A review by research_department
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

hopeful informative reflective relaxing

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

Stats: middle grades fantasy inspired by Chinese folklore, multiple third person POV/past tense

I’ll preface my review by saying that I haven’t read any middle grade books in many, many years.  I am not the target audience for this book, which might account for some of my quibbles.

Minli, a plucky young girl, accompanied by a flightless dragon (named Dragon), is on a quest to ask The Old Man of the Moon how to change her family’s fortune.  We simultaneously see how her parents are coping with her absence.  Throughout, small stories, modeled on folktales,  are liberally interspersed in the framing story which also has the character of a folktale.  This structure made it difficult to really connect at first, and I really only started to enjoy this once I was a third of the way in.  On her journey, Minli meets several charming and wise characters, ranging from an orphan boy to a king.  Meanwhile, we also see her parents’ growth while she is gone.  Several moral messages are delivered, including the value of relationships and the evil of greed; I just wish the messaging had been a little bit more light handed.  Perhaps that’s an unfair criticism given the age of the intended audience.   Despite the criticisms, I found this book quietly lovely.