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Book Review: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

Posted by Lahni in Challenges | Children | Newbery - (1 Comments)

mountainmoonWhere the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Read for: Newbery Honour Book 2010, Global Reading Challenge – China, Asia

This is the third in my quest to read all the Newbery Honour Books and the Newbery winner from 2010.  To be honest, I don’t think this one is at the same level as the other two I’ve read.  I enjoyed it, but it just doesn’t compare to the first two.

This one reads like a fairy tale or a fable (I should sign up for Once Upon a Time – this would be a perfect read!) but it also contains other tales within the text.  I believe that most of these are based on traditional chinese folktales.  Minli, a young girl who loves stories, lives in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain – a mountain that will allow nothing to grow.  Of course there is a story to explain the fruitlessness of the mountain!  Minli’s mother is unhappy with their fortunes and isn’t afraid to let it be known.  So Minli decides to go in search of the Old Man of the Moon to ask him to improve their fortunes.  As she journeys she meets many people who all have lessons to teach her.

I actually did enjoy the story and the lessons contained within it but I’m not sure it’s all that great for children.  I don’t know if it’s just because I read it over a longer period than I normally read a book or if I was just distracted this week, but I found the tales within the story caused confusion.  I’m just not sure a child would be able to follow and make the connections between the tales and the main storyline.

I did love the illustrations though.  You can see that the cover is beautiful and there were several colour illustrations in the book that are gorgeous.  Over all, I liked the book but I’m not sure I agree with it’s being included as a Newbery Honour Book this year.

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Peony in Love by Lisa See

Posted by Lahni in General Fiction - (0 Comments)

I just finished reading Peony in Love by Lisa See.  It’s about a young Chinese woman (Peony) just before she is to be married in an arranged marriage.  She has never met the man who is to become her husband.  As the book begins, Peony’s father has staged a performance of an opera called The Peony Pavilion.  Peony is obsessed by this opera and has read it several times and in fact the opera plays a central role in the rest of the story.  During the performance, Peony wanders through the family garden and meets a young man with whom she immediately falls in love.  Her love for the young man and her obsession with the opera lead to a circumstance that was completely unexpected for me, but based on other parallels is really quite predictable.  The story continues as Peony learns to deal with her new situation and spends several years trying to right a wrong that was done to her.

What I find so amazing about this book is that the author based much of the story on historical fact, and in fact Peony was a real person.  To fully enjoy this book, I had to set aside my own religious beliefs and accept Chinese beliefs as fact.  It was interesting to be able to see some of these through new eyes.  I tend to look at a lot of these rites and ceremonies as superstitious and backward and it was refreshing to be able to view them differently.  I really enjoyed reading this book and would definitely recommend it!

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