Title: Where The Mountain Meets The Moon
Author: Grace Lin
Illustrator: Grace Lin
Publisher: Little, Brown Company for Young Readers
Year Published: 2009
Format: Hard Cover
Genre: Newberry Award Winner
Reading Level: Assisted Reader/ Self Reader
Reading Interest Level: Elementary School- Middle School
Topics: Adventure, family relationships
Summary: Minli is a young girl who is an only child in a very poor family in China. She helps her parents work hard in the fields all day long every day. At night her father loves to tell her stories, but her mother is full of sighs and complaints about their hard life. One day, to help find fortune for her beloved parents, Minli sets off to seek out a character from one of her father's tales known as the Old Man in the Moon. To find him, she must travel far away to the Never Ending Mountain. Along the way she meets a dragon who longs to fly, an orphaned shepherd boy, and a prince, and befriends them all. In return, they help her solve some riddles and help her find her way. In the meantime, Minli's parents are desperate for her return, but her father's stories and a talking goldfish help them cope, and Minli finds a different kind of fortune than she expected.
Extension Activity: Since this book deals with mainly with family relations I would have the children do a family portrait and then explain to the class one characteristic about each of their family members. This would allow the children to learn more about different races and also help them widen their vocabulary through the use of multiple describing words.
