Reader’s Choice: American Born Chinese
April 28, 2025 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Reader’s Choice: Pat Dobbs
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang
MILS catalog record
“All Jin Wang wants is to fit in. When his family moves to a new neighborhood, he suddenly finds he’s the only Chinese-American student at his school. • 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. But the Monkey King…wants to be hailed as a god. • Chin-Kee is the ultimate negative Chinese stereotype, and he’s ruining his cousin Danny’s life. These three apparently unrelated tales come together with an unexpected twist, in a modern fable that is hilarious, poignant, and action-packed.” – From cover flap
About Pat
Hometown: New York City and Madison, NJ.
Current residence: Stonington, Maine.
Connection to the island: I came to the island for one week each summer for about 40 years until I moved here full time. My sister, Nancy Greene, is also on the island and part of what drew me here.
Why do you read? I love to learn, and I love to go to another place.
What genre do you hate to read? Hmm…probably science fiction and fantasy. But the truth is, it’s not that I hate them. Rather, I’ve never been drawn to them.
Last book you LOVED: I’m a Maisie Dobbs devotee. I loved the latest in the series, The Comfort of Ghosts.
Currently reading: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. It’s really good.
Why did you choose American Born Chinese? The author beautifully talks about self acceptance and racism by weaving three separate stories together. You can just have fun with the stories, but you can also go deeper and learn about yourself from these stories.