Graphic Novel Nominated for National Book Award

Categories: In the News , Award Winners , Graphic Novels , Staff Picks

Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese has made history as the first graphic novel nominated for a National Book Award. Although it didn’t win, the book joins Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus as a graphic novel honored by a major awards organization outside the comics industry.

Yang’s art is charming and beautifully full-colored by Lark Pien. The book’s multi-thread narrative relates three clever, absorbing tales: the adventures of the legendary Monkey King, the struggles of a Chinese-American boy to fit in at school, and the trials of a European-American boy shamed by his visiting Chinese cousin, who is a study in racist clichés.

These stories are connected in more ways than one, but the first clear link is the theme of identity and its effect on self-esteem. The abacus-clicking wife of an herbalist tells the Chinese-American boy, playing with his Transformer (see the cover picture), “I’m going to let you in on a secret, little friend. It’s easy to become anything you wish, so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul."

You can find out more about Yang and his comics on his webpage, Humble Comics, where American Born Chinese first appeared, and in a linked 2003 interview from COMICON.com Pulse.

For other full-color works with Asian themes, try Patrick Atangan’s beautiful series Songs of Our Ancestors, which retells legends from Asian cultures with corresponding styles of art:

The Yellow Jar: Two Tales from Japanese Tradition 

The Silk Tapestry and Other Chinese Folktales (on order)

Tree of Love (Indian story and art)