Review #17: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Bibliography

Lin, Grace.  2009.  WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON.  New York:  Little, Brown.  ISBN  9780316114271

Summary

Minli, a girl living a in a barren, impoverished village learns from a magic goldfish of a possible way to make the village’s land green and undertakes a journey in search of the Old Man of the Moon, who may be able to help. 

Analysis

Inspired by Chinese folk legends, this story incorporates versions of numerous such stories within the narrative.  The characters are all broadly drawn in the manner of traditional stories, but are far from flat or dull.  The story moves quickly through a series of vividly described settings, with many odd incidents and occasional humor, to a satisfying ending and a moral point made in a graceful, not overly didactic fashion.

The book is richly illustrated, with several colorful pages showing scenes that resemble images from traditional Chinese paintings and tapestry.  Each chapter also has a header illustration in the style of a woodcut or Chinese ink painting.  Reminiscent at times of Maxfield Parrish’s famous illustrated Arabian Nights, the illustrations place the book in a great tradition of illustrated works for children.   

The only real quibble with the story is the way the main narrative is interrupted every few pages when one character or another takes time out to tell a story.  The stories are usually interesting and relevant to the narrative, but the device is used so often that it becomes a bit tiresome.  A better integration of the material in the stories with the main narrative would have made the story flow more naturally and smoothly. 

Still, this is overall a wonderful story that richly deserves to be a Newbery Honor Book.  It will please any reader interested in fantastic journeys and myths and legends where anything can happen and the imagination has free reign.

Review Excerpt

“Lovely full-page illustrations in blues, reds, greens, and luminous golds as well as delicate chapter openers, all inspired by traditional Chinese art, contribute to this original, folklore-inspired fantasy’s sense of timelessness.”  Horn Book

Connections

Fold sheets of 8 ½ by 11 paper in half to make four-page “booklets.”  Invite each student to select one of the stories that characters in Lin’s book tell and draw a short comic-book adaptation of that story.  Alternatively, invite students to use illustrations from the book as story starters for a comics or non-comics story.