You know, I don't read too many graphic novels. But I quite enjoyed this! I will definitely check out more by this author.
This book is composed of three stories; 1) the tale of the Monkey King, who wants to be more than a monkey, he wants to be a god. 2) The story of Jin Wang and how he struggles with being Asian in a predominantly white school and 3) Danny's story and his relationship with his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee.
They appear to be unrelated (except with a similar theme) but all the stories end up being connected. There's a big twist and I will NOT spoil it, but I will say it was surprising but it was good!
I just really liked this book. It's funny yet thought provoking (it raises some interesting questions about identity and embracing who you are), it has really good characters (I like Wei-Chen the most!) and I like the pictures. Plus, hooray for diversity, as it features Asian characters as the protagonists.
And I'd like to talk about Chin-Kee for a second. Sure, is he a stereotype of a Chinese person? Yes. But I don't think the author's intent was to perpetrate this stereotype, I think his intention was to address the issue of stereotypes (more in this article: http://firstsecondbooks.typepad.com/mainblog/2007/05/gene_yang_on_st.html)
Overall, I really enjoyed this and I do recommend it. Usually I resent books that I read for school, but American Born Chinese was really good!
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