Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a children’s fantasy book written and illustrated by Grace Lin. It was published in 2009 and received a 2010 Newbery Honor and the 2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature (“Where the Mountain Meets the Moon”).
After seeing the negative effects of poverty on her parents, Ma and Ba, a young girl named Minli leaves home to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. However, as she makes new friends on her quest, she realizes that the key to changing her family's fortune is not what she expects.
The folklore within the book is interesting, and the illustrations are beautiful and vibrant.
I liked Minli and her concern for her family. She has good character development. She thinks she needs wealth for her and her family to be happy. But she meets others who are happy and content with what they have. This makes her wonder why they are so content and clashes with her belief.
I liked how Lin includes the parents, Ma and Ba, into the story and how they change within the story. They worry about Minli but must learn to trust and have faith in her. In most children’s books, I have read, the child’s parents are either dead, abusive, or absent. So it was refreshing to read a children’s story that had parents who have their own character arcs and who care for their child. That is one of my favorite aspects of this book.
Minli’s mother, Ma, has good character development as well. In the beginning, she is a bitter, angry woman who grumbles about their poverty, but as the story progresses, she begins to reflect on her behavior. At first, I was annoyed by her, but as she changed, I became happy for her.
I liked the other characters Minli meets, such as the Buffalo Boy and the dragon. Dragon is a good friend to Minli and the Buffalo Boy is helpful and kind to Minli as well.
One thing I questioned is the parent’s choice to wait for their daughter to return after she leaves. They decide to trust that Minli will return and be okay in part because they do not know where she went. However, I think parents in real life would search everywhere for their child whether they knew where they went or not.
One of the messages of the book is that one must practice thankfulness. It is then that they will be happy and content. From a Christian perspective, this does have some truth. The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7, NKJV). Minli and her Ma are anxious about their poverty. This can reflect how we can be anxious about certain things in our lives. However, as Christians, we must count our blessings and give glory to God for them. This can help renew our minds, allowing us to see things in a better and clearer light. The book shows the importance of thankfulness and focuses on being thankful for one’s family and friends. Being thankful for the kind, loving people around you is good, and we should praise God for those things, but we should also be thankful that He is in our lives and that He loves us.
I would recommend this book for children around eight to twelve, to readers who enjoy Chinese folklore, and for those who like reading Grace Lin's stories.
Work Cited
“Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 March 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Mountain_Meets_the_Moon#:~:text=Where%20the%20Mountain%20Meets%20the%20Moon%20is%20a%20fantasy%2Dadventure,Fantasy%20Award%20for%20Children's%20Literature.
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