Goldfish and Chrysanthemums

March 10, 2003
Cheng returns for another intergenerational tale after her tender Grandfather Counts. In spare, evocative prose she again explores the relationship between a Chinese-born grandparent and a westernized granddaughter. This time, however, she focuses less on forging a relationship than on nurturing it with thoughtfulness. Nancy's grandmother Ni Ni receives a sad letter from China: "Brother says the city needs space for apartment building, so they tear down our father's old house in Suzhou"; Ni Ni's beloved goldfish pond and garden are also destroyed. After winning two goldfish at a fair, Nancy asks her grandmother more about the fish pond of her childhood and discovers it was surrounded by chrysanthemums. Debut artist Chang charts Nancy's progress as she creates, with the help of a gardener neighbor, a miniature pond in the backyard for the fish, complete with chrysanthemums, a stone path and bench. Moved to tears, Ni Ni takes photographs of "Ba Ba's Garden in America" to send to her brother. While the palette of the oil paintings is suffused with warm shades of chrysanthemum-like reds, yellows and oranges, the emotional temperature remains surprisingly cool. Stylized portraits sit uncomfortably within realistic backdrops, resulting in stagy characters with almost mannequin-like faces. The posed photographs in a final spread make the most successful compositions; here the close-up of Ni Ni smelling a mum and united with her grandchildren communicate the book's uplifting theme of the importance of familial ties and continuity. Ages 4-9.

June 1, 2003
PreS-Gr 2-In this warm story of intergenerational love, a girl re-creates a piece of her grandmother's childhood home in China. Nancy lives in a brownstone with her older brother, their parents, and Ni Ni, the youngsters' grandmother. The woman is sad to learn that her father's house in Suzhou, with its beautiful fishpond surrounded by chrysanthemums, is to be torn down for an apartment building. When Nancy wins two goldfish at a street fair, she decides to build a backyard fishpond. With the help of a kindly neighbor and her brother, she lays out a stone path, sets down an old picnic bench, plants flowers, and surprises Ni Ni. This portrait of a caring family resonates with scenes of sharing and togetherness. The rich golds, greens, and browns of the oil paintings add to the spirit of warmth and security. Use this book in multicultural and family story programs.-Susan Pine, New York Public Library

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2003
PreS-Gr. 2. Ni Ni, Nancy's grandmother, gets a letter from China telling her that her ancestral home is being razed for apartment buildings. As Ni Ni recalls with melancholy the lovely goldfish pond surrounded by yellow mums, Nancy decides she must do something to raise Ni Ni's spirits. First, Nancy wins a pair of goldfish at a fair. When that doesn't seem enough, Nancy, with help from her neighbor and brother, builds a small pond for the goldfish in the backyard and surrounds it with chrysanthemums. The telling is direct, and the message about bringing happiness to those one loves is clear. Cheng's artwork conveys both the action and the deep familial love without ambiguity, but the decision to give the artwork a golden patina produces a similitude that borders on tedium. Best for larger libraries or ones with immigrant populations that can really appreciate ties to a faraway place.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2003
After Nancy's grandmother Ni Ni gets a letter from China saying that her family home has been torn down, Nancy decides to make a goldfish pond in their backyard to remind Ni Ni of the pond she had as a child. The characters in the olive and gold illustrations are occasionally stiff, although the story of a child's concern for her grandmother is touching.

(Copyright 2003 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)