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American Born Chinese Is an Amazing Rise, All the Way up to the and Won the L.A Inside the kit: (8) book copies (1) book club guide About the Book: From Goodreads: All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he's the only Chinese American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl. Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey About the Author: King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey Gene Luen Yang began making comics on earth. But the Monkey King doesn't want to be a monkey. He wants to and graphic novels in the fifth grade. In 2006, his book American Born be hailed as a god. Chinese became the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he's ruining Award, the first to win the American his cousin Danny's life. Danny's a popular kid at school, but every year Library Association’s Printz Award, and Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new also won an Eisner Award for Best school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from Graphic Album – New. bad to worse... In 2013, his two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion was These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an released, Boxers & Saints. It was unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action- nominated for a National Book Award packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the and won the L.A. Times Book Prize. His astonishing climax--and confirms what a growing number of readers other comics include Dark Horse already know: Gene Yang is a major talent. Comics’ continuation of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender and DC Comics’ Superman! Suggested Reads: In addition to cartooning, He teaches Carey, Mike creative writing through Hamline Re-Gifters University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. Castelluci, Cecil The Plain Janes In January 2016, the Library of Congress, Every Child A Reader, and Nor Khalid, Mohammad the Children’s Book Council appointed Kampung Boy Gene the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Holland, L. Tam The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong http://geneyang.com/ American Born Chinese Discussion Questions: 1. American Born Chinese is the first graphic novel to win the Printz Award and be a finalist for the National Book Award. Why do you think it was picked for these awards and honors? Would you have chosen it? Explain. 2. Graphic novels appeal to a variety of people. There are a variety of graphic novel genres such as fantasy, super-hero, non-fiction, etc. Have you read graphic novels in the past? How did American Born Chinese compare? Graphically speaking what appealed to you? What did not? 3. Did you find the graphic novel an effective way for Yang to tell his story? 4. Yang uses humor to make light of experiences that are not so humorous for the immigrants that experience them. Often when reading we laugh at painful experiences of the characters. Have you or anyone you've known had experiences that were funny to others, but very painful to you? If possible, explain. Do you think Yang used the technique of humor appropriately? 5. What can be learned from the Monkey King and American Born Chinese? 6. Yang uses a television show to tell Chin-Kee's story. Why do you think he does this? Was it effective? Why? 7. The Monkey King chooses to be stuck in the mountain of rocks for 500 years, to escape he must return to his "true form." How do the other characters experience this in American Born Chinese? Have you experienced a similar situation in your life? 8. The poor people in Chapter 7 transform into emissaries of the Tze-Yo Tzuh. What lesson might we learn from this parable? 9. Wong says, “To find your true identity is the highest of all freedoms.” What does this mean and how can it be true? And how could it apply to Jin? 10. Wei-Chen's transformer robot monkey symbolizes so much in the graphic novel. How do the characters in American Born Chinese "transform" themselves for American society? Do you "transform" yourselves? Why? 11. What do you think the relationship will be between Jin and Wei-Chen? Questions in part from the Durham County Library in North Carolina. .
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