Graphic Novel (re-read): American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang

A new "Comic Book Club" has started at the library, and the first read was Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese.  I read this initially in librarian school, and very much enjoyed it (despite the discomfort of the racism it dealt with) and it was nice to revisit with a community book club instead of in a scholarly setting.  The discussion was fun and lively, and touched a lot on the issues of racism and self-acceptance, and on the interesting inclusion of aspects of Christian iconography.

American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
ISBN: 9780312384487
Prinz Award winner.  Graphic Novel.  3 different stories progress in alternating chapters, entwining only at the very end.  

Story 1: A Monkey King arises to lead the monkeys, and he improves himself through discipline and through study and hard work.  He's content until he tries to crash a party held by the King of Heaven, and is denied entrance because - well - he IS a monkey.  Bare feet and monkey stink and everything.  Now he's ashamed of himself, and pissed as hell at the other gods for making him feel bad.

Story 2: In elementary school, Jin Wang tries to survive the casual racism of his school, and reluctantly befriends even newer arrival Wei-Chen Sun.  School remains fairly awful, but their friendship helps them make it through to middle school and the beginnings of dating and social lives.

Story 3: High-schooler Danny is horrified that his cousin Chin-kee (not kidding), a hideous "yellow-peril" racist-illustrated (seriously, his skin is GREEN) walking offensive stereotype (yes, he pees in someone's Coke) has come to visit and attend school with him.  Danny tiptoes, blushes, and cringes through the day as Chin-kee entertains the school with horrible racist antics.

The most interesting part about this story is that it is truly one story.  How the three combine into a cohesive whole is a truly enlightening discovery.  Meanwhile, the themes and pointed observations of each story are echoed in the others in a really satisfying way, making the ultimate enmeshing much more organic and earned.