Mei Ling Pang hopes her luck will change when her family moves from China to Australia. However, things don’t look promising in the town of Honeywood. Mei has no friends, the Pang family’s restaurant (situated next to the graveyard) lacks customers, and a Jiangshi (an ancient Chinese vampire, which feeds on the life-force of humans) starts attacking the neighbours! Worse still: the new kid Mei was starting to befriend is rumoured to be the Jiangshi. Mei is a resourceful and resilient character, anxious to protect her family, her town and the new kid. Katy Jiang’s delightful black-and-white illustrations are scattered throughout the story, adding humour and setting the scene.
This is an own-voices title (both author and illustrator are Chinese-Australian) with a modern take on characters from traditional Chinese folklore. With unexpected twists and turns, Little Jiang is a funny, supernatural page-turner for young readers.