Book Review: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Last spring, just as our principal was on his way to a new job, he decided to assign Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as an all-school summer read. (I admit: I asked him if we were doing another summer reading program and that spurred him on.) He had read this one with his daughter and raved about it. This summer, as part read-aloud to my son and then by myself, I dove into this intricately-told tale based in Chinese culture of a girl who seeks good fortune by running away from home, trying to ask advice from the Old Man in the Moon.

Writer Grace Lin weaves stories inside stories here, creating a real tapestry of fiction with echoes of traditional Chinese folk tales. And there is plenty of adventure, with dragons, and evil leaders, and magical string and more. The pace of the novel is quick, making it a perfect read-aloud, and the resolution of the plot is nicely done, spinning through friendship, hope and forgiveness. I should also note that the illustrations are stunning, giving a rich Chinese texture to the story itself.

We won’t get too deep into the book when our students come back next week for a number of reasons but I want to find a good way to reference the story within the story idea, somehow. Still thinking …

Peace (in the book),
Kevin

 

One Comment
  1. We are reading this story with our 5th graders. They are loving the tales and tales within the tale. One of the ways we are connecting the tales is by using the stories from Tales from a Chinese Grandmother. Students are creating a graphic version of the story, creating a venn diagram, comparing this story to the story about the monkeys in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, writing a script for a play of this story, writing an alternate ending to the story, in the style of the Tales of a Chinese Grandmother, or researching the cultural symbolism in the story (colors, numbers, animals) and share that information in a creative way.

Leave a Reply to Michael Buist Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *