Review: WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON by Grace Lin

Lin, Grace. 2009. Where the mountain meets the moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 9780316114271.

PLOT SUMMARY:
Minli is a young Chinese girl who lives in a poor farming community with a discontented mother and a father who loves stories. Despite the economical hardship that her family faces, Minli remains happy and lively because of her love for her father’s stories. Eventually, however, her mother’s dissatisfaction with their lot prompts Minli to pursue fortune for her family by seeking the advice of the “Old Man of the Moon.” Her quest leads her to talking fish, a faithful dragon, and a slew of kind and helpful strangers. Through her journey, Minli learns the secret to changing her family’s fortune.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
This is a wonderful book. It may or may not be one that I read repeatedly throughout my life (too early to tell), but it will be one that sticks in my mind. The story, characters, illustrations, and design of the book are beautiful and memorable. The vibrant full-color illustrations are enchantingly peculiar. The bold colors and skewed perspective of the illustration depicting the Magistrate finishing the dragon painting (p. 56) reminded me of Van Gogh’s The Night Café. The scarcity of the full-page illustrations (only 8 in the 279 page book) makes each one a treat.

The smaller, single color illustrations used at the start of each chapter as part of the book’s overall design helps set the tone. Although the entire book has the feeling of a folk tale, the stories told within the book are set apart by a simple change in typeface and by individual titles for each story (“The Story of the Goldfish Man”). Kudos to the book designer, Alison Impey. In my opinion, she made this book into a work of art.

Getting back to the story, Lin’s characters are distinctive and charming. Accomplishing that task seems especially impressive after considering that nearly everyone who helps Minli on her journey is good, cheerful, and contented. One would think that the characters would eventually start to blend together and become bland. However, each is unique. Some are wise and reflective, some are relaxed and starry-eyed, and others are naïve and mischievous. One character, the magistrate, is condemned as the villain of the story. His defeat comes suddenly and completely. The mother spends the first half of the book as a crabby, complaining nag. However, she is given the chance to realize her mistakes and gain forgiveness from her husband and daughter. Although I generally find it annoying when a book concludes with an idyllic ending, the fairy tale mood of this book makes it completely acceptable that the good characters are all rewarded and the bad one is punished.

In an author’s note at the end of the book, Lin tells the reader, “By the age of eleven, I had fully disregarded my Asian heritage.” Fortunately for her future readers, she found a renewed interest that heritage through Chinese folktales and fairy tales. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a culmination of Lin’s reimagining and expanding of those folktales. Adding authenticity to Lin’s work is the list of books that inspired this novel.

There are some aspects of the book that reflect her “Asian-American sensibilities,” such as in Minli’s name. On the Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast blog (7/22/09), Lin relates the difficulty she choosing a name, mentioning that most Chinese names for girls emphasize beauty and passivity. However, even in this search for a name that suited her spirited heroine, she rejected the impulse to go against tradition. She originally considered the name “Cai,” meaning colorful, but decided against it because it is not a traditional Chinese girl name.

REVIEWS:
School Library Journal: “The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning. Minli's determination to help her family, as well as the grief her parents feel at her absence, is compelling and thoroughly human.”

CONNECTIONS:
Incorporate this book into a school-age storytime by reading one of the tales told within the book. Each one stands up well on its own, but is short enough to hold kids’ attention. This can be used in a general folktale-themed storytime or in a program dedicated to Asian literature.