Shanghai Messenger - Andrea Cheng

Illustrator: Ed Young
For: Elementary kids
2005
Rating: 3.5
Endpapers: Turquoise

Xiao Mei, a half-Chinese American girl, is encouraged by her grandmother Nai Nai to visit family in Shanghai, China. With trepidation, the eleven year old travels by herself to spend some time with family she's never met. She gets to meet great-grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who take her in immediately and form loving bonds quickly. She is introduced to the culture of China, makes many observations, gets to know her family, and even learns to write some Chinese. Simply illustrated this is a gentle, informative book.

The orange medly of lines and cross border every page on left and right. It's very eye-catching.