A young girl misses the grandfather she has never met in this gentle picture-book from expatriate Chinese author/artist Jin Xiaojing, currently living in New York City. She asks her grandma about him, and is told about the many family members who resemble him in some way. The family members in turn tell her some more about this missing loved one. In the end, the girl concludes that she misses her grandpa, even though she has never met him...

Apparently Xiaojing has published a number of books in her native China, and has won the Xinyi Picture Book Good Book Award, but I Miss My Grandpa is her first book to be published here in the United States. I found her narrative here poignant, and appreciated that she explored a form of loss - a deceased family member one has never met, as opposed to one who has recently died - that is rarely touched upon in children's books. The mixed media artwork is lovely, with bold use of color throughout, and some interesting pages with a black background. Recommended to anyone looking for new children's stories about family, about grandparents, and about the void left, when we never get to meet a loved one. ( )