Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Grace Lin
Published by Little, Brown and Company, New York & Boston
Copyright 2009
Minli is a young girl from China who is desperate to help her mother and father bring more fortune to their family. They live with the barely enough rice to serve between the three of them. Minli finds comfort in her father's stories while her mother finds them to be misleading and unimportant. One day a man with gold fish comes through their village and tells Minli that these gold fish will bring fortune to her family. Using the little money she has, Minli buys one of these gold fish. Her mother finds it absurd that she purchased a gold fish that the family now has to share their little rice with. After considering one of the stories her father told her, she sets out on an adventure to find the Old Man of the Moon. He holds the answers to her questions about how to help her family. Minli's journey leads her down dangerous paths, encounters with dragons, and so much more. Does Minli ever find the Old Man of the Moon? If she does, do you think that she will get the answer she so longs for? To find out the reader must look to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
This text has colorful imagery and brilliant stories within the story. I personally couldn't put it down.
Reading Level: Grade 3-6; Lexile: 820L
Suggested Delivery: Whole Class Read-Aloud, Guided Reading, Independent Read
Web Resources:
Author's Site: Here is Grace Lin's website where you can learn about the author, the other children's books she's written, video interviews and previews of her books, etc. For students who have a sight impairment or have problems reading text this website also provides an audio recording of this text. Activity Book: This activity book includes interactive activities that a teacher can share with their students. Make a compass like Minli's, draw a dragon, learn more about Chinese symbolism, etc. This is a great resource to further student's engagement in the text.
The following links are examples of lesson plan and activities to share with students that will help students think inferentially about the text while also keep the students highly engaged.
Key Vocabulary:
reverence
indignant
disobedience
magistrate
subordinates
manipulation
placidly
oddity
inkstone
emissary
kowtow
penance
flamboyant
abacus
coquettish
Suggestions for Activities for Students:
Before Reading: To introduce the text a teacher could use this video link to initiate a discussion about what the students believe the text they are about to read is about. The video shows some of the illustrations within the text and this can serve as a picture walk-through. Generate a discussion about what the students believe the story is about based on the images they see in the video.
During Reading: In the back of the book the author has included a Reader's Guide. These questions will the students connect with the text as well as ask them explicit as well as implicit questions. These questions also give students the opportunity to respond to the text in a personal way. The author asks how the reader might respond to different situations that occur in the text. Have the students answer these questions as they read the text so that they will be able to make reflections about the reading as well as assess whether the students are able to comprehend what they are reading.
During Reading: In the back of the book the author has included a Reader's Guide. These questions will the students connect with the text as well as ask them explicit as well as implicit questions. These questions also give students the opportunity to respond to the text in a personal way. The author asks how the reader might respond to different situations that occur in the text. Have the students answer these questions as they read the text so that they will be able to make reflections about the reading as well as assess whether the students are able to comprehend what they are reading.
After Reading: It would be a fun idea to try out some of the activities that have students creating objects from the text. At the above link titled "Activity Book" there are a number of great hands-on activities that you can share with the students. You can create the compass that Minli used in the story, have students draw their own dragon that might just come to life from the paper, etc.
Newbery Honor, 2010
NY Times Bestseller, 2010
IndieBound Bestseller, 2010
Bank Street College of Education Josette Frank Award, 2010
Indies Choice Book Awards Finalist for Middle Reader Book of the Year, 2010
Al Roker's TODAY Show Kid's Book Club Pick, December 2009
Mythopeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, 2010
Booklist Top 10 SF/Fantasy for Youth, 2009
Parents' Choice Gold Winner, 2009
CCBC Choice List, 2010
EB White Read-Aloud Honor Book, 2010
Massachusetts Book Award for Children/Young Adult Literature, 2010
School Library Journal Review:
Starred Review. Grade 3-6–Living in the shadow of the Fruitless Mountain, Minli and her parents spend their days working in the rice fields, barely growing enough to feed themselves. Every night, Minli's father tells her stories about the Jade Dragon that keeps the mountain bare, the greedy and mean Magistrate Tiger, and the Old Man of the Moon who holds everyone's destiny. Determined to change her family's fortune, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon, urged on by a talking goldfish who gives her clues to complete her journey. Along the way she makes new friends including a flightless dragon and an orphan and proves her resourcefulness when she tricks a group of greedy monkeys and gets help from a king. Interwoven with Minli's quest are tales told by her father and by those she meets on the way. While these tales are original to Lin, many characters, settings, and themes are taken from traditional Chinese folklore. The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning. Minli's determination to help her family, as well as the grief her parents feel at her absence, is compelling and thoroughly human.–Jennifer Rothschild, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Oxon Hill, MDCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review:
*Starred Review* In this enchanted and enchanting adventure, Minli, whose name means “quick thinking,” lives with her desperately poor parents at the confluence of Fruitless Mountain and the Jade River. While her mother worries and complains about their lot, her father brightens their evenings with storytelling. One day, after a goldfish salesman promises that his wares will bring good luck, Minli spends one of her only two coins in an effort to help her family. After her mother ridicules what she believes to be a foolish purchase, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon, who, it is told, may impart the true secret to good fortune. Along the way, she finds excitement, danger, humor, magic, and wisdom, and she befriends a flightless dragon, a talking fish, and other companions and helpmates in her quest. With beautiful language, Lin creates a strong, memorable heroine and a mystical land. Stories, drawn from a rich history of Chinese folktales, weave throughout her narrative, deepening the sense of both the characters and the setting and smoothly furthering the plot. Children will embrace this accessible, timeless story about the evil of greed and the joy of gratitude. Lin’s own full-color drawings open each chapter. Grades 3-6. --Andrew Medlar
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