Gene Yang: The Anointed One!

I cribbed that title from this New York Times article, but Gene Yang has been named by the Library of Congress as the national ambassador for young people's literature. He is the first graphic novelist to be named to this position, which has existed since 2008.

He is a prolific creator, whose graphic novel and comics work has been pretty much exceptional across the board. And I guess to some degree this appointment indicates just how much more mainstream graphic novels are becoming. Congratulations, Mr. Yang!

Boxers & Saints

Author Gene Yang is an award-winning, celebrated graphic novel known for combining elements of biography, reality, legend, and fiction in works such as American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, Prime Baby, and Level Up. Ambitiously, he has undertaken a similar path in not one but two graphic novels released concurrently. Boxers and Saints focus on the Boxer Rebellion, a period from 1987 to 1900 where Chinese peasants banded together to expel foreigners who they perceived as weakening Chinese culture. These books focus on two sides of the conflict, sharing some common characters whose stories overlap in mundane, consequential, and heartbreaking ways.

Boxers is the more colorful of the two books. It follows the story of Bao, a young man whose village and family start having run-ins with foreigners and assorted roving hooligans. He ends up a part of a band called the Big Sword Society. These men have learned a way to channel ancient spirits through training and ritual, and when they are possessed of these spirits they are formidable and almost unbeatable in battle. Bao is possessed and haunted by Ch'in Shih-huang, the first emperor of the Ch'in Dynasty. He becomes a leader and debates this spirit often in his mind, conflicted by traditions, justice, and the realities of conflict that seem unfair and unjust. In the end, Bao makes some decisions that could be seen as destructive and reckless though they are tactically advantageous. Highlighted here is the transformative power of warfare, for both good and ill, and how there are no easy answers (or true heroes) in many of these situations.

A page from Boxers

The protagonist of Saints is a young girl who does not even have a proper name. Four-Girl has no status and no standing but she finds validation, friendship, and a name (Vibiana) through Christianity. These Christians were a small and endangered group in China at the time, because their faith was an emblem of the foreigners who were seen by the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists" (the Boxers) as enemies of the state. Like Bao, Vibiana is also visited continually by a spirit, in her case St. Joan of Arc. She struggles with her faith in these troubled times, and she finds herself in the group that Bao's band is hunting and fighting, which adds poignancy and emotion from a much different angle than in Boxers.

A page from Saints

What I appreciated most about these books, apart from the taut plotting and excellent illustrations, was how though provoking they are. Much ambivalence accompanies this (or any) conflict, and there are no easy answers here and no pure right side. Reviews I have read point to many of the books' positive features. Crystal called both "a beautifully illustrated and well told tale that you won’t want to miss." Ay-Leen the Peacemaker commented about both books' "emotional impact" and concluded that they combine for "an ambitious work that makes for compelling reading." Elizabeth Burns from the School Library Journal added them both to her Favorite Books Read in 2013.

Yang speaks about both of these books in this video interview as well as in this print one with GeekDad.

Boxers and Saints are both published by First Second. If you click on the titles in that last sentence you will find previews and much more for each book.

Thank you, Gina, for the review copies!

ADDENDUM 9/16/2013: Boxers and Saints made the long list for this year's National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2013.html#.Ujcgl4nD9dj

ADDENDUM 9/20/2013: There is another good interview with Yang at Good Comics for Kids: http://blogs.slj.com/goodcomicsforkids/2013/09/19/interview-gene-luen-yang-on-boxers-saints/

ADDENDUM 11/17/2013: An excellent interview with Yang at The Comics Reporter: http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_sunday_interview_gene_yang/ 

Level Up

This book is dedicated to the creators' brothers who became doctors. The dedication is apt because Level Up is about the pressure some children feel to live up to their parents' expectations. Dennis Ouyang, the protagonist, fell in love with video games at age 6, but he was never allowed to play them or get an allowance to squander on arcade games. His father tells him that he will have to "eat much bitterness" in this life, especially because he wants his son to become a doctor. Dennis hints for months that he wants an NES for his birthday, but instead gets a chemistry set. After his father dies, he throws himself into gameplaying, which wreaks havoc on his grades. Threatened with expulsion from college, he is visited by four angels who intervene. Eventually in med school, Dennis finds himself questioning if this is the career path for him.

As with Yang's other works, this book blurs the lines between fantasy and reality in a magical realistic manner. Metaphors about religion and life mix with video game images and conventions in surprising and almost logical fashion, making for a narrative that is compelling in multiple ways. The ambiguity and uneasy feelings that come from growing up and figuring out what to do with one's life are portrayed masterfully. At times, friendly faces seem sinister and vice versa. Pham's art is deceptively simple looking, but conveys much emotion and meaning. Although it does not pack the wallop of American Born Chinese, Level Up still pays off well as an expressive story.

This book is a collaboration between writer Yang and artist Pham. Gene Luen Yang is an educator and an established, award winning graphic novelist who has published American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, and Prime Baby. Thien Pham is a high school teacher and an up and coming graphic novelist. He has few other credits as yet, but he has a forthcoming solo graphic novel called Sumo set to be released in December. This article touches on both creators' work on this book.

Level Up was selected a New York Times Notable Children's Book (Young Adult) for 2011. Reviews I have seen thus far have been on the positive side. Nicole Wong remarked on the strong manner the book conveys meaning visually, "Complex relationships and personalities are sketched out with subtlety and nuance, through meaningful hand-drawn facial expressions and blank contemplative framed pauses." Mark Flanagan called the book "good" but not great and wrote that it "is a well-illustrated and universally appealing story, however I would like to have seen Yang delve more deeply into Dennis’ relationship with his medical school friends." Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "A piquant, multilayered coming-of-age fable for the wired generation."

A preview and multiple other resources are provided here by Yang. The book's publisher, First Second, provides more resources and information, including reading group and discussion guides, here.

Prime Baby

This short book was originally published serially online by The New York Times. The story follows Thaddeus, a lonely, smart, and jealous boy who resents his new baby sister. In fact, he thinks she is an alien. When he learns about prime numbers in school and discovers that she only communicates using primes, he begins to think he just might be right.

Prime Baby is the work of Gene Yang, a well celebrated and award-winning graphic novelist and educator. Yang says that it was "inspired by the ruckus at my own house after my second kid was born." He talks more about his life and work in this interview with Tom Surgeon.

This short story has not been as well received as some of his other work. Educator James Bucky Carter called it "fun, relatable, worth reading, but not life-changing or particularly exceptional." Reviewer Johanna Draper Carlson found the book "cute" but had mixed feelings about it.

More reviews, information, a preview, a teacher guide, and author information can be found here from the book's publisher First Second.

Happy 38th Birthday, Gene Yang!

One of the most highly regarded contemporary graphic novel creators, Gene Yang has been making comics since 1996. He received a Xeric Grant in 1997 for Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks. But his big breakout came with American Born Chinese, a 2006 National Book Award finalist, and winner of both the Printz Award and an Eisner Award. Consequently, ABC has become one of the most prominent works used for introducing graphic novels into curricula.

Since then, Yang has taught computer science at Bishop O'Dowd High School in California and will be teaching in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adult program at Hamline University. He also has produced more graphic novels, including the short story collection The Eternal Smile with Derek Kirk Kim, Prime Baby, and his newest work Level Up.

Yang has quite a diverse set of interests and has websites about comics in education, teaching factoring, and the Monkey King legend. A creative and productive creator, he remains a person of great interest in the graphic novel publishing.

Interview with Gene Yang

Tom Spurgeon posted an interview with Gene Yang a few weeks ago. In it, they talk about American Born Chinese, The Eternal Smile, and his newest book, Prime Baby. If you like his work, check it out!

The Eternal Smile

This is a collection of three stories by Gene Yang and Derek Kim, the authors of American Born Chinese and Same Difference and Other Stories respectively. Individually their works have won much praise: ABC won the 2007 Printz Award and was nominated for a National Book Award while Kim won the three major comics industry awards (the Eisner, the Ignatz, and the Harvey) for his work on SDaOS.

This collection brings together three separate stories that all focus on unstable relationships between fact and fantasy. Fiction especially acts as a great coping mechanism for hardships, trepidations, and ennui. It is quite redemptive, guiding uneasy or lost people to find hidden strengths and pleasures within themselves and their worlds. The three stories here are:

"Duncan's Kingdom"
This story was published originally by Image Comics in 1999. Duncan is a member of the Royal Guard who seeks vengeance for the murder of the king by diabolical frogmen. Also, he is motivated by the beautiful princess's hand in marriage in exchange for the frog king's head. Ostensibly set in a medieval setting, a few modern objects enter into the picture, and Duncan's sense of reality is seriously questioned.

"Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile"
One part The Truman Show and two parts Uncle Scrooge comic, this story mostly follows the exploits of a Disneyesque character. An extremely wealthy frog plots and plans ways to build even more wealth so that he won't bump his head on the ground when he dives into his personal money pit. Events turn in strange directions after he decides to use religious beliefs and practices in a money-making scheme.

"Urgent Request"
Janet is an office worker who struggles to be noticed and rewarded for her efforts on the job. In response to feelings of uselessness, she participates in the classic Nigerian email scam, sending huge amounts of money to a prince who promises to repay her once his proper office and situation are restored.

Although these three tales are separate narratives, Yang and Kim tie them together visually and thematically. Objects, such as bottles of Snap Cola appear in each, as do images of frogs, and other features. Astute readers can catch these features, and they definitely add to a sense of cohesion in the book.

This book has received a range of reviews, characterized by a mixed review such as this one from Sandy at I Love Rob Liefeld, who likes the art and themes in the stories but is unsatisfied by the package as a whole. Brian Heater at The Daily Crosshatch was happier with the whole created from the three component stories, as was Greg McElhatton at Read About Comics who really enjoyed the blend of Kim's and Yang's work here. Jason Borelli enjoyed the stories just fine but also does not think that they live up to the standards created by the collaborators' earlier works.

Excerpts are available here from First Second. I would also like to thank them for providing me with a copy of this book.

American Born Chinese

Gene Yang's coming-of-age story about a Chinese-American boy in the US has the distinction of being the first graphic novel awarded the Michael L. Printz Award for Young-Adult Literature and was also nominated for the National Book Award.

American Born Chinese (ABC) weaves together three narratives in surprising, evocative, and fantastical manner. It includes elements of the Monkey King legend, some partly autobiographical anecdotes, and a fictional, racist sitcom. ABC has generally been well reviewed as can be seen in this list compilation from the book's publisher, First Second.

Yang is a currently a computer science teacher at Bishop O'Dowd High School in California, and some of his earliest work was creating visual teaching aids for his math students.

Yang's official website is here, and here is a recent interview with him about his upcoming projects.