In Saints, we meet Four-Girl, a mischievous, put-upon young girl who stumbles into Christianity through less than noble purposes-seeking to become a “devil,” for example, or simply to get access to the cookies her patron provides while preaching about Christ. After he himself learns a secret, mystical form of kung fu, he becomes a leader of an increasingly brutal military movement, marching on the capital under the counsel of the spirit of Ch’in Shih-huang, China’s first emperor. In Boxers, we follow Little Bao, a young boy who admires older men like his father and local hero Red Lantern Chu for standing up to the Western Devils. Western Christian conflict at the center of the Rebellion. This is the essence of what good children’s literature should do, and I wholeheartedly recommend diving in.įind Boxers & Saints at your local library.Each volume of Yang’s Boxers & Saints stars a different young protagonist on a different side of the traditional Chinese vs. Perhaps because of this, the books resonated with my son and have led to deep and thoughtful conversations about the nature of war and love. These are dark tales where hope is eventually crushed, and the cruelty and tragedy of the era are not glossed over or sugarcoated. It’s ambitious storytelling that my eight-year-old ate up, reading both books in a day and delighting at the connections between the two. The tales follow love-bound protagonists through intersecting story lines that weave their way through the complex history and politics of the era.

Sold both individually and as a set, the books tell stories from the opposite sides of China’s Boxer Rebellion. It’s a form that pushes boundaries, with a new generation of authors and illustrators rethinking what is possible.īoxers and Saints, the new releases by Gene Luen Yang, show how rich and evocative a graphic novel, or in this case a matched pair of graphic novels, can be. But parents shouldn’t worry too much, because we’re living in the golden age of graphic novels. And, of course, there are many graphic novels that peddle to the lowest common denominator that justify these fears. The fear, I think, is that because the form is so appealing, these glorified comics will subsume “real” literature and “real” reading.

Many parents, myself included, have a love-hate relationship with graphic novels. A love story set during China's Boxer Rebellion, told through two graphic novels.

Boxers by gene luen yang