I recently finished reading American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang and couldn't help but notice a small similarity to the beloved DragonBall series by Akira Toriyama. This is probably because the beginning of DragonBall is loosely based on the Chinese Monkey King story, and this Chinese story is part of the plot of American Born Chinese. So I thought that they would work well in a review together as well as possibly generate new readers who enjoy one of these books.
Reading the DragonBall series is a serious undertaking, not to mention the continuation of the story with DragonBall Z. This story is an updated version of the Monkey King myth, with the character of Son Goku as the Monkey King. Goku is a small boy with incredible powers who has a monkey tail, a flying cloud, and a magical staff. He meets up with Bulma who is searching for the 7 Dragon Balls. She tells Goku that if you collect the 7 Dragon Balls a powerful dragon comes and grants you one wish. So here the adventure begins for Goku. Thankfully the publisher for DragonBall, Viz, has started releasing it in larger volumes called VizBig that collects three volumes of the original manga.
Most people probably know, or discover, DragonBall and DragonBall Z by seeing the anime first. Anime is a Japanese cartoon that has become widely popular along with manga. This happens a lot in the world of manga, because if there is a manga, then there is also probably an anime version of this out there. I base this on the fact that this is how I discovered manga and graphic novels when I was younger. I had caught an episode of DragonBall Z and was hooked, and this lead to me discover that it was based on a manga. So if other young adults are following this pattern as well, then should we not encourage them to find the mangas that their favourite animes are based off of?
Now this story is more of a lighthearted one. It's full of action, potty jokes, and cliff hangers that author Akira Toriyama is infamous for. Amazon.com recommends the reading age for this book as ages 9 - 12, which I see to be reasonable, but Viz has a rating of Teen on the back of it. I think the main thing that needs to kept in mind is that there is some nudity and plenty of sexual jokes found throughout. So this is a classic example of checking reviews for the book and possibly even getting a copy of it yourself and reading it (gasp!) to see what you want to do with it.
In the past posts we've seen that mangas are widely popular among young adults, especially the action packed ones. DragonBall and DragonBall Z have even been mentioned as popular titles. With 16 single volumes of manga in the DragonBall collection and 26 single volumes of DragonBall Z this series offers a long series for young adults to read. The story usually ends on a cliff hanger in between chapters and volumes, so I think that this could keep a reluctant reader's attention and help them to want to continue reading.
Now next we have American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. This is definatly more of a serious story than DragonBall is. There are three plot lines that all come together nicely a the end. It starts off with the Monkey King story being told as the Chinese myth, next the main plot is introduced with the character of Jin Wang coming to America, and then the third story line is sort of like a sit-com called "Everyone Ruves Chin-Kee." These stories come together as Jin has trouble accepting his identity as Chinese when one of his fellow classmates tells him that he can't ask the girl he likes out on dates anymore because it could hurt her reputation being seen with an Asian guy. He has to come to terms with Asian and the constant racism and stereotypes thrown at him during school. The Chin-Kee story line is a blatant stereotyping of Chinese people in a comedy sense, but it all fits into the ending story.
American Born Chinese has won many prestigious awards - most noteably the Prinz Award and it was also a National Book Award Finalist. Some other awards are ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Publisher's Weekly Best Book of the Year, School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and amazon.com Best Graphic Novel/Comic of the Year. So obviously it is a well received book.
I enjoyed reading this book. I though the art was wonderful because it kept me lingering over pages. It's also a clear form of art, so if there is a reader who is new to graphic novels, the art won't be confusing or hard to follow. I also found the story lines engaging to where I wanted to keep reading and not put it down. The racism issue is not heavy handed, but it is an important part of the story. I also liked how Yang put a lot of humor into the story as well. I found myself laughing out loud at certain parts, so there is also a lightness to the big issues addressed. Overall, I was really glad at how this book worked out.
Now why do I think these two books work well together? I think that the Monkey King story is what ties them together. I was pleasantly surprised at how Toriyama based Goku off of the Monkey King and was glad to find out the real story of the myth. I think that if a reader likes one of these books, then they would enjoy the other as well. Chinese culture is so rich, either of these books could also open up a new area of learning for readers as well. You never know what a reader is going to take away from a book that they've read.
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