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Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118944.American_Born_Chinese?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="American Born Chinese" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171765431m/118944.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/118944.American_Born_Chinese?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">American Born Chinese</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/68959.Gene_Luen_Yang">Gene Luen Yang</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20363387?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> English 425 Submitter’s name ___Whitney Price____ <br/>Book Bank Book Bank subject: ______________________ <br/> <br/>Reference information: <br/>Title American Born Chinese <br/>Author Gene Luen Yang <br/>Publisher New York & London Year 2006 <br/># of pages 233 Genre Fiction <br/>Reading level Interest level 13-15 year olds <br/>Potential hot lava: <br/>Fighting, sexual references, pokes fun at Asian race <br/> <br/>General response/reaction: <br/>I liked this book. It was a lot different than what I thought it would be. I think it would be a good reluctant reader book. It catches your attention right away. It’s a quick read but also an easy read. It’s funny and has story lines for both girls and boys. I do feel that boys would like it better than girls though, since it has a comic book related genre. It teaches a moral lesson as well and I liked that about it. I do think it is for younger adolescents. I personally would not read this for fun, but I did enjoy reading it for a class assignment. <br/> <br/>Subjects, Themes, and Big Ideas: <br/>Friendship, family, race, romance, making the right choice, right and wrong, <br/> <br/>Characters: <br/>Jin Wang is Chinese-American who is new to school, gets made fun of and can’t make any friends. Suzy Nakamura is the only other Asian in his class who ends up dating his future best friend. Wei-Chen Sun becomes the third Asian, who is from Taiwan, at Jin’s school and they quickly become best friends. Amelia is a white girl who Jin falls in love with. The Monkey King was ruler of the Flower Fruit Mountain who has to prove himself to the gods. Danny is a white kid who desperately tries to fit in but it’s hard because he changes school so often. Chin-Kee is Danny’s crazy Asian cousin who comes to stay with him and who Danny dislikes strongly. <br/> <br/>Plot summary: <br/>The book is split into three different stories then we find out they are all connected. The Monkey King is trying to prove to the gods that he should be allowed into Heaven. Jin Wang is trying to win the heart of Amelia, the white girl. Danny is trying to make friends in his new school while having his crazy cousin follow him around. We find out that Danny is really Jin Wang. The Monkey King is really Chin-Kee who is there to watch over his son, who is Wei-Chen Sun. We find out that Wei-Chen Sun has left his father and does not want to serve the human race because he finds them selfish, due to what Jin Wang had done to him. Jin Wang has to find Wei-Chen and explain to him. The story ends with them becoming friends again. <br/> <br/>Strengths (including reviews and awards): <br/>• Michael L. Printz Award <br/>• National Book Award Finalist <br/>• American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, Top Ten List <br/>• Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the year <br/>• Booklist Editors Choice Book <br/>• San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the year <br/>• NPR Holiday Pick <br/>• YALSA Great Graphic Novel <br/> <br/>Drawbacks or other cautions: <br/>There is some violence in the book. The main characters throw some punches throughout the story. There are also some racist comments made through out the book towards Asians. There is a little bit of romance but not enough to cause a commotional among parents or students <br/> <br/>Teaching ideas: <br/>• Since Asian characters are the main characters, a teacher could do a unit on Asia and their cultural. <br/>• The students could write a journal response on how they would have changed the ending of the story. <br/>• The teacher could do before, during, and after response journals. <br/>• The students could write their own graphic novels. <br/>• The teacher could get their students to find and read another graphic novel and compare the two. <br/>• The teacher could have their students write about what they did and did not like about the novel. <br/>• The students could write a response journal on if the ending surprised them or not. <br/>• If teaching an upper level high school class, the teacher could go into the racist aspect of the book and they could have a discussion abut the racist slurs used in the book. <br/>• Also, in an upper level class, they could go through other races and discuss the racism used in those races and the slurs used. <br/>• Going with the racism aspect, the teacher could do a unit on different types throughout our history where racism played a huge part. Such as the Holocaust, the Japanese concentration camps, Civil Rights, etc. <br/> <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/871856?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>