Wednesday, October 10, 2007

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang



This book won the2006 Printz Award from the American Library Association, which means it's the best book in young adult literature from that year. Hmmmmm. I agree that it's good, but I'm not sure that it's the best. It's different, yes. And maybe they wanted a graphic novel to win the award. But I'm not sure I agree that it's the BEST thing that came out of 2006 young adult literature.

Basically it's about a young Chinese American boy who isn't quite sure about his identity. Should he act like he's Chinese? or ignore his heritage? Should he date white girls? and put up with the bullying in his mostly white school? Interspersed with this tale is the tale of the monkey king, which I had never heard of before reading this book. But the two tales combine well and make for a great tale. Is it the best of the year? Maybe. Maybe not.

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