American Born Chinese

Before I begin, let me first announce that I rushed this weeks reading due to the fact that I thought we were supposed to blog on The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. With that being said, let me begin.

Although this reading began with the story about the Monkey King, I believe that majority of this book was written with intention to focus on the character of Jin Wang. Even though I would say I am a bit ahead of the game, I like the connections that students could make between this book, American Born Chinese, and the book, The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. One plot within the story is about how Jin Wang fits into the new school among the white students, similar to Arnold Spirit Jr. However, let me focus this blog on American Born Chinese. As I mentioned, Jin , a Chinese boy, suffers through the themes of racial stereotypes along with the understanding of identity. As far as identity, we read the switch of roles between the Monkey King and the character of Jin Wang. Through some extensive research, I found that this book is a good resource to help students that are academically challenged. The pictures help students relate to the text, and to help them find a motivation to learn. Although in quick terms, this book is about a Chinese student that struggles to find his identity as a minority, it also helps students find hope within themselves and their own identity.

            Though I do believe this book can relate to young adolescents, it was difficult for me to follow the different stories or characters that Gene Yang writes about. I feel that I still need to discuss the theme of finding ones identity. What I found interesting within this book is the “sort-of” concept of love. Jin had a crush on Amelia Harris, a popular white girl (which raises some problems). I felt that after reading this book and the key theme within it, it helps students find hope. Although bullying as another key theme within the book, I felt that although Jin was a misfit, he was trying to pursue a better life (this is just my opinion, others may think different).

Because I felt that this book was hard to follow among the character changes and difficult Chinese names, I will rate this book a B. I enjoyed it merely because it will help and relate to so many young students and their struggle to find their identity; especially with the ability to adapt to a new environment and the struggle of fitting in. The only part that I really want to critique is the struggle of following the storyline. I would not consider myself a strong reader, so I won’t tear on it too much, but I did enjoy how they were able to be pieced together in the end. Lastly, I enjoyed this book because of its graphics and pictures. Some readers may skip over them, but I feel like they can really make that struggled reader become closer or relatable to a specific character.

If someone wants to go beyond this blog, you can read my blog on “fitting in” that I had written from a previous class I had taken. It also includes other articles and texts that may be used along with this book.