The Key Collection
Basic Information:
Illustrator: Yangsook Choi
Publication Year: May 2003
Publisher: Henry Holt
Book Type: Chapter Book
Grades: 3rd to 7th
ISBN-10: 0805071539
ISBN-13: 978-0805071535
About the Book:
Xiao Jimmy's Grandma Ni Ni is his favorite person in all the world. Ni Ni cooks delicious jiao zi, teaches Jimmy Chinese characters, and always has wonderful stories and fascinating objects--like the key collection--to share with him. So when Jimmy learns that Ni Ni must move far away to California, he feels he is losing his best friend. In time, however, Jimmy discovers there are ways to bridge distance, and to make new friends in the process.
This warm and reassuring novel explores a special relationship that crosses cultures and generations, and holds strong when tested.
Author Perspective:
When I was growing up, my grandmother lived in an apartment behind our house. I saw her almost everyday. We cooked, baked, and sewed together. Then, when I was about the age of Xiao Jimmy, she moved to Chicago to live near her daughter. I remember feeling sad and deserted. These feelings resurfaced a few years ago when my children's grandmother moved from her St. Louis home to an apartment in California in order to live close to her daughter. I wondered if my son, Nicholas, felt a little bit deserted as I had so many years before. When I sat down to write The Key Collection, my daughter Ann and my niece, Rebekah, were playing with a jar of keys that my brother had collected. They were making key families on the rug. This scene found its way into my story.
