Gene Luen Yang Encourages His Kids to Read Outside Their Comfort Zone

There are books in almost every room of Author and Illustrator Gene Luen Yang’s house. His kids are big readers, each gravitating to what interests them most like graphic novels, non-fiction, and realistic fiction. But Mr. Yang encourages his own kids as he does kids all across the country to take the Reading Without Walls Challenge … finding and embracing books outside their comfort zone.

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Gene Luen Yang

Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels

Gene Luen Yang

Gene Luen Yang writes, and sometimes draws, comic books and graphic novels. American Born Chinese — a memoir about growing up as an Asian American — became the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award and a National Book Award finalist. His two-volume graphic novel Boxers & Saints won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. His other works include Dragon Hoops, the Secret Coders series (with Mike Holmes), The Shadow Hero (with Sonny Liew), New Super-Man from DC Comics (with various artists), and the Avatar: The Last Airbender series from Dark Horse Comics (with Gurihiru) and Superman Smashes the Klan (with Gurihiru).

In 2016, Yang was named the 5th National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and selected as a MacArthur Fellow.