# American Born Chinese

**Author:** Gene Luen Yang
**Lexile:** 530L
**Grade range:** Grades 7–12
**Age range:** 12–18
**First published:** 2006
**Page count:** 233
**Genre:** Young Adult Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780312384487`
**ISBN-10:** `0312384483`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/american-born-chinese
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Gene Luen Yang braids three stories — a retelling of the Monkey King legend, the schoolyard struggles of Chinese American teenager Jin Wang, and an exaggerated sitcom of stereotypes — that collide into a single argument about identity and self-acceptance. The graphic novel uses comics form to dramatize the pressure to assimilate and the cost of denying one's heritage. A Printz Award winner and National Book Award finalist, it is a common grade 7-12 text for units on identity and graphic literature.

## Themes

- identity
- Chinese-American experience
- bullying
- assimilation vs heritage
- coming of age

## Content notes

- racial stereotypes
- bullying

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