Shanghai Messenger

Review
By Into the Wardrobe

Cheng’s stirring free verse poems evoke Xiao Mei’s fear about traveling to China all by herself, and her doubts from being surrounded by a language, people, and lifestyle that are strange to her. . . . Young’s spot illustrations in pastel, ink, dye, charcoal, and Conte crayon are impressionistic. They are sublime, effectively evoking all of Xiao Mei’s conflicting feelings. How does he do that? I believe that in Shanghai Messenger, Cheng and Young truly capture the beautiful yet complicated bond a young Asian American has with her Asian motherland.— Into the Wardrobe