Where the mountain meets the moon

Lin, Grace. Where the mountain meets the moon, New York: Little, Brown and Co, 2009.

This book narrates a Chinese traditional adventure fantasy folktale story and it has won the Caldecott Medal award.

A poor girl, Minli, is living at the confluence of the Fruitless Mountain and the Jade River with her desperate parents. Her family is working in rice fields where they barely grow enough to feed themselves. Every night her father tells her stories about Jade Dragon the creature that keeps the mountain poor. only the old man of the moon can change everyone’s destiny. One day, a goldfish salesman promises that his wares will bring  good luck, Minli spends one of her only two coins in order to save her family. When her mother ridicules her foolish purchase, Minli insists to set out to find the old man of the Moon in her quest to change her family’s fortunes. The journey is full of excitement, danger, humor, magic and wisdom. Along the way of her adventure, she makes friends with the talking goldfish who gives her clues to complete her journey, a flightless dragon who becomes her partner, an orphan and other helpmates including a king.

The storyline of this book is intricately plotted and plot-driven with stylistically complex writing style and beautiful language. It received a five star rating of popularity in the  children’s book catagory.