Enter American Born Chinese, a well-crafted work that aptly explores issues of self-image, cultural identity, transformation, and self-acceptance. (Sept.) Publisher's Weekly Graphic novels that focus on nonwhite characters are exceedingly rare in American comics. Yang accomplishes the remarkable feat of practicing what he preaches with this book: accept who you are and you'll already have reached out to others. Even when Yang slips in an occasional Chinese ideogram or myth, the sentiments he's depicting need no translation. True to its origin as a Web comic, this story's clear, concise lines and expert coloring are deceptively simple yet expressive. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggles to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. This much-anticipated, affecting store about growing up different is more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood: it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. And, oh, yes, his parents are from Taiwan. As alienated kids go, Jin Wang is fairly run-of-the-mill: he eats lunch by himself in a corner of the school-yard, gets picked on by bullies and jocks and develops a sweat-inducing crush on a pretty classmate.
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