Not being a reader of graphic novels, I did not expect much from American born Chinese. Instead, I found myself looking at how a person of another culture twists themselves into being something else in order to fit in. Some characters even wanted to avoid being whom they discovered themselves to be. This is a story of discovering and accepting ourselves. Open this book with the expectation of being challenged to open your mind.

I did it!  I finally read an entire graphic novel!  And I'm still alive to tell about it.  :)

My friend's 12-year-old daughter recommended it to me, so I figured it had to be pretty good.  She knows the whole manga thing confuses me, so she picked a GN that was more like a comic strip with varying sizes of panels--easy enough for me to follow.

This book has three storylines that trade off, and I couldn't figure out whether there was supposed to be one unifying story until almost the very end, but it wasn't hard to track each thread, even when I couldn't see how they would connect.  1) A tale of the Chinese Monkey King, 2) a tale of a lone Chinese American boy making friends with a Chinese boy, and 2) a tale of an American teenager who is embarrassed by his uber-stereotypical Chinese cousin coming to visit.  I enjoyed the humor of each, and I was surprised to see a slight religious theme subtly interwoven into the whole--a blend of Eastern and Western.

I also appreciated how fast it was to read.  Only 1 1/2 lunch hours required!

Overall, I'd say it's a great GN for teenagers.  There are some raging teenage hormones in the story, so I probably wouldn't recommend it to all elementary school kids.  And I think I'd actually give it 3 1/2 stars.  Were I a big GN fan in general, it would probably get 4 stars.  :)