In Broken, the exceedingly talented X. Fang (Dim Sum Palace; We Are Definitely Human) passionately describes a dramatic incident in which Mei Mei breaks Ama's cup. How the cup--and Mei Mei--are subsequently made whole again involves glue, understanding, and the perfect hug.
Mei Mei is bored while visiting Ama. So, "naturally," the child decides to scare Ama's cat, Mimi. Mei Mei jumps out with a loud "BOO!" and bumps into a table; Ama's patterned yellow mug flies "up, then down, down, down, until CRASH!" It breaks into three pieces. Mei Mei doesn't know what to do, so runs "far away." Alone and worrying on Ama's doorstep, Mei Mei believes that Ama will get mad or yell, but fondly, "with a smile," Ama asks Mei Mei to come back inside for tea and cake.
The mug is gone from the living room floor, but Mei Mei's guilt remains. "Mimi, you naughty cat!" Ama says while cuddling the cat, "You broke my cup!" But Mei Mei and Mimi know the truth. Mei Mei tries to eat the cake, but Mimi stares directly into the child's eyes over Ama's shoulder. And then "Mimi stare[s] even harder." Finally, the guilt overwhelms Mei Mei, who runs to a dark closet and huddles there. Ama finds the overwhelmed kid and Mei Mei confesses. Even though Mei Mei cries so hard it seems "the entire closet [will] flood," Ama isn't angry. Ama, who is a "fixer," glues the cup back together "piece by piece": "every repair tells a story" and now the cup has one, too. Finally, there is cake.
Fang's child-centric picture book speaks directly to the heart. Strong text, strong feelings, and strong art all acknowledge that mistakes are made (endpapers show the cat is not exempt either!), but kindness and compassion rule the day. Direct, first-person narration in the voice of tempestuous Mei Mei holds nothing back, and the digitally colored, graphite pencil-on-paper illustrations include plenty of extreme closeups, child's-eye-views, and even one invitation to turn the book 90 degrees for dramatic effect. The art is composed mostly of saturated blues, oranges, and yellows, accompanied by plenty of white space, keeping the pages from getting too dark. Ama's cheerful warmth nicely balances Mei Mei's passion, and readers will surely feel all Mei Mei's feels, then cheer when the child finally gets cake. --Lynn Becker, reviewer, blogger, and children's book author
Shelf Talker: Broken, yet another winning picture book by author/illustrator X. Fang, describes a passionate, child-centered experience that includes boredom, crisis, redemption, and... cake!