Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

I read this book as a suggestion from the group Into the Forest.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin is a wonderful story that ties in elements of traditional Chinese Folk Tales. The story centers around a girl named Minli who lives at the base of Fruitless Mountain. Her family and town are poor in finances, but her life is rich in the stories her father tells. One night, Minli decides to leave her home. She plans to find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him to change her family's fortune. Along the way she encounters new lands, and a range of exciting characters.

While it is geared towards middle schoolers, this story is an exciting read that can be entertaining for all ages. I flew through it in a little over a day. I loved the characters, specifically the Buffalo boy, and Dragon. The story was not too fast, nor too slow. It continuously circled back to Minli's parents. That is a rarity in children's stories.

If you are looking for something fun and quick, this is a great choice.

I teach. I'm supposed to be up to date on my children's books, but I've had a long line of grown-up books I've been plowing through this summer, and now suddenly it's August and there's going to be children in my neat, perfect classroom in a couple of weeks and I need something new to read to them, STAT! Last year, my teaching partner recommended this book to me, and now I have to write her a letter of gratitude. This is definitely going to be one of my read-aloud's this year.

Good books sometimes have bad covers, but good covers are usually good books too, and this one gripped me with the visual right away. A modern writer working in the Chinese fantasy paradigm with dragons? That is all sorts of in my wheelhouse. But wait, there's more. Grace Lin takes the opportunity of the journey of Minli to reinterpret a dozen or so class Chinese folk tales, something that my classroom library is sadly missing and something I would struggle to get my students to pick up to begin with.

Lin's style is my favorite thing about this book. The voice narrating this tale perfectly complements the content, a high-fantasy Narrator archetype who is nevertheless easy to read and understand. Her language is mixed and stoked with vivid imagery that makes this strange world entirely palpable. The story flows from Minli's journey through the hidden stories and ties each one together with satisfying neatness. Indeed, it isn't hard at all to believe this is story right out of the Old Man of the Moon's book, held together with perfect read thread. Lin's stories are not true re-tellings, but her own fantastic interpretations without the history or politics of many of the original tales.

It's an opportunity to teach kids about re-reading, prediction, symbolism, metaphor, and diversity all in one. I'm very eager to share this book with my class and fellow teachers. I read it over the course of two days, so it doesn't take long acquaint yourself with. Highly recommended for anyone with a love of folktales and a taste for a good hero's journey. Short chapters and fast pacing make it an ideal read-aloud novel.