Making mooncakes with Ah Ma for the Mid-Autumn Festival was the last day of Peijing’s old life. Now, adapting to their new life in Australia, Peijing thinks everything will turn out okay for her family as long as they have each other – but cracks are starting to appear.
Her little sister, Biju, needs Peijing to be the dependable big sister. Ma Ma is no longer herself; Ah Ma keeps forgetting who she is; and Ba Ba, who used to work seven days a week, is adjusting to being a hands-on dad.
How will Peijing cope with the uncertainties of her own little world while shouldering the burden of everyone else? And if Peijing’s family are the four quarters of the mooncake, where does she fit in?
Early last year, BR Kids readers were introduced to Shirley Marr through her heart-wrenching award-winning story A Glasshouse of Stars, which has been shortlisted for the 2022 CBCA Book of the Year for Young Readers.
In her writing, Marr is greatly influenced by her own experiences as a first-generation Chinese-Australian who arrived in mainland Australia from Christmas Island in the 1980s. She describes herself as having a Western mind with an Eastern heart, and this description resonates throughout both A Glasshouse of Stars and All Four Quarters of the Moon.
Recommended for children aged 9+, All Four Quarters of the Moon is a big-hearted story and a beautiful ode to sisters. In a lyrical, moving way Biju and Peijing experience the good, the bad and the wonder that comes with culture shock. Along with their parents and grandmother, the two sisters navigate familial obligation amidst a pivotal adjustment period. Together, they navigate this time through the safety of magic, myth and imagination in storytelling. It’s very real and very inspiring.
Through Biju and Peijing’s trials and tribulations, there are themes of domestic violence, discrimination, mental health and the reality of climate change. But Marr tells these in a gentle and hopeful way. Ultimately, this is a story of love and resilience, a lost family finding their way, a Little World made of paper, a Jade Rabbit and the ever-changing but constant moon. I couldn’t recommend it more.
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