Review of the Day: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

I have long been a fan of bibliographies and lists of books. I have collected quite a few over the decades. Related to book lists, in early October, the next meeting of the Around the World Book Club will be about mountains. Everyone picks their own book connected to the topic. Being the ambitious member of the group that I am, I have already read one book on the topic.

Grace Lin’s book is a middle grade (books for kids 8-12) novel about a girl in China on a quest. Lin says [the book] “is a fantasy inspired by the Chinese folktales that enchanted me in my youth and the land and culture that fascinates me in my adulthood” (p. 282). The story goes something like the following. A poor girl named listens to many tales her Ba (father) tells her about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli believes these stories must be true and goes on a quest to find the old man and ask him to change her family’s fortunes. Along the way, Minli meets an assorted cast of characters including a dragon and a talking goldfish and, yes, completes her quest. Much of the book is filled with short tales told by characters that Minli meets with titles like “The Story the Girl Told the Green Tiger” and “The Story of the Paper of Happiness”.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it. Whether or not I decide this is the book I share with my book club I am not sure yet. I am thinking I might also read something by Ivan Doig to have another option.

library hardcover. 282 pgs. 3 September 2025.

QOTD: Do you have a favorite book set in the mountains?