The Key Collection

By Andrea Cheng and Yangsook Choi

Book Overview

An intergenerational and cross-cultural story of love and friendship. The lines around Ni Ni's eyes were deeper than before. Her hair was thin and grey. I wanted to tell her that she didn't have to move. She didn't have to move at all. Nobody would make her. We could explain to Auntie Helen that she was not ready. Not yet. Not for a long while. Xiao Jimmy's Grandma Ni Ni is his favorite person in all the world. Ni Ni cooks delicious jiao zi, teaches Jimmy Chinese characters, and always has wonderful stories and fascinating objects - like the key collection - to share with him. So when Jimmy learns that Ni Ni must move far away to California, he feels he's losing his best friend. In time, however, Jimmy discovers there are ways to bridge distance, and to make new friends in the process. This warm and reassuring novel explores a special relationship that crosses cultures and generations, and holds strong when tested.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805071539
• ISBN13: 9780805071535
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 7.5"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

Well-written but consider pre-reading

This is really well-written - but as a parent I want to add that it might bother some sensitive souls, especially if they are going through something similar. I just saw it at the library and could really feel the pain of having his grandmother move away - although in some ways it deepened his relationship with her -and with others. One tiny nit-pick: I wish his grandmother had been called "Nai Nai" (paternal grandmother, following official pinyin transliteration rules) instead of Ni Ni, but I was able to move past that. It could be a pet name that I had not heard of.