Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Review by Rujul Pandya
By: Grace Lin
278 pages
Minli is determined to change her family and village's fate, but what will she face in order to do so?
Summary
Minli lives in the poor valley of fruitless mountain. The mountain has no abilities to grow any type of crops. She and her family barely have enough food to get through the day, without the worry of having to get through the next day of hard work. The people will get up early before the sun rises and tend to their crops all day. Minli doesn't mind working because it means that after she will get to listen to the tales her father tells her, which she adores. Then her practical mother gets tired of barely being able to meet their necessities, so when MInli wastes money on a fish she loses it. MInli then set out on a journey, trying to persevere through and change her fate, no matter what. She had always believed in her dad's stories, so she foes to find the Old Man of the Moon, who controls everything. Meeting many soon to be friends and her best friend, a dragon. This journey changes the fate of not only her family, but the whole village's. The fruitless mountain was now the fruitful mountain.
Minli and her family
Minli has a great love for her family. This is a picture of them embracing each other.
The mountain
This is the mountain that Minli changed as the result of her astounding adventure.
Dragon's tale
This is a picture of how the Magistrate Tiger added Dragon's two eyes.
Theme
The theme of this delightful tale is courage, determination, and following your heart. Minli is determined to change her fate and please her mother,courageous enough to start the journey all alone, and follows her heart by asking the Old Man of the Moon the one question she thought was the most important. We should use these life skills to take us farther in life. We should be courageous to stand up for what we believe in. To find out what we believe in though makes us follow our hearts, like Minli. When we finally stand up and follow our heart we must be determined to follow our goal through, no matter what. We should persevere through the difficulties and slide through the simple areas. All in all though we should have the fire inside of us to feel the courage, determination, and what our heart desires, like MInli did, because without a reason to pull these traits out we are always hiding them deep inside of us.
Point of view
this book was written in a third person point of view.