Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Author: Grace Lin
In honor of AAPI (Asian-American Pacific Islander) month, I’m going to review a book that features not only AAPI characters but is written by an AAPI author as well. The author, Grace Lin, also illustrated the book, and her artwork in the book is very lovely! I really hope you’ll check this book out so you can add more diverse books to your own personal book collection!
[Just an FYI: The book jacket is gorgeous but I felt like I needed to cover up a small bit of it since the name of the store this book came from is on the front of it.]
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is about a young girl, Minli, who lives with her Ma and Ba in the very poor Village of Fruitless Mountain. Ba likes to tell Minli stories which, according to him, aren’t true but Minli believes that these stories are real. Ma hates these stories and spends her time feeling bitter about her family’s misfortune; so Minli decides to leave her village to look for Never-Ending Mountain, where the Old Man of the Moon lives so that she can ask him how to change her family’s misfortune. And let’s just say that Minli meets some interesting characters along the way! This very well-written book has great characters, lots of whimsical fantasy (talking goldfish and dragons anyone?!), beautiful illustrations, and it weaves a bunch of stories from Chinese mythology in as well. In the past, I haven’t usually been a huge fan of mythology in general (though I’m changing in this regard), but I really enjoyed Lin’s take on myths. I also really loved Minli’s character and I really relate to her in some ways (like how we both have huge imaginations and how we want to make things better for others). Some parts of the book might be confusing but by the end things make sense. There are also two companion novels you can check out after you read this: Starry River of the Sky and When the Silver Turned to Sea. I read the former companion novel a while back and I honestly regret reading it before I read this one (it had some good elements but wasn’t nearly as good as Where the Mountain Meets the Moon). Overall, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a beautiful and well-written take on Chinese mythology.
2 Comments
Tiger
Thank you for highlighting this one, Evangeline, especially this month! I’ve read this book already, and I loved it a lot! I had never heard of Lin before reading this book of hers and, even though I’m an “adult” reading a book intended for younger people probably, I enjoyed the story so very much. Her writing style is quite elegant and you’re right about her illustrations being lovely (loved those too!). I also loved the different things about traditional Chinese culture that are mentioned in the book, like different foods (yes I’m a real foodie!) and family traditions and ways of looking at life. And I loved how Lin pulled everything together in the end; I had a hard time seeing how she was going to do that during different parts of the book but she certainly did. Also, is it just me, or wouldn’t this book make a fantastic movie or animated series? I thought that the whole time I was reading it!
EvangelineFiles
Hello! I’m glad that you enjoyed the book! It’s definitely one of the best modern-day children’s books! I definitely think the book would be great as a series! (I guess it could be a movie too but I’m thinking animated series personally). Apple TV+ might be a good service to give the rights to since they’re making a lot of cartoons based on children’s books lately (like Harriet the Spy and El Deafo to name a few). That’s my opinion at least. Thanks for reading!