Alone Like Me
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
In this beautiful, heartfelt picture book, a young girl moves from a small village to a big city in China, where she longs to find a friend...and ultimately meets someone very much like her.
Liling and her family have moved from their rural farm to an overwhelming urban city. Because of Chinese law, Liling can't go to school and spends her days with Mama or Baba at work. At the playground, the other children throw sand at her and tease her old red coat and dirty shoes.
But after she shares a smile with a girl in a bright yellow jacket who lives in an apartment beneath hers, Liling has a big idea! She draws a picture and lowers it down to the girl--Qiqi--who returns it with a drawing of her own. When the new friends meet face to face, Liling takes Qiqi's hand, and they walk bravely into the park--together.
With luscious watercolor illustrations and lovely poetic text, this achingly beautiful story is about our universal desire for connection, and the comfort we feel when we find a true friend.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When Lìlíng and her family move from the mountains of China, hùko˘u—a registration system that determines legal access to resources—means that she's unable to attend school in their new city home. Portrayed in a dark red coat, Lìlíng spends her days with her Maˉma and Bàba at their factory jobs, wishing for a friend. When she briefly spots a girl in a "sunshine yellow" coat, Lìlíng becomes determined to find and befriend her, eventually discovering that she's a neighbor. Watercolor images and spare text by Evans portray crowded streets and tall skyscrapers in watery grays and blues, while bright-colored notes exchanged between the friends via their residences' balconies provide a fitting contrast that hints at their blossoming friendship. A motif of dragons and tigers—metaphors for courage and strength—add to the narrative's emotional depth. Back matter includes an author's note. Ages 4–8.
