Tuesday, March 11, 2008

American Born Chinese

by Gene Luen Yang

Many teenagers struggle with finding their identity, but as the author so clearly coveys, finding your identity as a minority can be an even greater challenge. All-American high school student Danny is haunted by regular visits from his embarassing cousin, Chin-Kee, Jin Wang feels like an outcast among his mostly white classmates, and even the legendary Monkey King feels estranged from his fellow gods when he tries to join their dinner party. In this entertaining and insightful graphic novel, Yang cleverly inter-weaves the stories of these three characters toward a satisfying conclusion.

-- Kristin McKeown, Faculty