FINDING JOY
by Marion Coste & illustrated by Yong Chen
Simple, brief prose and watercolor paintings attempt to tell a complex story. A Chinese baby girl, Shu-li, is abandoned by her parents because they have “no room for girls.” A middle-aged American couple decides to adopt a baby girl because “our family’s not complete.” The wife travels to China and brings Shu-li home to join her family, which suddenly includes three enthusiastic teenaged children, barely mentioned (and not shown) in the beginning. They rename her Joy, and she grows up happy and loved. Young readers and listeners will be left with many questions, only some of which are answered in the author’s note: Why did the couple look so lonely in the beginning if they already had three children? Why did the wife go alone to China? Why did Shu-li’s family abandon her under a bridge? Chen’s soft watercolors lend a dreamy tone to the already romanticized text. Coste has a lovely story to tell, but crosses the line from simple to simplistic. (author’s note) (Picture book. 4-8)