A review by anoriega
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

4.0

Like Gene Luen Yang wrote on his website, "in your average American history textbook, the Boxer Rebellion gets about a paragraph"- and that's exactly how much I remember reading about it at school. That being said, when I began the graphic novel I was a bit confused because of the inadequate background information I should have had beforehand. But that didn't hinder my reading experience at all! If anything it really enlightened me to go out on the internet and research the time period and what this rebellion was about after I had finished. Besides not having prior knowledge, I really enjoyed the story and the characters. Even though I wasn't up to speed on my historical facts, I still got the basic gist of what was going on and the tumultuous times China was going through. There are some violent scenes, which I appreciated, and I think this is a great graphic novel to educate both students and adults. The pacing and plot line flowed and there were various unexpected occurrences that caught me off guard- which I liked! Definitely recommend, I will be picking up the second volume!

*http://geneyang.com/boxers-and-pop-culture* great article on author's website on how pop culture influenced the "boxers"