A brilliant and challenging comic on the Asian American experience

"American Born Chinese"
By Gene Luen Yang
Recommended Grades: 9-12* (See review)

Lin moves to a new school for third grade. As one of only three Asian-American students, he struggles to fit in. Not only do the white classmates relentlessly bully him, but the teachers alienate him through their stumbling lack of familiarity with his culture. He tries to fit in more by rejecting anything that his classmates see as too Asian, including, at times, a classmate from Taiwan, Wei-Chen.

At the same time, the traditional Chinese story of the Monkey King is told. The Monkey King is a divine ruler of monkeys who’s rejected by the other divine beings for not being human-like enough. He struggles with trying to become more human-like in order to fit in.

At the same time, Jin watches a 1980’s style sitcom along the lines of Family Matters, about a white high school main character having to put up with an embarrassing comic relief cousin. The cousin is a full Chinese stereotype, straight out of racist 1800’s cartoons and minstrel shows.

OOPH.
A reminder that the contents of these comic pages do not
reflect my personal beliefs or taste.

This is a complex graphic novel to fully grasp. I first read it as a fan of graphic novels marketed towards adults, and it has a large adult audience. It’s appreciated for its unique overlapping storytelling, its use of metaphor and symbolism, and for its potent expression of the experience of growing up as an Asian American. I didn’t even think about it as a book to recommend to young readers until recently.

So: What age is this book right for?

Despite the story starting in third grade, I suggest this book to high schoolers and up. There are a few moments of bloody violence in it, and a few passing sexual references told as sitcom jokes, but those aren’t why I suggest caution here.

The Asian stereotype character is so potently offensive that any students who have not learned about the history and use of Asian stereotypes in the USA probably shouldn’t read this book and take him at face value. These parts of the book may even fuel racist bullying in classrooms that are too emotionally or intellectually immature to understand him.  

A high school literature class would need to spend time learning about stereotypes to give students the context needed to understand this character.

This character is such a problem that the Disney Plus television TV-14 adaptation of this book toned  him down substantially. They replaced his offensive name, removed his lecherousness, and instead portrayed him as a clumsy version of a 1980’s style Asian stereotype, along the lines of Sixteen Candles Long Duk Dong, rather than as the fully 1800’s-era portrayal found in the graphic novel.

Overall, this is still a brilliant book. I fully suggest having it available in a high school library’s comics collection for students’ solitary reading, and for requests. I would also suggest it as a text for use in a high school classroom to study stereotypes and the Asian American experience.

Word count: 478 words

Content Warnings (contains spoilers): 

"Mexikid": A comic-adventure-real-life-coming-of-age story

“Mexikid” by Pedro Martín

Recommended Age: Grades 5-9

Awards Won:

•  2024 Pura Belpré - Author and Illustrator Awards
• Newberry Honor

Pedro Martín was a middle-school-aged child with a big imagination in the late 1970’s. That’s when he, his two parents,  and his 8 siblings took a lengthy road trip from central California to Mexico to bring his Abuelito home to live with them. What could have been a long and stressful drive instead turns into a grand adventure in Pedro’s child’s-eye perspective, stuffed full of action, Fanta, sibling pranks, corrupt border guards, and car trouble.

Many memorable characters fill the narrative of this graphic memoir, but the central relationship is between Pedro and his Abuelito. Pedro had met him during previous trips to Mexico, but he only remembered distant and formal interactions.

As the family caravan gets ready and then starts driving, Pedro starts imagining his Abuelito as a larger-than-life war hero, based on stories from Pedro’s father and sister about his time as a supplier to troops during the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1917. He imagines him as a comic book hero, in multi-page spreads that visually reference golden-age adventure and superhero comics.

Pedro’s view of his family matures over the course of the book, as he learns how to admire and get to know his Abuelito in a more grounded and reality-based way.

In addition, this memoir chronicles Pedro’s changing insecurities and confidence about his Mexican-American identity. He feels too American to be fully Mexican, but he also feels like he must be Mexican. This book could be of specific interest to students who are curious or concerned about their own cross-cultural identity.

The family is introduced with national symbols

This book is also partially a travelogue about the family’s journey through Mexico. Pedro’s father manages to find new friends and their distant relations in every town they stop in, so the trip they take is from an insider’s perspective. This turns this book into a universally relatable portrait of a beautiful and inviting country. This aspect, along with the nuanced and loving family dynamics, the vibrant and expressive comic art, humor, action, and misfortunes, combine to make this into a book I enthusiastically suggest adding to everyone’s shelves for children 10-14.

A travel-focused spread in the iconic style of Diego Rivera

A final note: if your library has a graphic novel section, this should be added as a prime example of a graphic memoir. This sequential art tradition has been innovative and active in the world of comics made for adults for decades, and this work could be a great way to introduce the concept to young people.

Word count before this: 402 words

Content warning for the book  (Minor spoilers ahead):