Ling lives in Shanghai, China, which she hates. She's from Sichuan. So when her family has to move to Shanghai because her dad took a job with the zoo, she's not happy. The kids at her school all make fun of her because of her accent and her clothes. She relates it to being from Georgia or North Carolina and moving to New York City. Although people in NYC are a lot nicer than any of her classmates. NYC people are used to diversity. They're not gonna mock an accent. So not the best comparison, but you get the drift. Country mouse moves to the city.
Ling's mystery is some pretty hardcore adult stuff. Her father is a panda expert and the Shanghai zoo hired him from the panda reserve he used to work at, because they're setting up a new panda exhibit. A developer bought a couple pandas from the reserve and so Ling, who is already obsessed with pandas, has known these two as they grew up.
There's a problem though. Something is making the pandas sick. Ling gets herself in huge trouble at the beginning of the book and struggles throughout to help her panda friends despite basically constantly risking being in huge trouble.
She befriends a homeless boy, who helps her a couple times, including saving her life. Twice. There's also a mean girl and some red herrings before the villain is revealed.
The book is pretty solid, but also a bit over the top, so the believability is less than Gia's was. Although I think the writing is better in Ling's. Gia's second book had a point where the characters acted out of character and weren't believable in order to get the story where it needed to be. Ling's book doesn't have that problem, but to have an 11-year-old be almost killed twice in her mystery book is a little too much for me.
Ling is a really likeable character. She's got her own funky style and doesn't try to change herself to fit in at school. The bullying is ridiculous, considering even the teacher participates in it, but I do give the author points for not making the mean girl change her ways. She and Ling still hate each other at the end of the book.
Like Gia, Ling's book got a new cover design when the dolls got new outfits. I actually prefer the new cover because her hair matches the doll's, whereas the first cover did not. The doll did come with white stockings, too, like in the art, but I removed them when I got her.
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