By the Book: Book Club June 2023 - American Born Chinese

Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese was released to a lot of acclaim, including being a finalist for the 2006 National Book Awards. It weaves three separate stories together: that of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, a coming-of-age tale of a first generation American, Jin Wang, and lastly that of Danny, who's tormented by his deeply stereotypical visiting cousin from China, Chin Kee. Since it's being adapted for a show by Disney, we thought the time was right to discuss the book, including its graphic style, storytelling approach and what it says about identity. And then in Footnotes, we talk about casting actors in our minds for characters we enjoy reading, particularly for graphic novels.