I’d first like to talk about my impressions of this book. I will have to say that I preferred reading Yummy over American Born Chinese. Something about the disjointed story lines in the beginning rubbed me the wrong way. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy ABC. It’s just a small issue with the structure, although I recognize why the author chose to portray the story that way.
I actually have a few things to say about American Born Chinese. First, the obvious fact: I could totally relate to Jin! This graphic novel brought up things that I tucked away in my memories back when I was in elementary school. The haircut… oh the haircut! I had the typical Asian girl haircut… oh Lord, how I HATED it!!!! Imagine me, with super straight bangs, and a cropped mop. I remember protesting to my mom about having this dreaded haircut. All I wanted was to have gorgeous flowing hair like the other girls in my school, to look normal I suppose. That must be a common argument amongst Asian kids as evidenced by Jin changing his hairstyle. And the lunches, don’t get me started on that. I used to either 1) eat my lunches super fast before anyone could see what my mom had packed, or 2) saved my lunch in my lunchbox until I could safely eat it at home where no other student would be able to see me. Sad right? But I was really embarrassed about what my mom packed me. Nowadays, I could care less what I eat but more on that later. From what I remember, much of my school career was spent trying to hide the things that made me different from the other kids at school. I was very much like Jin when he was represented as Danny. I didn’t start embracing my own culture until the end of high school to the beginning of college. I don’t know what happened, but one day I had an epiphany that my culture was unique and it is what made me different (in a good way) from everyone else. I guess when you get to that age (17-18 whatever) you kind of try to stand out from the crowd instead of blending in with it. I must have realized that not many people can say that they are first generation __________-American. Now that I’m older, I know that this is something quite special, a bit out of the ordinary.
Something that I also liked about this book is that I was able to understand all of the references. Although I am not Chinese, the story about the Monkey King is something that is very familiar to me. The references to boba milk tea, rice rockets, and racial slurs/stereotypes, are ones that you don’t read about every day, so I thought it was cool to see something so familiar to me, yet probably unfamiliar to everyone else. I even liked the pop culture references that were hidden in the book (William Hung or asian youtube viral video karaoke anyone???). The way that the teachers in this book were portrayed was also enjoyable. Someone could totally take it the wrong way of course, but I recognize that it was meant to be satirical and I thought it was hilarious! It made me think about the time when my Kindergarten students asked if my faculty advisor (she’s Japanese-American) was my mother
As a teacher, I can see the validity of having students read this book. It’s nice because it isn’t everyday that you run into a book that an Asian-American child can relate to. I think the vast majority of books are written in the perspective of Caucasians, and I could even make a case for the Hispanic/Latino perspective. The format is very easy to read, and the pictures make it all the more appealing. Definitely good characteristics when you’re picking out a book for a group of students to read.
I actually have a few things to say about American Born Chinese. First, the obvious fact: I could totally relate to Jin! This graphic novel brought up things that I tucked away in my memories back when I was in elementary school. The haircut… oh the haircut! I had the typical Asian girl haircut… oh Lord, how I HATED it!!!! Imagine me, with super straight bangs, and a cropped mop. I remember protesting to my mom about having this dreaded haircut. All I wanted was to have gorgeous flowing hair like the other girls in my school, to look normal I suppose. That must be a common argument amongst Asian kids as evidenced by Jin changing his hairstyle. And the lunches, don’t get me started on that. I used to either 1) eat my lunches super fast before anyone could see what my mom had packed, or 2) saved my lunch in my lunchbox until I could safely eat it at home where no other student would be able to see me. Sad right? But I was really embarrassed about what my mom packed me. Nowadays, I could care less what I eat but more on that later. From what I remember, much of my school career was spent trying to hide the things that made me different from the other kids at school. I was very much like Jin when he was represented as Danny. I didn’t start embracing my own culture until the end of high school to the beginning of college. I don’t know what happened, but one day I had an epiphany that my culture was unique and it is what made me different (in a good way) from everyone else. I guess when you get to that age (17-18 whatever) you kind of try to stand out from the crowd instead of blending in with it. I must have realized that not many people can say that they are first generation __________-American. Now that I’m older, I know that this is something quite special, a bit out of the ordinary.
Something that I also liked about this book is that I was able to understand all of the references. Although I am not Chinese, the story about the Monkey King is something that is very familiar to me. The references to boba milk tea, rice rockets, and racial slurs/stereotypes, are ones that you don’t read about every day, so I thought it was cool to see something so familiar to me, yet probably unfamiliar to everyone else. I even liked the pop culture references that were hidden in the book (William Hung or asian youtube viral video karaoke anyone???). The way that the teachers in this book were portrayed was also enjoyable. Someone could totally take it the wrong way of course, but I recognize that it was meant to be satirical and I thought it was hilarious! It made me think about the time when my Kindergarten students asked if my faculty advisor (she’s Japanese-American) was my mother
As a teacher, I can see the validity of having students read this book. It’s nice because it isn’t everyday that you run into a book that an Asian-American child can relate to. I think the vast majority of books are written in the perspective of Caucasians, and I could even make a case for the Hispanic/Latino perspective. The format is very easy to read, and the pictures make it all the more appealing. Definitely good characteristics when you’re picking out a book for a group of students to read.