Central Kansas Library System

In Chinese, peng you means friend. But in any language, all Anna knows for certain is that friendship is complicated. When Anna needs company, she turns to her books. Whether traveling through A Wrinkle in Time, or peering over My Side of the Mountain, books provide what real life cannot -- constant companionship and insight into her changing world. Books, however, can't tell Anna how to find a true friend. She'll have to discover that on her own....

A free-verse novel about eleven-year-old Xiao Mei's visit with her extended family in China, where the Chinese-American girl finds many differences but also the similarities that bind a family together.

Twelve-year-old Anna's friend Andee spearheads a campaign to bring Fan from China to Cincinnati on a year-long cultural exchange, but before Fan even arrives Anna is concerned that Andee and Fan are too different to get along.