American Born Chinese

Complex, multi-layered story told through the graphic-novel format. Because of the format, I was left with many questions (not everything can be explained), but because of the subjects, I think having questions is a good thing. The book tells the overlapping stories of the Monkey King, a Chinese-American boy who doesn't know where he belongs, and a white boy embarrassed by his Chinese cousin. Yang brings their stories together masterfully. It is a simple book with amazing depth. This is only the second graphic-style book I've read, and I was impressed by Yang's use of the format to really “show not tell” the experiences of all of the characters.