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Review: American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

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American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

American Born Chinese
Gene Luen Yang
First Second
Published September 5, 2006

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About American Born Chinese

All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds that he’s the only Chinese American student at his school. Jocks and bullies pick on him constantly, and he has hardly any friends. Then, to make matters worse, he falls in love with an all-American girl…

Born to rule over all the monkeys in the world, the story of the Monkey King is one of the oldest and greatest Chinese fables. Adored by his subjects, master of the arts of kung-fu, he is the most powerful monkey on earth. But the Monkey King doesn’t want to be a monkey. He wants to be hailed as a god…

Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he’s ruining his cousin Danny’s life. Danny’s a popular kid at school, but every year Chin-Kee comes to visit, and every year Danny has to transfer to a new school to escape the shame. This year, though, things quickly go from bad to worse…

These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant and action-packed. American Born Chinese is an amazing rise, all the way up to the astonishing climax–and confirms what a growing number of readers already know: Gene Yang is a major talent.

My Review

This book has been on my reading list for a long time. I haven’t seen the show on Disney, but the preview already looks a lot different in the way it incorporates the storylines from the book. Someone with knowledge about and familiarity with Chinese folklore and culture will have more insight into several elements of this book than I do.

I’m not very familiar with the myths about the Monkey King, so I don’t have other information to compare with the stories from this book. I enjoyed the fables and their larger-than-life feel. There’s a great balance of emotions explored in that thread of the story, from jealousy to sadness to humor.

The second thread of the story follows Jin through school as he tries to form friendships and fit in with his classmates. His first friend is a bully who treats Jin terribly. It’s unclear whether Jin puts up with the treatment because he is just grateful not to be alone or whether he is oblivious. Some of his observations make him seem oblivious, but the clues in the illustrations and some of the dialogue let readers know this is not a real friendship. Later, Jin meets Wei, and the boys develop a close friendship.

The third thread in the book is the hardest to read. This one follows Danny as his cousin Chin-Kee, an overtly stereotyped character, follows him to school. Danny feels embarrassed by his cousin’s behavior and the other students’ reaction to him. What these chapters do so well, though, is highlight Jin’s fears about how he’s perceived by others and his fear about being stereotyped himself in these negative ways.

It’s uncomfortable to read, but the discomfort is the point. One of the things that I thought was brilliant about those scenes is that they read as though they’re some sort of sitcom. As I read the first scene, that’s what I thought it was supposed to be. Whenever Chin-Kee does or says something that aligns with a stereotype, laughter lines the bottom of the panel. It highlighted how people try to use humor to justify harmful statements and stereotypes and how that laughter falls flat and fools no one.

The three unrelated threads connect together at the end, and I am definitely among those whose minds were blown by the connections. It made so much sense and spun the earlier scenes of the story more completely. I’m very glad I read the book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
Jin Wang is Chinese American. His friend Wei Chan is Taiwanese. Chin-Kee represents harmful stereotypes perpetrated against Chinese people. In one scene, a boy uses a racist stereotype about Jewish people in a “game.”

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
One of the three threads of the story tells fables of the Monkey King.

Violent Content
The Monkey King fights enemies. White high school students use racist insults against Jin and Wei.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Banned Book Review: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

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The Bluest Eye
Toni Morrison
Vintage
Published June 24, 2007 (Orig. 1970)

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About The Bluest Eye

Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison powerfully examines our obsession with beauty and conformity—and asks questions about race, class, and gender with her characteristic subtly and grace.
 
In Morrison’s bestselling first novel, Pecola Breedlove—an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children can devastate all others—prays for her eyes to turn blue: so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different. This is the story of the nightmare at the heart of her yearning, and the tragedy of its fulfillment.

My Review

Parts of this book were a hard read for me. The writing is moving, fierce, and compassionate. The story explores not only Pecola’s wish to have the blue eyes she believes will make her beautiful but also the lives of the people around her. It follows two sisters, Frieda and Claudia, whose family takes Pecola in when social services remove her from her home. They forge a connection with her that opens and closes the story and offers some reflection on the events that take place.

We also watch what happened to each of Pecola’s parents before they met and after they were married. At one point, Pecola asks for help from a spiritual man who positions himself as having God’s power, and the story illuminates some of his background and past as well. By doing this, Morrison shows not only what happens to Pecola (often from the perspective of a perpetrator) but also why it happens.

It’s a hard read. I loved reading the author’s note at the end of the book in which Toni Morrison reflects on her intentions in telling the story and her evaluation of whether she achieved them. That added some context to the story that I think I needed to hear.

On the whole, I am glad I read this book. The writing is so powerful. I want to read more of Toni Morrison’s work, but already I feel like I see she’s made valuable contributions to literature and our ongoing conversations about race, class, and gender roles.

Discomfort in Literature

One of the things I’ve thought a lot about while reading The Bluest Eye and some of the other books I’ve read lately is the discomfort I experience while reading certain parts of the book. I remember in school really wrestling with stories that left me feeling uncomfortable for various reasons. I wish someone had been able to explain to me the purpose of that discomfort and that discomfort serves an important purpose.

Sometimes, discomfort is a warning sign of danger. It means we need to escape a situation quickly. At other times, though, discomfort is recognition of injustice or wrongdoing. Literature gives us a safe space to experience that discomfort without being in actual physical danger.

This doesn’t mean that reading about trauma can’t be triggering. Sometimes it can. There are certain things I can’t read.

But I’m learning that discomfort isn’t always an indicator that I’m experiencing danger or trauma. Sometimes discomfort means I’m experiencing the injustice or the sense of wrongness in someone else’s story. Sometimes sitting with that discomfort helps us develop empathy or understanding of someone else’s experience.

One of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2023

The Bluest Eye was one of the top ten most challenged books of 2023. It has some graphic content, though it’s limited to a few scenes. I definitely think this is a hard book to read, though its messages and perspective are deeply important.

Content Notes for The Bluest Eye

Content warning for graphic sexual assault of a child.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Representation
Major characters are Black.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A few F-bombs and profanity used infrequently. The N-word appears a few times.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to sex and incest. (A girl is pregnant with her father’s baby.) References to nudity. One character befriends and visits three women who are sex workers. More than one scene shows two people having sex. In one, the description is detached and uncomfortable. Others show more pleasure.

In one scene, two white men stumble onto a Black couple having sex. They force the couple to continue while they watch.

One scene shows a man assaulting a child from the man’s perspective. Another passage relates a man’s preference and reasons for preying on girls. He describes some of the things he does.

Spiritual Content
References to prayer and reading the Bible.

Violent Content
References to domestic violence. A man and woman have a violent marriage in which they attack one another. During these episodes, their child wishes she was dead.

Drug Content
A man goes to bed drunk, as is his habit.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Accountable by Dashka Slater

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Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed
Dashka Slater
Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
Published August 22, 2023

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About Accountable

“Powerful, timely, and delicately written.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times–bestselling and National Book Award-winning author

When a high school student started a private Instagram account that used racist and sexist memes to make his friends laugh, he thought of it as “edgy” humor. Over time, the edge got sharper. Then a few other kids found out about the account. Pretty soon, everyone knew.

Ultimately no one in the small town of Albany, California, was safe from the repercussions of the account’s discovery. Not the girls targeted by the posts. Not the boy who created the account. Not the group of kids who followed it. Not the adults—educators and parents—whose attempts to fix things too often made them worse.

In the end, no one was laughing. And everyone was left asking: Where does accountability end for online speech that harms? And what does accountability even mean?

Award-winning and New York Times–bestselling author Dashka Slater has written a must-read book for our era that explores the real-world consequences of online choices.

YALSA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNER ● From the NEW YORK TIMES-bestselling author of THE 57 BUS comes ACCOUNTABLE, a propulsive and thought-provoking true story about the revelation of a racist social media account that changes everything for a group of high school students and begs the question: What does it mean to be held accountable for harm that takes place behind a screen?

My Review

I read The 57 Bus earlier this year, and when I saw that Dashka Slater had another nonfiction book coming out, I knew I wanted to read it. She has this incredible ability to zoom in on the people involved in a situation, inviting readers to get to know them and think of them beyond the choices they made. Yet, she never minimizes the harm anyone causes. There’s never any backing down from how awful what happened was or how much it hurt people. But we are also not allowed to consider only the hurtful actions. She helps us look at the whole picture.

In some ways, this book was a harder read for me than The 57 Bus. It’s messier in some ways. Some of the way the community and school responded added to the harm in ways that may have made it even harder for people to find healing afterward.

As I read about the boys involved in the social media account that posted the racist images, I felt like I kept wanting to shake them. They would talk about how the whole group of them made racist jokes, and considered it edgy humor. They would continually be shocked and surprised that people were outraged and deeply hurt by the photos on the account. And it seemed genuine, like they genuinely didn’t think about what they were doing, like really think about it? But it made me want to shake them.

The book also made me think a lot about how we, as a community, respond to incidents like this. This morning I saw someone blaming parents for kids who bullied others. They must be learning that at home, the post implied. Maybe. But in Accountable, I read about how hurtful that sentiment was for the families of these kids who were also horrified by the social media posts. It made me think about people saying things like that after the murders at Columbine High School about the families of the perpetrators.

I think this is an important book, because it examines our relationship with social media, accountability, racism, and community, but because it asks hard questions and doesn’t leave us in a comfortable, easy place at the end.

If you haven’t read this or The 57 Bus, I highly recommend both.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
The author interviews students, teachers, parents, school administration, and other community members of various races and ethnicities.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently, in quotes from statements, interviews, and videos.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Descriptions of racist images, including photos of lynching. Brief descriptions of the history of lynching. References to people arrested for sexual crimes against children. References to death by suicide and suicidal thoughts. In one section, the author describes a boy’s plan to harm himself. Parents worry that their kids are having thoughts of suicide.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

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Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You
Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
Little, Brown, Books for Young Readers
Published March 10, 2020

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About Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You

A remix of the National Book Award-winning STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING for ages 12 and up.

A timely, crucial, and empowering exploration of racism–and antiracism–in America.

This is NOT a history book.
This is a book about the here and now.
A book to help us better understand why we are where we are.
A book about race.

The construct of race has always been used to gain and keep power, to create dynamics that separate and silence. This is a remarkable reimagining of Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s STAMPED FROM THE BEGINNING, winner of a National Book Award. It reveals the history of racist ideas in America and inspires hope for an antiracist future.

STAMPED takes you on a race journey from then to now, shows you why we feel how we feel, and why the poison of racism lingers. It also proves that while racist ideas have always been easy to fabricate and distribute, they can also be discredited.

Through a gripping, fast-paced, and energizing narrative, Jason Reynolds shines a light on the many insidious forms of racist ideas–and on ways readers can identify and stamp out racist thoughts in their daily lives.

My Review

First, the summary description of the book as “gripping, fast-paced and energizing” is totally accurate. I listened to this book as an audiobook twice in a row. There’s so much information packed into such a short span of pages. It is a lot to take in, so I’m sure this won’t even be the last time I read it. I have a hard copy that I’d like to go back to and highlight certain passages in as well.

So, the summary also says this isn’t a history book. Yet, it talks a LOT about history. It looks at history from the perspective of racism and relationships between black and white people in America. It looks at the beginning ideas about our differences and how those ideas evolved (or didn’t) as history played out.

One of the things I like a lot about the book is that it gives a survey overview of a lot of moments but zooms in on some critical places and familiar people as well. There’s quite a bit of discussion about Thomas Jefferson and the things he believed and where the contradictions are. I found that really helpful to clarify and explain some of the things I already knew about him. It definitely filled in some blanks for me.

I think in school, because we’re looking closely at certain parts of history, I sometimes had a “can’t see the forest for the trees” experience. In this book, Reynolds shows us the forest. We kind of get to see the whole of how the relationship between black and white people developed and changed, the rise of different ideas, and why they were harmful or helpful. I liked that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen dots connected in this way. It actually made me feel like I wish we had more books like this– conversational and easy to understand– about other topics. Give me this, but with the history of the United States from an indigenous perspective. Or from the perspective of women’s rights. LGBTQIA+ rights.

I’m sure some of those books already exist, which is awesome because now I’m hungry for them.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Representation
The book references and briefly summarizes the lives of many people, predominantly white men and women and black men and women.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
One instance of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to rape and claims of rape. For example, the book references a movie called Birth of a Nation in which an actor in blackface plays a man who rapes a white woman. No graphic descriptions.

Spiritual Content
Some discussion of the Puritans and early Christian colonists and their views about indigenous people and African people. Some discussion of a church leader and prolific writer who wrote a book that spread fears about witchcraft.

Violent Content
No graphic descriptions of violence, but mentions of enslavement and enslaved people being punished by being whipped. Mentions of people being lynched. Mentions of war.

Drug Content
None.

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Review: We Deserve Monuments by Jas Hammonds

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We Deserve Monuments
Jas Hammonds
Roaring Brook Press
Published November 29, 2022

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About We Deserve Monuments

Family secrets, a swoon-worthy romance, and a slow-burn mystery collide in WE DESERVE MONUMENTS, a YA debut from Jas Hammonds that explores how racial violence can ripple down through generations.

What’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?

Seventeen-year-old Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she’s uprooted from her life in DC and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother, Mama Letty. The tension between Avery’s mom and Mama Letty makes for a frosty arrival and unearths past drama they refuse to talk about. Every time Avery tries to look deeper, she’s turned away, leaving her desperate to learn the secrets that split her family in two.

While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved.

As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath. The racist history of Bardell, Georgia is rooted in Avery’s family in ways she can’t even imagine. With Mama Letty’s health dwindling every day, Avery must decide if digging for the truth is worth toppling the delicate relationships she’s built in Bardell—or if some things are better left buried.

My Review

I love intergenerational family stories, and at its core, that’s what this story truly is. In reconnecting with the grandmother she barely knows, Avery learns of her family’s painful history. That history impacts others in the small town of Bardell as well, including her two new best friends, Simone and Jade. The threads connecting each girl to her family’s past weave together to form a tapestry that’s both beautiful and terrible.

The story unflinchingly faces the complicated grief of thwarted justice. Jade’s mother’s murderer was never held to account. Neither were the men who murdered Avery’s grandfather. That grief binds the girls together and drives a wedge between them at the same time.

WE DESERVE MONUMENTS is also a love story. It celebrates the connection between grandmothers and granddaughters, even when they only have a short time together. Avery’s relationship with her grandmother anchors her in her history in a way that no other relationship in her family does. The book also celebrates romantic love—perhaps even second-chance love—as Simone and Avery fall for one another and learn to embrace the hope that the previous generation could not.

I wouldn’t call this book an easy read, but I loved the way it explored family history and relationships and the hopefulness that it leaves with its readers.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Avery is biracial (Black mom and white dad) and a lesbian. Her friend Simone is also Black and queer.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between girls.

Spiritual Content
Simone gives Avery a tarot reading. She pulls tarot cards to help her set expectations for the day. She also believes in astrological signs. Simone’s mom attends church often, and when she feels Simone has done something wrong, she makes her attend church several times per week and prays over her repeatedly.

Violent Content
References to a woman’s murder and the racist history of the South and the town of Bardell.

Drug Content
Avery and her friends smoke pot together. They get drunk one night.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Misdirection of Fault Lines by Anna Gracia

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

The Misdirection of Fault Lines
Anna Gracia
Peachtree Teen
Published April 2, 2024

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About The Misdirection of Fault Lines

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants goes to the US Open in an emotionally honest and openhearted novel for fans of Yamile Saied Méndez and Jenny Han.

Three teen girls compete at an elite tennis tournament for a shot at their dreams—if only they knew what their dreams were.

Alice doesn’t belong at the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament. She needed a sponsorship to attend. She only has a few wins on the junior circuit. And now, she has no coach. Tennis was a dream she shared with Ba. After his death, her family insisted she compete anyway. But does tennis even fit into her life without him?

Violetta is Bastille’s darling. Social media influencer, coach’s pet, and daughter of a former tennis star who fell from grace. Bastille is her chance to reclaim the future her mother gave up to raise her. But is that the future she wants for herself?

Leylah has to win. After a forced two-year hiatus, Bastille is her last chance to prove professional tennis isn’t just a viable career, it’s what she was built for. She can’t afford distractions. Not in the form of her ex-best friend and especially not by getting DQ-ed for her “attitude” before she even sets foot on the court. If she doesn’t win, what future does she have left?

One week at the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament will decide their fates. If only the competition between them stayed on the court.

THE MISDIRECTION OF FAULT LINES is an incisive coming-of-age story infused with wit and wisdom, about three Asian American teen girls who find their ways forward, backward, and in some cases, back to each other again. Anna Gracia, acclaimed author of BOYS I KNOW, delivers with a refreshingly true-to-life teen voice that perfectly captures the messiness, awkwardness, and confusion of adolescence.

My Review

I read and enjoyed Gracia’s debut, BOYS I KNOW, last year, so when I saw this book coming out this year, I knew I needed to read it. I love the frankness in the way this author writes. It makes her characters seem so real.

In this book, the story follows three separate points of view: Alice, Violetta, and Leylah. All three girls have come to the Bastille Invitational Tennis Tournament with different baggage, and they’re not all even sure they want to win. They wind up as roommates and unlikely friends as the competition heats up, and they each face unexpected challenges and truths they weren’t ready to admit.

I am not at all familiar with tennis as a sport, so there were some spots where the jargon went over my head. I don’t understand the points system or some of the rules of the game, so I didn’t always follow what was going on with those elements. However, it didn’t hinder my ability to enjoy the book. If there had been a glossary of sports terms or an explanation of the points system, I would have checked it out, but I wasn’t confused enough even to internet search beyond a couple of things. For the most part, it was fine.

My favorite part was the way the girls’ friendships developed. Because they’re there to compete with one another, they’re not immediately inclined to become friends. In fact, Violetta and Leylah have some unresolved, painful history. But as the girls do get to know one another and realize how lonely they are, they begin to form tenuous connections with one another that could become the kinds of friendships that change lives, if the girls can learn to be vulnerable again.

In some ways, this is a story that wrestles with different kinds of grief. The grief of loneliness, loss, failure, and letting go. It’s also about the triumph of finding true friendship, what it truly means to win, and finally speaking up for yourself.

Fans of sports books and books celebrating friendship need to check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
The three main characters are Asian American.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a boy and girl.

Some grooming behaviors by an adult male coach toward a teenage girl.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A couple of people get injured playing or practicing tennis. There are some racist comments or implied racist statements made against the main characters. One character purposefully knocks into two people after the’ve made racist insinuations about another character. One character eats and purges several times. She resists recognizing this as disordered eating.

Drug Content
One character smokes pot a lot. Others do it infrequently. In one scene, a girl gets very high and behaves in ways she feels embarrassed about later.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.