From: Stacks Hound <stackshound>
Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 16:35:54 -0500

American Born Chinese:

I understand the great "statement" of having a graphic novel win the Printz, as I've heard a lot of librarians say. But as for the book itself ..I don't know. After reading American Born Chinese, I wasn't convinced it should have been the one to do it.

I think much of the book is well done, and I was rooting for it to be great in the beginning. I liked having three different stories, but I thought the end was a mess. Though I usually like having different strands coming together at the end, in this case it seemed more like the author painted himself into a corner and didn't know how to get out. I didn't buy it. Also, I didn't learn any intricacies of what it's like to be Asian American, or anything real and lasting about the narrator. The extent of the book's insight seemed to be "there are stereotypes and I get made fun of." Anyone else?

I did think An Abundance of Katherines was great and I agree that Book Thief appeals more to adults.

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Received on Wed 21 Feb 2007 03:35:54 PM CST