Cognotes 2017 Annual Conference Highlights - 3

2017 CHICAGO HIGHLIGHTS

COGNOTES

ALAANNUAL.ORG/MOBILE-APP|#ALAAC17

Gene Luen Yang Shares His Blend of the Chinese and American Experience
Stephanie Barnaby/San Jose State University

Gene Luen Yang on Superheroes, Immigrants

eacher, cartoonist, and author of American Born Chinese,
Gene Luen Yang opened the Auditorium Speaker Series
June 24. Yang spoke about negotiating between two
identities. Born to immigrant parents, a mother from mainland
China and a father from Taiwan, Yang discussed the dual role
that books and comics played in his childhood and that he
wants to foster in children's lives today. Children need books
that advocate and are ambassadors.
His earliest memories of Chinese-language story books, read
to him by his mother, demonstrated the differences in culture
that he negotiated daily. A collection of short stories depicting
the concept of filial piety, aimed at children aged six through
nine, introduced him to his first favorite superhero, the Monkey
King. Yang described a monkey that could grow and shrink,
had the ability to skateboard on clouds, and who possessed a
magical stick that could grow from a toothpick tucked behind
his ear to a staff.
As a longtime lover of stories and of drawing, animation was
Yang's first dream. Until he read his first comic book and met
Superman, Yang was captivated by Disney, and with the help
of research done at his local library, he aspired to animate for
Disney. As a young boy, a custom print of Walt Disney's head
hanging on his wall was a differentiating factor for Yang from
his classmates. That Superman comic was a choice from his
mother because, in her opinion, he was the best-behaved superhero. He was also a character
that advocates to the reader that everyone has a story to be told and it matters. Superman,
like Yang's parents, was an immigrant to the United States, balancing twin identities as both
mild-mannered Clark Kent and Superman, much like Yang balanced an American experience in the schools with a Chinese experience at home.
That first comic book, Superman and the Atomic Knights, resonated with Yang, throughout
the night he finished it and further into the future encouraging him to create, in the fifth grade
with his childhood friend Jeremy, his first comic book featuring a Robin Hood-esque character
called Spade Hunter. He sold copies of this work to his classmates for 50¢ each, making a total

of $8. Years later, after graduating from the
University of California, Berkeley with degrees
in computer science and creative writing, Yang
would self-publish his first comic.
Yang believes that it is also important
to read "ambassador" books, or books that
represent a different aspect of the world and
ways of living than a reader is familiar with. As
a self-described nerd, Yang was not a basket-

ball fan until he read a book about the topic
and ended up spending a year following his
school's basketball coach around.
Yang's campaign, Reading Without Walls,
encourages people to commit to reading
books outside of what a reader knows. Outlined at readingwithoutwalls.com, the website
helps readers find books to experience how
others live.

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