American Born Chinese Review
I spent literal years trying to find a fun book that I enjoyed teaching to finish up my English I curriculum. Last year, I found it… and got to teach it exactly once before COVID hit and I lost access to my copies.
*Sad trombone music*
But at least I can still write about how much I enjoyed American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (author of Superman Smashes the Klan, which I reviewed HERE).
This is a special book. It takes three narratives that reflect, foreshadow, and connect to one another before tying them together into something deeply personal at the end. The first tale stars Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, and his quest to be taken seriously by the other gods in ancient China. The second is the story of Jin Wang, a boy of Chinese descent who grew up in San Francisco, and his coming of age in a new town. The third story is about Danny, a blond-haired, blue-eyed “all-American” boy whose cousin, a pile-up of anti-Asian stereotypes named Chin-Kee, comes to town and embarrasses him.
I loved teaching this book for so many reasons. First, the magical, mythological story of the Monkey King kicks the story off with a bang, and is immediately engaging. The Monkey King is a fantastic, chaotic character of legend that just isn’t featured enough in pop culture, and his journey of self-discovery is entertaining and surprisingly thoughtful.
Second, Yang builds a small collection of powerful symbols throughout the book: confidence like bolts of lightning, transformer toys, and monkeys themselves all reappear and build in significance. Yang does a lot to let the images on the page help carry the weight of what’s going on in the characters’ hearts.
Third, I can’t spoil how, but the way the stories reconnect is so creative and puts everything into a very personal context.
The only hesitation I had about teaching this one was the character of Chin-Kee, who brings to light a lot of the racist anti-Asian stereotypes that have been festering in American culture for decades. The character exists for reason and is eventually handled well, but it can still be jarring to see him on the page for the first time. Still, my students felt uncomfortable for the right reasons reading those sections, and had some great discussions about why the character exists.
When all this pandemic business is over, I’d love to teach this and Superman Smashes the Klan together so students can get two bright, imaginative stories of the immigrant experience in America. Until then, I can just keep re-reading my copies. 5 Pillars at the end of the Universe out of 5.