Wednesday, January 24, 2007

2007 Printz Award Winner

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Jin Wang moves with his family from San Francisco’s China Town, where he had friends to watch cartoons with every Saturday morning, to a suburb, where he is only the second Asian person in the classroom

Eventually, a third, Wei-Chen Sun, arrives from China.

Wei-Chen is brand new to America, and Jin Wang tries as hard as possible to avoid being lumped in with this boy who prefers to speak a Chinese dialect, rather than converse in English. Jin Wang just wants to fit in.

With the class bullies refusing to admit Jin Wang into classroom society, though, Wei-Chen becomes his best friend by default.

But even best friends who stick together through bullies and name calling cannot always overcome…girlfriends.

Throughout the book, there is also the growing presence of the Monkey King and the problem of cousin Chin-Kee…

Jin Wang may just want to fit-in, but at what price?

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

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