A.B.C.: Gene Yang's 'American Born Chinese'

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IT'S NOT OFTEN that a graphic novel gets considered for a major book award. It's pretty much the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Maus" and ... well, very little else.

So it was surprising when Gene Yang's graphic novel, "American Born Chinese" was nominated for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in 2006.

And nobody was more surprised than Yang.

"When I first started publishing 'American Born Chinese,' it was a mini comic," he said. "I would finish a chapter, take it to Kinko's and Xerox it and sell it at different comic book conventions. My big plan was to just get it collected as a graphic novel and that would be it."

The final product turned out to be a luxurious full-color graphic novel from the boutique publisher First Second Books. The book weaves together three storylines together into a singular cohesive treatise on the Asian-American identity.

One storyline follows a Chinese fable, the Monkey King. Another inserts a rather blatant stereotypical Chinese character, Chin-Kee, into the life of his cousin, a popular Asian high school student. The third story deals with a Chinese-American student moving into a school where he's the only Asian-American, which, while not directly autobiographical, has elements from Yang's personal experience.

But it's Chin-Kee who has drawn the most controversy, with his giant buckteeth and traditional, over-the-top clothing, which Yang drew to help him stand out among white males.

"I do get some reactions to the Cousin Chin-Kee that worry me a little bit," said Yang, who will be discussing and signing "American Born Chinese" and his other books at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda on Wednesday. "There's some people that come up and tell me, 'He's so cute, so funny, endearing.' That's definitely not what I was going for,"

Yang believes that most people understood the purpose of a character like Chin-Kee — acting as the juxtaposition against his popular, assimilated cousin.

"I think the vast majority of the responses are positive, but I have had some Asian-Americans and come up and tell me I was perpetuating the stereotype by explicitly showing it," he said.

Yang, a high school teacher by day, has found that "American Born Chinese" has found an audience among some non-comic book readers as well as some scholastic venues.

"A decent number of classes in both high school and college are using it," he said. "Maybe fellow educators are trying it a little bit more. I think since my style is relatively simple, a lot of non-comics readers find it less intimidating then some of the other books that may be more sophisticated."

With accolades like a nomination for the National Book Awards pouring in, there's no doubt that it's going to be landing into the hands of a lot more readers.

» Big Planet Comics, 4908 Fairmont Ave., Bethesda; Wed., 7 p.m., free; 301-654-6856. (Bethesda)

Images courtesy First Second Books