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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

By: Grace Lin

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Books for Young Readers
Copyright: 2009

Genre: Fantasy; Folk Literature

Summary: Minli, a young girl from a poor Chinese family, goes on a quest to find the
Old Man of the Moon to ask for a way to change her family’s fortune. Along the way she
meets some interesting characters who all help her in some way. During her search,
she learns many stories of traditional Chinese folklore that all tie together to help her on
her quest.

Book Talk: If you like books about dragons, magic, and brave children who make a
real difference, you must read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Minli and her
mother and father live in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain, a place in China where life is
difficult and not even hard work can make it better. When Minli decides to set her
goldfish free because there is not enough food to feed it, the goldfish tells her how she
can find the Old Man of the Moon and ask him how to change her family’s fortune.
Along the way, she meets a dragon who cannot fly, a vicious green tiger, a brave boy
whose only friend is the Goddess of Weaving, and a kind king who has a knack for
magic. Will Minli find the Old Man of the Moon? Is he even real? Full of adventure and
surprises, this book is a real page-turner!

Author’s Biographical Sketch:
Grace Lin is a an author and an illustrator of children’s books. She lives in
Massachusetts and regularly visits China to learn more of her Asian heritage.
http://www.gracelin.com/

Other books written by the author:
Bringing in the New Year
Dim Sum for Everyone
Fortune Cookie Fortunes
The Jade Necklace
Kite Flying
Ling & Ting: Not Exactly the Same
Lissy Doll

Lissy’s Friends
Olvina Flies
Olvina Swims
Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes
The Red Dragon: A Book of Colors
The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale
Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Autumn-Moon Festival
The Ugly Vegetables
The Year of the Dog
The Year of the Rat

Challenging Words:
p 2 impulsive; meager
p 4 reverence
p 6 drought; famine, indignant, anguish
p 9 impractical
p 11 grueling; painstakingly
p 15 enviously
p 17 resentfully
p 18 magistrate
p 19 subordinates; ruthless; pitiless; wrath; coveted; imperial; inquiries; brocade;
placidly; indifference; infuriated
p 20 engrossed; scoffed
p 21 embroidered; destined
p 22 dumbfounded
p 23 make amends; acquainted; oddity
p 27 ruefully
p 28 enthralled; despaired
p 31 obedient
p 41 sparingly
p 42 plaintively
p 45 fatigue
p 46 gaped; brilliant
p 48 lychee nuts
p 51 inkstone; magnificent
p 52 subdued; conceited; self-important; commissions; flaunt; authority
p 53 procession
p 54 tribute; undertone; uttered
p 57 leering
p 60 slivering; haggard

p 61 careworn; inexplicably
p 62 exclamations
p 63 aromas; delicacies; ornate
p 66 indebted; typhoon
p 70 nimble; maneuver
p 72 clamoring
p 80 multicolored
p 81 bellowing; exaggerated; emissary
p 82 esteem; rivals; encrusted
p 84 flailing
p 86 deceive
p 89 inlet
p 92 tiered; placards
p 93 intricately
p 95 scalloped; majestic; splendor
p 98 commonplace occurrence; gruff
p 99 loomed; daunting task; quaked
p 100 wry look
p 101 lingering
p 103 meager
p 107 lumbering
p 109 vaguely mocking attitude
p 112 listen intently
p 119 arrays of tempting food
p 122 stingy
p 123 cascaded; luscious
p 124 shrivel; glint
p 126 discarded
p 127 radiant; pavilions
p 128 kowtow; benefactor
p 130 commune with the moon; decisively; courtiers
p 132 massaged
p 133 expectantly; elaborately carved gingko wood
p 137 grimly; bestowed
p 139 cherished treasure; decipher
p 141 ancestor; unprincipled
p 142 serene expression
p 143 scrutinizing
p 145 attained, scrutinizing
p 146 corrupt

p 147 turbulent; violent outbursts
p 148 pleading; consulting
p 149 direst of circumstances; renounced; exiled; fracture
p 152 seeped
p 153 garden pagoda
p 154 brocade; mosaic
p 155 prods
p 157 barren
p 158 stark
p 160 wavered
p 163 malevolence; malicious
p 165 flustered
p 166 disrupting; misshapen
p 168 panicked gestures; cowered
p 169 immense
p 170 pathetic
p 171 feeble; seething with fury; beckoning
p 173 smirked; faltered
p 180 winced; grimace
p 188 crimson
p 191 slightly appalled; intertwined
p 195 vile
p 197 mangled
p 198 vulnerable
p 199 pay penance
p. 202 devotion
p 204 hospitality
p 212 chrysanthemum
p 217 gorge
p 218 chagrined
p. 226 luminously
p 228 immortality; potent; heralded; flattery; impetuously
p 229 fawning over; evading eyes; blustered; chaos; flamboyant
p 230 agitated
p 233 quivered
p 236 limitless
p 238 silhouette
p 239 thrived; flourished; reaped
p 240 apprentice; tumbledown; abacus
p 241 decline; misgivings

p 242 aspired
p 248 careworn
p 252 begrudged
p 253 stifling
p 254 vowing; compassion
p 256 unyielding
p 261 labyrinth; trinkets
p 262 coquettish
p 265 sparse; translucent; muting; luminous
p. 267 brocade
p 269 lushness; nurturing
p 272 frolicking
p 273 indulgently; prosperity
p 276 lattice-patterned; enclosure

Discussion Questions:
1. Minli enjoys listening to her father’s stories. Do you have any family stories that
you enjoy hearing again and again?

2. When the Goldfish man sold Minli the goldfish do you think he was taking
advantage of her? Explain.

3. Why did Ma say that it was Ba’s fault that Minli left? Do you think she was right?
Explain your answer.

4. Did you think that Ma and Ba made the right decision when they stopped
searching for Minli? Explain.

5. Why do you think the king pretended to be a beggar?

6. Why do you think the villagers cut up their own clothes to make Minli a warm
coat?

7. Why do you think Ma wanted to hear Ba’s story about the Dragon’s pearl?

8. Why do you think the Old Man of the Moon only let Minli ask one question?
What question would you have asked? Why?

9. Would you have been brave enough to go on a journey such as Minli’s? Why or
why not?

10. What are some of the lessons that Minli learned along her way? Choose one to
discuss in detail.

11. How did Minli’s absence help her family? Even if Minli didn’t return with good
fortune, do you think her parents would have been happier than when she left?
Why or why not?

12. How do you think life on the mountain changed after Minli returned?

13. Which folktale within the text is your favorite? Why?

14. Who is your favorite character? Why?

15. How does Minli change from the beginning to the end of the book? Why?

16. How does Ma change from the beginning to the end of the book? Why?

17. What is the theme of the book? Explain your answer.

Suggested Activities:

1. Compare Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to Jack and the Beanstalk and other
fairy tales.

English/Language Arts
4.3.1 Describe the differences of various imaginative forms of literature, including fantasies,
fables, myths, legends, and other tales.
5.3.6 Evaluate the meaning of patterns and symbols that are found in myth and tradition by using
literature from different eras and cultures.
6.3.1 Identify different types (genres) of fiction and describe the major characteristics of each
form

2. Study and compare the characters of Ma and Ba. Create a Venn diagram
comparison of their character traits. Create additional Venn diagrams to show how they
remained the same or changed over the course of the story.

English/Language Arts
4.3.3 Use knowledge of the situation, setting, and a character's traits, motivations, and feelings to
determine the causes for that character's actions.
5.3.3 Contrast the actions, motives, and appearances of characters in a work of fiction and
discuss the importance of the contrasts to the plot or theme.

6.3.2 Analyze the effect of the qualities of the character on the plot and the resolution of the
conflict.

3. Find a short folk tale in a book or on one of the websites listed below. Practice and
tell it to an audience. Alternatively, write your own adventure for Minli and tell it to an
audience. Have her find something that will help her when she returns to her village. Be
sure to include a story for the item like the author did in the book.

English/Language Arts
4.7.9 Engage the audience with appropriate words, facial expressions, and gestures
5.7.4 Select a focus, organizational structure, and point of view for an oral presentation
5.7.13 Emphasize points in ways that help the listener or viewer follow important ideas and
concepts
6.7.4 Select a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view, matching the purpose,
message, and vocal modulation (changes in tone) to the audience
6.7.7 Use effective timing, volume, tone, and alignment of hand and body gestures to sustain
audience interest and attention
6.7.10 Deliver narrative presentations that:
• establish a context, plot, and point of view.
• include sensory details and specific language to develop the plot and character.
• use a range of narrative (story) devices, including dialogue, tension, or suspense

4. Find another book of fiction where the main character sets out on a quest, as Minli
did. To find such a book, simply type the search term: “quest” into your online library
catalog. Compare and contrast the two books. How are they the same? How are they
different? Consider the characters, setting, plot, and theme.

English/Language Arts
4.3.2 Identify the main events of the plot, including their causes and the effects of each event
on future actions, and the major theme from the story action.
4.3.3 Use knowledge of the situation, setting, and a character’s traits, motivations, and feelings
to determine the causes for that character’s actions.
4.3.4 Compare and contrast tales from different cultures by tracing the adventures of one
character type. Tell why there are similar tales in different cultures.
5.3.3 Contrast the actions, motives, and appearances of characters in a work of fiction and
discuss the importance of the contrasts to the plot or theme.
6.3.6 Identify and analyze features of themes conveyed through characters, actions, and
images.

5. As you read, pay attention to the various foods mentioned in the text. Go to this site:
http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/curriculum/monkey/food/ and click on Symbolism in
Chinese Food. Based on what you learn, write a brief explanation as to why you think
the author included that particular food in the story at that time.

Language Arts

5.3.5 Describe the function and effect of common literary devices, such as imagery,
6.3.7 metaphor, and symbolism.
Explain the effects of common literary devices, such as symbolism, imagery, or
metaphor, in a variety of fictional and nonfictional texts.

Life Skills:
Friendship
Problem Solving
Cooperation
Trustworthiness

Related Internet Sites:

Activity Guide
http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?page=wherethemountainmeetsthemoon&display=
activities

Lesson plan for creating your own Chinese folktale
http://www.teachnet-lab.org/miami/2003/mgil/Chinese_Folktales.htm

Stories from Chinese Classical Literature
http://www.chinapage.com/story/story.html

Folk Tales from China
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/china.html

Stories and Readers Theater Scripts of Chinese Folktales
http://www.aaronshep.com/indexes/geography.html#China

Symbolism in Chinese Food
http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/curriculum/monkey/food/

Ancient Chinese Tales
http://china.mrdonn.org/stories.html