I Miss My Grandpa

June 15, 2019
A grandmother tells a young child all the amazing pieces that were a part of the grandpa the child never met. One by one, Grandma points out each element of Grandpa's appearance in a living relative: youngest uncle Mason's moonlike face, cousin Aiden's listening ears, and on until she finally comes to the wavy hair the child she addresses inherited. Grandma assures the child that Grandpa can be found in their hearts: "He is still living within us who love him." Layers of media, including colored pencil, watercolor, oil pastel, and dip pen, are applied and then scratched away, creating bold, striking textures and patterns. The strong use of shapes, in both positive and negative space, draws readers' eyes and creates a compelling visual throughline. For instance, tiny dots of light create constellations depicting how aunt Zai-zi can turn her voice into a duck or a lion or the wind, just as Grandpa did. The appearances of the child and grandmother, both paper-white and outlined with a rainbow of swift, simple lines, are racially ambiguous, but the mixed Chinese and Western names of relatives point to a multicultural family. Although her works have been published in China, this title marks New York City-based Xiaojing's U.S. picture-book debut. The text appears in Mandarin translation (both characters and pinyin) on the rear endpapers. A luminous celebration of what we share and inherit from our elders. (Picture book. 3-9)

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Starred review from September 9, 2019
A child wonders about her grandfather, who died before she was born. She asks her grandmother to describe him, and the poetic characterizations that ensue draw lucid parallels between the girl’s grandfather and familiar family members: “Your middle uncle, Chang-zi, has your grandpa’s eyes,” the grandmother says. And corresponding family members reminisce in turn: “Uncle Chang-zi says,/ ‘When your grandpa looked at the world,/ he was quiet and patient like a crocodile./ When he closed his eyes, his imagination sparked.’ ” In several powerfully intimate moments, the family engages in the special act of collective remembering, recalling how the man interacted with the world. Xiaojing’s mixed-media illustrations begin with loose, lively lines depicting the girl and her grandmother, then delve into the abstract—a moon in the sky, an arrangement of stars—as if launching readers into the protagonist’s imagination. A tender and poignant resource for any child reckoning with the absence of a grandparent. Ages 4–8.