The long list for the prestigious National Book Awards was released this morning and Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel diptych about the Boxer Rebellion, Boxers & Saints was included among the 10 nominee’s in the "Young People’s Literature" category.
 
Boxers & Saints was the only graphic novel to make the list in "Young People’s Literature" category.  Yang is certainly no stranger to the National Book Awards, his American Born Chinese, which like Boxers & Saints is published by First Second Books, was the first graphic novel ever to be a finalist for the National Book Awards.
 
Boxers & Saints is in many ways Yang’s most ambitious effort yet.  The two volumes focus on two different young Chinese caught up in the social upheaval of the Boxer Rebellion with one book following the story of a young boy who joins the rebellion after seeing the evil effects of the occupation of China by foreign powers, while the other volume focuses on a young girl who finds help and a home with Christian missionaries.  The two-volume Boxers & Saints graphic novel diptych is available in a slipcased edition featuring both volumes, though the books can also be purchased separately.
 
Yang also writes Dark Horse’s very popular Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novels that are based on the Nickelodeon TV series (see "'Avatar' Surges in March").