Status
Available
Collection
Publication
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (2022), 368 pages
Description
Eleven-year-old Peijing and her family are adapting to their new life in Australia, but when cracks in her family life start to appear, she must find a way to cope with the uncertainties of her own little world and figure out where she fits in.
Local notes
Booklist Starred Reviews, 05/31/2022
Grades 4-7 - "*Starred Review* Fans of sisterhood stories are in for a heartfelt treat with this gentle novel centered around family, resilience, and immigration. Two Chinese sisters, 11-year-old Peijing and 5-year-old Biju, find themselves trying to find a new normal after their family relocates from Singapore to Australia for Ba Ba’s job. Peijing longs for the familiar, including moon cakes like the ones Ah-Ma would make during the Mid-Autumn Festival back home. But as time goes on, Ah-Ma’s memory gets worse and worse, and the family faces a difficult decision. Furthermore, Ma Ma and Ba Ba grapple with adapting to their changing roles. Peijing and Biju also struggle to fit in at their new school and have difficulty with schoolwork due to language challenges. Biju increasingly leans on Peijing for support, who does her best to stay strong for her little sister. Together, they find comfort in Little World, a land made of hand-drawn animals, who are under constant threat of being wiped out by mass extinction. Between each chapter, Chinese mythology presented as a dialogue between the two sisters is beautifully and entertainingly interwoven. Taken from the author’s own experiences, the touching characters and relationships in this story will linger with readers for a long time."
Grades 4-7 - "*Starred Review* Fans of sisterhood stories are in for a heartfelt treat with this gentle novel centered around family, resilience, and immigration. Two Chinese sisters, 11-year-old Peijing and 5-year-old Biju, find themselves trying to find a new normal after their family relocates from Singapore to Australia for Ba Ba’s job. Peijing longs for the familiar, including moon cakes like the ones Ah-Ma would make during the Mid-Autumn Festival back home. But as time goes on, Ah-Ma’s memory gets worse and worse, and the family faces a difficult decision. Furthermore, Ma Ma and Ba Ba grapple with adapting to their changing roles. Peijing and Biju also struggle to fit in at their new school and have difficulty with schoolwork due to language challenges. Biju increasingly leans on Peijing for support, who does her best to stay strong for her little sister. Together, they find comfort in Little World, a land made of hand-drawn animals, who are under constant threat of being wiped out by mass extinction. Between each chapter, Chinese mythology presented as a dialogue between the two sisters is beautifully and entertainingly interwoven. Taken from the author’s own experiences, the touching characters and relationships in this story will linger with readers for a long time."