American Born Chinese Book Report

Words: 1113
Pages: 5

“American Born Chinese” was an amazing graphic novel! So well written that it won a 2006 National Book Award Honor Book for Young People’s literature and several others. At the beginning of the book, it goes through three seemingly independent stories, where each character has their goals and share a very similar objective, which is to fit in. The story first introduces us to the Monkey King. The Monkey King story begins “One bright and starry night…” all the gods gathered in heaven for a dinner party. The Monkey King hears their music and smells their wine from the caves in Flower Fruit Mountain. “The Monkey King loved dinner parties very much” so he left his monkey subject to attend the party. Once he arrived in heaven and waited in a line, which it took forever, he was told he could not enter because he had no shoes and was merely a monkey. Outraged by the guards, he started to fling gods and demons around the room and beating the goddesses before he left. From there on, angry at his rejection he changed his look and wore shoes in an effort to look more like a god and less like a monkey. In the next chapter we are introduced to Jin Wang who has just moved to a new school. He was in love with an all American …show more content…
His anger at this conclusion caused Tze-yo-tzuh to bury him under a pile of rocks where he remained for 500 years, which is seen in page 84, until the monk help him recognizes that he has to be himself making him small enough to escape the rocks which can be seen in page 149, 150. It teaches acceptance of identity, along with the power that comes from working with what one has. The Monkey King then accompanied Wong Lai-Tsao on his journey to the west. After all that change, he learned to be himself and not be changed by others. I believe that this would be the most important theme in the book because it teaches the reader to be himself and to not be change by others actions or what they say about