The book American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang is a graphic novel made up of three different stories. The characters in each story all have the same struggles: fitting in and facing racial struggles and stereotypes. The first story is the "Monkey King" which resembles a Chinese folk tale about a monkey who is not accepted into the immortal ranks of heaven just because he is a monkey. The second story is about a Chinese American boy named Jin Wang, who has moved from San Francisco's Chinatown to a mostly white suburb and school. Jin Wang's main struggles are that people stereotype him because he's Chinese, and he has trouble fitting in. The third story is about an all American boy named Danny, who has a Chinese cousin named Chin-Kee who visits him every year. Danny is so embarrassed by Chin-Kee because he fits all the unpopular stereotypes of Chinese people. At the end of the book each character's story overlaps and they meet each other. During this part they help each other to start resolving their struggles with accepting who they are.
A connection I can make to this book is I have seen kids react in racist ways to an another kids appearance, and their accent. In this book this happens to Jin Wang at school. I have seen people confused about their identity because of racial comments said to them.
I would not recommend this book to someone who likes a more straight-forward storyline, because this book can get confusing at times. However, I would recommend it to someone who likes a complex and rich graphic novel.
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