Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, by Grace Lin, is a Newbery Honor award book about a Chinese girl who lives in a small village that is overshadowed by a barren mountain. The mountain seems to cast a shadow of bad fortune over the people of the village. But when a goldfish seller arrives in the town, claiming that one’s fortune will change with the purchase of a goldfish, Minli uses one of her precious coins to bring a fish into her home. Her mother is clearly disappointed, which sends Minli on a quest to find the Old Man on the Moon so she can discover how to change her family’s fortune. She is, of course, transformed by the people she meets on her journey.
This books begins in a most intriguing way: like a Chinese fairy tale. Here’s the first line:
“Far away from here, following the Jade River, there was once a black mountain that cut into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal. The villagers called it Fruitless Mountain because nothing grew on it and birds and animals did not rest there.”
The language of the story continues on in that same way: minimal, sparse, giving only the necessary details and focusing more on the stories that characters would tell in their oral tradition. The cast of characters was wide and diverse, the stories were plentiful and entertaining and the illustrations were absolutely beautiful. The adventure ends on a sweet, wholesome note, which can be summed up with this quote, where Minli is talking to a dragon about the question she asked the Old Man on the Moon:
“Fortune was not a house full of gold and jade, but something much more. Something she already had and did not need to change. ‘I didn’t ask the question,’ Minli said again and smiled, ‘because I don’t need to know the answer.'”
My favorite parts of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon were the stories within the stories. They reminded me of old Chinese folklore and were perfect for creating engagement for the places where the action slowed a little. They lent the book an old, familiar feel. I’m looking forward to sharing this one with my boys and also checking out Lin’s other middle grade books, one of which released in October of last year.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon would make a great read-aloud.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this book recommendation. Be sure to visit my recommendation page if you’re interested in seeing some of my best book recommendations. And, if you’re looking for some new books to read, stop by my starter library, where you can get a handful of my books for free.
*The books mentioned above have affiliate links attached to them, which means I’ll get a small kick-back if you click on them and purchase. But I only recommend books I enjoy reading myself. Actually, I don’t even talk about books I didn’t enjoy. I’d rather forget I ever wasted time reading them.
