Gene Luen Yang Various Authors Popular Books

Gene Luen Yang Various Authors Biography & Facts

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Released in 2006 by First Second Books, it was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards in the category of Young People's Literature. It won the 2007 Michael L. Printz Award, the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album: New, the Publishers Weekly Comics Week Best Comic of the Year, the San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, the 2006/2007 Best Book Award from The Chinese American Librarians Association, and Amazon.com Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year. It also made the Booklist Top Ten Graphic Novel for Youth, the NPR Holiday Pick, and Time Top Ten Comic of the Year. It was colored by cartoonist Lark Pien, who received the 2007 Harvey Award for Best Colorist for her work on the book. Synopsis The story of American Born Chinese consists of three seemingly separate tales, which are tied together at the end of the book. The first storyline is Yang's contemporary rendition of the Chinese story of a Kung Fu practicing Monkey King of Flower-Fruit Mountain, The Monkey King, a character from the classic 16th century Chinese novel Journey to the West. Yang replaces the Buddha from the original story with a Christian influenced deity Tze-Yo-Tzuh. Throughout the story, The Monkey King is unhappy with himself as a monkey and continually tries to become another version of himself. The Monkey King grows larger, taking a more human form. After being rejected from a divine dinner party, he takes down every deity that has been sent to stop him, growing stronger by each kill. The lesser deities plead to the more powerful being in the world, Tze-Yo-Tzuh, to stop The Monkey King. Tze-Yo-Tzuh tries to help The Monkey King accept himself, but when The Monkey King refuses, Tze-Yo-Tzuh imprisons him under a mountain of rocks. A monk named Wong Lai-Tsao is sent by Tze-Yo-Tzuh on a mission to carry three packages to the west and is to pick up his disciple, The Monkey King, on his journey. He finds The Monkey King imprisoned under the mountain of rocks and frees him from the mountain by convincing The Monkey King to return to his original form. The second storyline follows a child of Chinese immigrants named Jin Wang. His story links the other two narratives, and fits the form of an ethnic coming-of-age. His family moves from San Francisco's Chinatown to a suburb where he goes to school with only one other Asian student, Suzy Nakamura. The teachers and other students in Jin's school are all ignorant of his Chinese culture. Jin struggles with his Chinese identity and begins to reject it until he meets a new Asian student, Wei-Chen. Wei-Chen is a Taiwanese immigrant who just came to the United States, and he and Jin become best friends. Wei-Chen begins dating Suzy Nakamura, and she joins the group of friends. Jin begins dating Amelia Harris, a Caucasian girl in his class, but her friend Greg asks Jin not to ask her out anymore because he felt she needed to protect her image. Jin perceives this as a personal attack on him because of his race. Angry and confused, he kisses Suzy and the friends have a falling-out. That evening, Jin recalls the fight he had with Wei-Chen and convinces himself that Wei-Chen deserved it. That night, Jin has a dream about a Chinese woman he had met when he was younger who had told him that he could be anything he wanted if he was willing to give up his soul. He awakens the next morning and looks in the mirror to see himself as a Caucasian boy, and he changes his name to Danny. The third storyline follows Danny, a 16-year-old "all-American" boy, and his Chinese cousin Chin-Kee, who has visited Danny annually for the past three years. Danny is embarrassed by Chin-Kee, who is depicted as a racist stereotype, in traditional queue with buck teeth, speaking in pidgin English. At the end of this narrative, it is revealed that Chin-Kee is The Monkey King in disguise. Danny is Jin Wang, who "transformed" into a Caucasian boy after being prevented from pursuing the girl of his dreams because he was Chinese. The Monkey King tells Jin that his son Wei-Chen was sent to live among the mortals without sin for forty years, but no longer wanted to follow his father's footsteps of serving humans after becoming sickened by his classmates' self-centeredness. Wei-Chen refused his father's visits from then on, so the Monkey King began visiting "Danny" instead, using the Chin-Kee disguise to remind Jin of his heritage and convince him to rise above any negative stereotypes. Jin reconciles with Wei-Chen and finally accepts his Chinese identity. Character list The Monkey King: A monkey who has lived for thousands of years and mastered all the heavenly disciplines. He yearns to join the ranks of gods, and after being rejected, goes on a rampage. He managed to defeat many gods and goddesses, but was buried under a mountain by Tze-Yo-Tzuh for five hundred years. He was later released by Wong Lai-Tsao and accompanies him on his journey as a disciple. Because of their success, he was granted the role of emissary for Tze-Yo-Tzuh. Tze-Yo-Tzuh: Tze-Yo-Tzuh (Chinese: 自有者; pinyin: zìyǒuzhě) is the creator of the universe and all the deities. In the part of American Born Chinese that is adapted from Journey to the West, Tze-Yo-Tzuh has the role played by the Buddha in the original story. Yang made this change owing to the fact that he is a Christian (specifically, Roman Catholic) and not Buddhist. Wong Lai-Tsao: Based upon Tang Sanzang from Journey to the West. Wong Lai-Tsao is a monk sent on a journey to Tze-Yo-Tzuh. He is promised the Monkey King as a disciple. Jin Wang: Jin Wang is a Chinese-American boy who wants to fit in with the white students at his new school in a suburb. He doesn't like talking too much at school, especially in front of Amelia, the girl he has a crush on. He is finally encouraged by his friend, Wei-Chen, to ask her out. But this relationship is short lived. Greg, Amelia's friend, asks Jin to break up with her because he doesn't think Jin is right for Amelia. Amelia Harris: Amelia Harris is a white American girl who is the classmate of Jin and Wei-Chen. Jin has a crush on her. Wei-Chen Sun: Wei-Chen Sun is a Taiwanese immigrant who slowly becomes Jin's best friend. His girlfriend is Suzy Nakamura. It is revealed at the story's conclusion that he is the Monkey King's eldest son, and originally wanted to become an emissary, but abandoned his role after being betrayed by Jin. He believed humans to be "petty, soulless creatures" and wanted to spend the rest of his days using the mortal world for his pleasure. Suzy Nakamura: Suzy Nakamura is a young Japanese-American girl in Jin and Wei-Chen's class. She starts dating Wei-Chen in middle school. Greg: Greg is a white American boy and a friend of Amelia Harris. While he initially appears nice, it is later revealed he is racist, disapproving of Jin's relationship with Amelia. Danny: Danny is a white "average" American boy. Danny is always irritated and embarra.... Discover the Gene Luen Yang Various Authors popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Gene Luen Yang Various Authors books.