Boxers and Saints

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Book Information

Category
Graphic Novel
Illustrator
Publisher
First Second Books 2013
Year Published
2013
Country
Curriculum
Social Studies Curriculum
  • 11-13 Older Readers
  • 14+ Mature Readers
  • Graphic Novel
  • Historical Fiction

New York Times bestseller

China,1898. Bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants.

Little Bao has had enough. Harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers - commoners trained in kung fu who fight to free China from "foreign devils."

Against all odds, this grass-roots rebellion is violently successful. But nothing is simple. Little Bao is fighting for the glory of China, but at what cost? So many are dying, including thousands of "secondary devils" - Chinese citizens who have converted to Christianity.

Boxers & Saints is an innovative new graphic novel in two volumes - the parallel stories of two young people caught up on opposite sides of a violent rift. American Born Chinese author Gene Luen Yang brings his clear-eyed storytelling and trademark magical realism to the complexities of the Boxer Rebellion and lays bare the foundations of extremism, rebellion, and faith.

Discover the other side of the Boxer Rebellion in Saints - the companion volume to Boxers.---from the publisher

336 pages                          978-1596433595                           Ages 13-17

********

"Take  control of your mind and meditate Let  your soul gravitate to the love, y'all" --  Black-Eyed Peas "Where is the Love?"

From  BOXERS: "And  at night, we gather around the campfire to listen to Lu Pai tell his stories. "'They're  not even human, I tell you!  The foreign devils have no compassion, no  shame!  They grind up people's eyeballs for medicine!' "'Eech!' "'All  their power comes from female Yin!  How do you think  they were able to defeat the Imperial Army during the Opium Wars?  China's army used to be  the manliest in all the world! "'Before  going to war, their foot soldiers smear menstrual blood across their  foreheads!' "'Eew!' "'Their  officers drink goblets of it!' "'AACK!' "'What's  "menstrual blood"?' "'They  fly flags woven from women's pubic hair over their churches!' "'Disgusting!'" While  our main character (in BOXERS), Little Bao, acknowledges (to us) that these  are outrageous (albeit entertaining) lies, there is no question that  the insular nature of late-nineteenth century provincial China helped build up  such outrageous lies into common knowledge.

From  SAINTS: "'As  we speak, murderers prowl the land, looking to kill every Christian they  encounter!'" I'm  sure that back in tenth grade (the 1970-71 school year), I must have read a  sentence or two somewhere about the Boxer Rebellion.  But I plead total  ignorance.  This was all new, great history learning for me.

On  one hand, BOXERS AND SAINTS is such a powerful read due to our being privy to  what, on one level, are two diametrically opposed perspectives: that of a  young man who goes from being entranced by the heroics of Chinese opera  characters to becoming a leader of the Society of Righteous and Harmonious  Fists (the Boxers); and that of a young woman who is not valued by her family  but finds identity through Christianity.  What becomes so enlightening in this notable work of history storytelling is the  profound ignorance that pervades both points of view.  There is nobody  among our characters who actually gets the big picture.  The economic  imperialism of the west created widespread pain and hardship.  The  nationalist upwelling at the close of the nineteenth century was a logical  reaction, but the tactics employed by the Boxers were so barbaric as to  make themselves their own worst enemy. The  intolerant attitude of the Christians, behind whom were exploitive westerners, made them, too, their own worst enemy.  They were all a  bunch of fools.

(We  don't run across the Buddhists in the middle of this violence.   They were the ones who, even back then, knew which way was up.) The  combination of great character development and the nature of a well-illustrated  graphic novel (and this one is extremely well-illustrated) makes the  frequent gore pretty intense.  You get to know somebody and a hundred pages  later you see them with a sword coming out of their belly or a hole through their forehead.  I'm pretty sensitive and so it really had my skin crawling at times.

Today  being Thanksgiving, what I am grateful for, in reaction to reading this  extraordinary two-book set, is the Internet and all those millions of miles  of fiber optic cable that now encircle the globe.

Because  while one can make a case that there will always be hatred and violence going on somewhere, there are billions more people around the globe (and more every day) who get to see for themselves what is going on in a world that keeps growing smaller and smaller thanks to those technologies. There may always be hate-mongers and power-seekers trying to command our attention and support, but in today's world it is so much easier and  more likely that we will come to see ourselves in the faces of those half a  world away, will find the love in ourselves, and will push back  against the hate.

Peace  and love, y'all.

978-1596439245   512 pages  Ages  13 and up

Recommended by:  Richie  Partington, MLIS See more of his picks:  Richie's Picks _https://richiespicks.com_ (https://richiespicks.com/)

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Phenomenal graphic novelist with a heart for kids. This story weaves history, intrigue, great storytelling and beautiful art into one nicely composed story. Highly recommended.
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