The Legend of Auntie Po

A local library has a "free book" day on the first Friday of the month and I have kept on forgetting about it. I finally managed to show up and picked up a couple books. Libraries are free always. 

This time you can keep the books. The first one was a quick reading but wonderfully drawn graphic novel: 

The Legend of Auntie Po is my second full-length graphic novel and my first middle grade (and historical fiction!) book. Thirteen-year-old Mei reimagines the myths of Paul Bunyan as starring a Chinese heroine while she works in a Sierra Nevada logging camp in 1885.

Aware of the racial tumult in the years after the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Mei tries to remain blissfully focused on her job, her close friendship with the camp foreman’s daughter, and telling stories about Paul Bunyan–reinvented as Po Pan Yin (Auntie Po), an elderly Chinese matriarch.

The Legend of Auntie Po is about who gets to own a myth, and about immigrant families and communities holding on to rituals and traditions while staking out their own place in America.

The author notes that she did not intend to be totally true to life though the book was based on history, including a book by Iris Chang. 

For instance, the Scandinavian-American manager of the logging camp eventually resists anti-Chinese sentiments. The logging camp unites together and the book ends with the Chinese cook (Mei's father) cooking a Chinese New Year meal for everyone. 

I reckon there were some positive moves here in the history involved. There are dreams of her going to college. I don't know how many Chinese women at the turn of the 20th Century went to college. It would be interesting to read about.  

On her website, the author notes that "I create comics at the intersection of race, gender, immigrant stories, and queerness." She uses a "they" pronoun.

Mei has some queer qualities, including a crush on her friend, the daughter of the manager of the logging camp. This part of the story is not dwelled on too much and the feelings are not returned in a romantic sense. Still, it is representation.

The book provides an interracial cast. The author notes that she did not include named Native Americans though they were present in the history of logging camps. She granted her limitations in expressing their story. It is hard to be truly complete.

For instance, I wrote for the last few years for a history website. There are numerous non-white entries, especially since it took some topics from another history website with an African focus.  

Surely, however, it is not a comprehensive look at the history. Many people, like Erik Loomis (when not being a jerk), can address some other details, including labor history. This book adds to the mix.