Mei Fuh: Memories from China

Schaeffer spins colorful episodes in the life of an American girl growing up in turn-of-the-century China into a delectable dim sum of a chapter book. The sights, sounds, smells and flavors that comprise Mei Fuh's daily life are chronicled here in cheerfully unaffected prose accented by sprightly black-and-white illustrations. Born in the city of Wenchow, Mei Fuh (""beautiful happiness"" in Chinese) lives with her family inside a (presumably missionary) school compound. Successive chapters reveal quotidian events that will no doubt prove exotic to readers--riding pell-mell across the city in a rickshaw; keeping cozy at church with foot warmers powered by hot coals; raising silkworms on mulberry leaves, then wearing a dress made from their thread. Schaeffer also sensitively weaves in occasional sobering glimpses of this culture--including women with bound feet and the cries of abandoned newborn girls. Eventually, Mei Fuh and her family return to America, traveling from Shanghai to San Francisco aboard an ocean liner, then cross country by train to Cleveland. Schaeffer's forthright style and unhurried pace make for a thoroughly absorbing record of a foreign land and a bygone era. Ages 5-9. (May)