic novels before I picked this one up. The ones I had read (mostly in the Alan Moore cannon) were enjoyable but dense, and while the drawing was beautiful, I often found it crowded and overwhelming. American Born Chinese is completely different than what traditionally comes to mind when you think of comics. The drawings are sparse and simplistic, and the layout is very clean looking, with only a few panels to each page. This does not mean that the story (or the art) is in any way "simple" or dumbed downed for teens. Yang tells a very complex and emotionally charged story in a clever and accessible way ; teens will connect to themes of isolation, identity, and acceptance. This book is beautiful to look at and beautiful to read, and it is the kind of story gains new meaning every time it is read. 

Yang won the Michael L. Printz award in 2007 over Octavian Nothing and The Book Thief , both stiff competition, which should give you an indication of how high quality this work is. American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to win a Printz, and is a great illustration of the power and potential of this genre to tell great stories.