Kehuan Chen is a citizen of the world. He was born in Korea, but his father's position as a diplomat means a rather itinerant lifestyle for the Chen family. Taiwan, Germany, and finally Poland serve as backdrops for his childhood. Fortunately, Kehuan is a genius as well as a computer whiz, musical prodigy, and foreign language aficionado. He is also streetwise enough to look after himself following the death of his mother when he is six. Two years later, it comes naturally to him to keep an eye on Niki, the poorly supervised and free-roaming child of a young single housekeeper. They begin a friendship that will grow and change as they do. The connection alone sustains Niki through a childhood tragedy and then through the cruelties of a jealous guardian. As he watches Niki suffer, the bitter, misanthropic Kehuan comes to love another human, both romantically and platonically, for the first time.

As Stanhoff shows. urban poverty and deprivation still flourish in the twenty-first century. So, however, do youthful resilience and imagination. Whenever he is presented with an opportunity to gain practical experience, Kehuan seizes it, as when his father entrusts a gifted business associate—a stranger to Kehuan—with his care. The boy learns from his temporary guardian everything he knows about computers. None of the usual tension between prepubescent members of the other sex surfaces between Niki and Kehuan. He volunteers to take care of her when he is eight and she is five. Friendship grows seamlessly into love, freeing the plot to take less conventional twists. Niki, a talented artist and singer, shows sufficient depth of character to charm and befriend jealous rivals. Students in international schools or anyone who underwent other forms of cultural assimilation in their youth may especially enjoy this novel.

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