Reading the news, one could get the impression that honesty, trust, and openness are hard to come by these days. So this book about a young girl coming to grips with a mistake she made feels like a breath of fresh air.
Mei Mei is visiting Ama, an elder, and Ama's cat, Mimi. Bored, Mei Mei sneaks up on Mimi — adorably illustrated with Mei Mei variously disguising herself as a lamp, a houseplant, and part and parcel of a coat rack. When she leaps out to scare the cat, she knocks over Ama's side table, and Ama's cup comes crashing down, breaking into three pieces. "I felt so bad. I didn't know what to do. So I ran," Mei Mei tells readers.
How she struggles with her conscience — which becomes even more excruciating when Ama mistakenly blames the cat for the broken cup — makes up the remainder of the book. These pages are at the same time terrifying (if you take Mei Mei's guilt-ridden point of view), touching (if you notice Ama's tremendous kindness, even toward the supposedly naughty cat, whom she hugs with great tenderness even while scolding), and really funny (as an outsider looking in). We see the cat cuddled against Ama's long silvery braid, staring intently at Mei Mei who dramatically comments: "Mimi knew the truth. Mimi was taking the blame."
It turns out, Ama knows how to fix things, and once Mei Mei can let the truth out, Ama knows exactly what to do. So the book reassures children who struggle with their own guilty conscience that adults might not yell or kick you out if you do something wrong; rather, they might understand and care.
X. Fang's art matches the story's bold dynamism, with humorous touches like Mei Mei's exaggeratedly wide eyes when Mimi stalks through the room, and arrows showing the TRUTH trying to emerge from deep in Mei Mei's gut. The book won a Best Illustrated Children's Book Award from The New York Times and the New York Public Library.
A visual artist, Fang makes books for young readers and, according to her bio, "She has broken many things but only admits to breaking a few things (tsk-tsk)." Readers ages three to seven may appreciate her back story as much as the book itself: Allergic to cats, Fang prefers dogs, but she didn't want to ruin their stellar reputation for comic effect. That's how Mimi got her co-star role.
