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Teaching American Born Chinese

Did we mention there are monkey kings?

  • Activities: 13
  • Quiz Questions: 45

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American Born Chinese is a cool comic book (sorry, we mean graphic novel). So cool, in fact, that it's won author Gene Luen Yang a bunch of awards, including finalist for the 2006 National Book Award—the first graphic novel ever to be nominated for the award, we might add.

But we know you're not just about the accolades. Just like the three misunderstood main characters of American Born Chinese, you're way deeper than that. So here's the deal: this book manages to do more than show the life of a typical Chinese American teen boy. It incorporates the Chinese folk tale of the Monkey King and parades through a bunch of classic stereotypes about Chinese people at the same time—all to critical and humorous effect. This is why American Born Chinese is a total favorite of middle and high school English teachers, perfect for your classroom.

In this guide, you'll find

  • discussion ideas for the oh-so-nuanced topic of cultural identity.
  • a step-by-step guide for how to analyze a comic's frame.
  • the true story of the Monkey King. (Come on, we know you're curious.)

American Born Chinese is the holy grail of required English reading: it's relatable, current, deep and culturally diverse. And that's not even getting into the fact that it's a comic book…

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13 – 18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles

Want more help teaching Teaching American Born Chinese?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: Identity is such a super big deal, even to adults. Who am I? Where do I fit it? Am I acceptable? Where does my identity come from? How do people figure all this stuff out?

Today the students are going to dig deep while they figure out the answers to these questions, check out some identity-forming things online, sort through how a person like themselves can find their own identity, and relate this to the book with a presentation.

Expect to take three to four periods (or about three to four hours) on this, including half a day for presentations.

This activity builds on the "Cultural Identity" activity, though it'll work fine as a stand-alone.

Materials Needed: Platform for building a slideshow (PowerPoint, Google Slides, etc.), a copy of the text and/or Shmoop's summary page

Step 1: First up, a conversation to get the ideas flowing. They'll be using some of this later so they'll need to jot down their notes, ideas, and answers:

  • What's identity?
  • Where does it come from? What makes up someone's identity?
  • Is it important to have an identity? Why or not?
  • Can your identity change over time? If so, how?
  • How can someone figure out who they are?
  • What does identity have to do with fitting in?
  • Why is fitting in so important?

Use the following questions if you've already done the "Cultural Identity" activity:

  • What's the difference between individual identity and cultural identity?
  • Is cultural identity separate from personal identity or are they mixed together?
  • If mixed, can they be separated?
  • How much of your cultural identity dictates your personal identity?

Step 2: Go ahead and give your class the deets on the project. Basically, they'll be working in groups to address a major identity topic and create a five-minute slideshow presentation to share in class.

Step 3: Students will continue their discussions and research in groups of three or four. They should consider the following questions, research, and brainstorm answers together. They'll also use this info for their presentations, so they'll want to write down their notes, ideas, and answers:

  • Where does the typical teenager's identity come from?
  • What influences identity?
  • What problems come from not being sure of or insecure about one's identity?
  • How can someone just "be him/herself"?

Step 4: Explain that their five-minute presentations must:

  • Answer these questions:
    • What's identity?
    • How does this relate to American Born Chinese?
  • Also address one of these two topics. You don't have to answer every question under the topic, but try to hit a majority of them:
    • Figuring Out Who You Are
      • How does a person (like you) find his/her identity?
      • What things form your identity?
      • Is it okay to try on different identities or try new things?
      • Can your identity change?
      • How can someone be comfortable with who they are (even if they're different from others)?
      • What can someone do if they figure out who they are and others around them don't like it?
    • Fitting In
      • How does fitting in work with the whole identity thing?
      • Is it good to fit in?
      • How important is it to fit in?
      • What does a person do if she/he doesn't fit in?
      • Why do some people have such a difficult time fitting in? (Maybe they don't fit in and want to or they constantly question whether or not they fit in.)
      • Should we reject or accept people if they fit in?
      • What would it be like if everyone was the same?
  • Specifically refer to the book.
  • Be real and personal. Give answers or advice that you'd actually try.
  • Cite your sources if you used anything from the web (i.e. pictures or stuff you didn't make).
  • Documentation: On presentation day you'll turn in these things:
    • Citations
    • A print-out of your slideshow

Step 5: Sit back and enjoy the presentation extravaganza.

Instructions for Your Students

Identity is such a super big deal, even to adults. Who am I? Where do I fit it? Am I acceptable? Where does my identity come from? How do people figure all this stuff out?

You're going to dig deep here while you figure out the answers to these questions, check out some identity-forming things online, sort through how a person like you can find your own identity, and relate this to the book with a presentation.

Step 1: First up, a conversation to get some ideas flowing:

  • What's identity?
  • Where does it come from? What makes up someone's identity?
  • Is it important to have an identity? Why or not?
  • Can your identity change over time? If so, how?
  • How can someone figure out who they are?
  • What does identity have to do with fitting in?
  • Why is fitting in so important?

Use the following if you've already done the "Cultural Identity" activity:

  • What's the difference between individual identity and cultural identity?
  • Is cultural identity separate from personal identity or are they mixed together?
  • If mixed, can they be separated?
  • How much of your cultural identity dictates your personal identity?

Step 2: Your teacher's gonna go over the deets on the project now. Basically, you'll be working in groups to address a major identity topic and create a five-minute slideshow presentation to share in class.

Step 3: You'll continue your discussions and research in groups of three or four. You should consider the following questions, research, and brainstorm answers together. You'll also use this info for your presentations, so you'll want to write down your notes, ideas, and answers:

  • Where does the typical teenager's identity come from?
  • What influences identity?
  • What problems come from not being sure of or insecure about your identity?
  • How can someone just "be him/herself"?

Step 4: Now that you've covered all that, you'll put together your five-minute slideshow presentation. 

  • Answer these questions:
    • What's identity?
    • How does this relate to American Born Chinese?
  • Also address one of these two topics. You don't have to answer every question under the topic, but try to hit a majority of them:
    • Figuring Out Who You Are
      • How does a person (like you) find his/her identity?
      • What things form your identity?
      • Is it okay to try on different identities or try new things?
      • Can your identity change?
      • How can someone be comfortable with who they are (even if they're different from others)?
      • What can someone do if they figure out who they are and others around them don't like it?
    • Fitting In
      • How does fitting in work with the whole identity thing?
      • Is it good to fit in?
      • How important is it to fit in?
      • What does a person do if she/he doesn't fit in?
      • Why do some people have such a difficult time fitting in? (Maybe they don't fit in and want to or they constantly question whether or not they fit in.)
      • Should we reject or accept people if they fit in?
      • What would it be like if everyone was the same?
  • Specifically refer to the book.
  • Be real and personal. Give answers or advice that you'd actually try.
  • Cite your sources if you used anything from the web (i.e. pictures or stuff you didn't make).
  • Documentation: On presentation day you'll turn in these things:
    • Citations
    • A print-out of your slideshow

Step 5: After your group presents, kick back and enjoy the other slideshows.