A tour-de-force by rising indy comics star Gene Yang, American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he’s the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny’s life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this action-packed modern fable. American Born Chinese is an amazing ride, all the way up to the astonishing climax.  Gene Yang began drawing comic books in the fifth grade.  In 1997, he received the Xeric Grant, a prestigious comics industry grant, for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks, his first comics work as an adult.  He has since written and drawn a number of titles, including Duncan's Kingdom (with art by Derek Kirk Kim) and The Rosary Comic Book.   He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his lovely wife, Theresa, and son, Kolbe, and teaches computer science at a Roman Catholic high school.  Winner of the Michael L. Printz AwardA National Book Award FinalistA Time Magazine Top Ten Comic of the Year
A New York Public Library Books for the Teenage
A School Library Journal Best Book of the YearA Publishers Weekly Best Book of the YearAn American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults NomineeAn American Library Association Great Graphic Novel for TeensA Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Readers Choice Award NomineeA Booklist Editor's ChoiceA Bank Street College Best Children's Book of the YearA Library Media Connection Editor’s ChoiceA Quill Book Award Nominee American Born Chinese tells the story of three apparently unrelated characters: Jin Wang, who moves to a new neighborhood with his family only to discover that he's the only Chinese-American student at his new school; the powerful Monkey King, subject of one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables; and Chin-Kee, a personification of the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, who is ruining his cousin Danny's life with his yearly visits. Their lives and stories come together with an unexpected twist in this modern fable. "Graphic novels that focus on nonwhite characters are exceedingly rare in American comics. Enter American Born Chinese, a well-crafted work that aptly explores issues of self-image, cultural identity, transformation, and self-acceptance . . . [A] satisfying coming-of-age novel that aptly blends traditional Chinese fables and legends with bathroom humor, action figures, and playground politics. Yang's crisp line drawings, linear panel arrangement, and muted colors provide a strong visual complement to the textual narrative. Like Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Laurence Yep's Dragonwings, this novel explores the impact of the American dream on those outside the dominant culture in a finely wrought story that is an effective combination of humor and drama."—School Library Journal (starred review) “American Born Chinese blends Chinese and American cultures in inventive, unexpected ways . . . This image of the blending of Asian-American and white cultures will be tested in the coming years. As the white population in America falls below 50 percent, around 2060 (according to census projections), the definition of “white” is once again set to expand as it did for Italian- and Irish-Americans. Who will get to join the club? Or will the club finally fall to pieces? Caught up in these complex questions, it is easy to forget that American Born Chinese also functions well as a comic book . . . Gene Luen Yang has created that rare article: a youthful tale with something new to say about American youth . . . It is excellent, and the variety of the art ensures that the reader never gets bored.”—Ned Vizzini, The New York Times Book Review "[American Born Chinese is] touching, hilarious and brilliantly written and structured . . . It's a tale of growing up as a Chinese American boy in the mostly white suburbs, about running the adolescent gauntlet of squirmy lust, pathetic self-pity, raging jealousy and black despair and, ultimately, coming to terms with who you are. It's an intimate, personal story."—San Francisco Chronicle "It looks almost like a children's book, with bold, bright drawings. Most of the characters are kids, except for the monkeys, demons, deities and handful of grownups. But though it's ideal for precocious preteens, American Born Chinese is brilliantly written and designed, sophisticated and wise. A finalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Young People's Literature, it's also more than suitable for adults. Yang's three seemingly disparate stories merge into a single, powerful conclusion, and along the way he offers poignant glimpses of awkward Chinese-American youths trying to transcend their own and others' images of race and normality. Peer pressure, awakening self-awareness and sexuality and a legendary monkey king all serve to smash stereotypes and reinforce the universality of being quite cool by being yourself."—The Miami Herald "American Born Chinese is, in a word, remarkable . . . Yang manages to weave three very different storylines into a perfectly melded, poignant whole by the book's end.  Not to mention those clean, clear graphics that add a seemingly fully realized, three-dimensional quality to the flat pages."—The Bloomsbury Review "A powerful examination of the desire to fit in while growing up, in which being Asian in America is either the central conflict or a metaphor for it, depending on the reader's own identity."—Las Vegas Weekly


"A graphic novel so dynamic you won't be able to put it down."—The Charleston Gazette


"American Born Chinese has the distinction of being the first graphic novel ever nominated for a National Book Award, and it earns it. It’s a funny book at times, what with its over-the-top character of Cousin Chin-Kee, whose sitcom tale is told in one of the book’s three storylines. But the other two storylines are something different entirely. In one, the heroic legend of the Monkey King is illustrated (a huge folk hero in Chinese culture, the Monkey King is well-known to almost every Chinese child); and in the third, the titular character, Jin Wang, moves with his family from San Francisco’s Chinatown into a suburb. How he manages—and doesn’t manage—to fit in form the heart of the novel. American Born Chinese’s ability to deal honestly with the pains of adolescent isolation make it so compellingly readable. Perhaps Gene Luen Yang’s occupation as a high-school teacher gives him the authenticity this