Winner of the 44^th Golden Tripod Awards for Children’s and Youth books

All happy children are alike.

Each unhappy child is unhappy in their own way.

Hsiao-kuang is an active and outgoing boy with a head full of imaginative ideas. To him, the world is a big place and everything is new and exciting. But there’s one thing he could never understand: He wants his parents to spend time with him, but they’re always too busy. They nag him and tell him to do things instead of showing that they care about him. They tell him to do what he’s told and to work hard at school. All Hsiao-kuang wants is for his parents to look at the stars with him, but they wouldn't even do that.

Just when Hsiao-kuang is feeling sad, a shooting star pierces the sky comes down to earth. It turns out to be a strange spaceship with a green star bear inside. The star bear comforts Hsiao-kuang and offers to take his place—including when he’s getting yelled at and when he has a test at school. So Hsiao-kuang and the star bear put their heads together and the star bear becomes Hsiao-kuang’s appearance. The star bear in Hsiao-kuang’s appearance deals with all the stress of regular life, while Hsiao-kuang pilots the star bear’s spaceship and explores faraway asteroids, playing with all kinds of cute animals…

On Earth, the star bear lives life as Hsiao-kuang, facing a life of frustration and scolding. He knows the adults want the best for him and hope that he would understand one day, and he wants to live up to their expectations. But everything is so hard and miserable. The only thing that helps him cope with the pressure is sharing his feelings with his teddy bear…

In this book, Jimmy Liao takes the perspective of a child as he dissects the pitfalls of the parent-child relationship, so difficult to talk about but such a burden to keep silent. Young readers would readily identify with the main character, while parents would find many situations and conversations eerily familiar, because they might have said the exact words. Children hope that one day their parents would understand that they are their own selves, and that parents shouldn’t try to mold them into predetermined shapes; and parents hope that one day their children would understand all they do for their children, so that their children could avoid the challenges they faced in the past.

The tug-of-war between children and adults is embodied in Jimmy Liao’s charming and thought-provoking images and words. Both parents and children can easily recognize the awkward but also joyful feelings that their relationship brings.