On the very first page of the book, we learn that the land where Minli lives is “hard and poor.” Because the land is so barren, Minli, her family, and the rest of the village, too, are also poor. This poverty is Minli’s way of life, however. She accepts it.
Minli’s mother, however, bemoans their poverty. She sighs
What makes Minli different, we learn, are the stories her father tells. These stories keep her spirit alive. She doesn’t see them the way Ma does, as useless. In fact, the stories stimulate Minli’s curiosity about the world. “’So how will Fruitless Mountain ever grow green again?’” she asks her father after the first story.
Minli’s belief in the stories also creates a sense of hope. Unlike her mother, she believes the stories are true. She believes, in a naïve, child-like way, that change can happen.
The problem then is not impossible. Lin makes sure to plant a seed of hope.
In this richly textured novel about a young girl on a magical journey, Grace Lin weaves characters and stories from Chinese folklore with universal themes of independence and attachment. The heroine finds her strengths in cleverness, friendship, and daring as she discovers essential truths for herself. The delicately detailed illustrations complement and augment the narrative experience. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is as beautiful to hold and view as it is to read. -- The MassBook Judges
Learn more about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon at Grace’s website: http://www.gracelin.com/content.php?page=wherethemountainmeetsthemoon
You can download a copy of MASSBOOKS OF THE YEAR/CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE: Recommended Reading from the 10thAnnual Massachusetts Book Awards at the following link: http://www.massbook.org/MassBooks10/MustReadCYA10.pdf
The Newbery Honor is not the only award that Grace's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon has won. Last week Grace was in New York to accept the 2010 Josette Frank Award for fiction, awarded by the Bank Street College of Education. From the website:
This award is given each year to honor a book or books of outstanding literary merit in which children or young people deal in a positive and realistic way with difficulties in their world and grow emotionally and morally. In addition to being a well-known author of articles about children's books, Josette Frank was the first editor of the Children's Book Committee publications and remained a member for over sixty years.
The prize to the author of the award books has been generously provided by The Florence L. Miller Memorial Fund.
She shared this honor with
The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. The other honorees were
Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone and
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca for nonfiction, and
Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman, illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski for the picture book award. Everyone but Jacqueline Kelly was on hand to accept their award, and it was a lovely ceremony.
I know Grace was a little relieved to know that Newbery Honor winners do not give speeches, but she did have to give a few words to accept this award. And wow, what words they were. Grace seriously brought the room to tears with her heartfelt, beautifully written speech.
After all of the speeches (and to be honest, Grace wasn't the only talk that made me tear up!), the authors signed books. They were seated behind a desk with quite a bold sign, and Grace showed us what kind of rebel she is:
Grace, me, agent Rebecca Sherman, and Connie
Afterwards, the winners (and a few guests--including me!) had lunch with the committee members. It was nice hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones.
Congratulations, Grace!
We have blogged quite a bit about Grace Lin lately as her book Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was chosen as one of seven books in our Spirit of Paper Tigers Book Set and was also named a 2010 Newbery Honor Book, one of the most prestigious awards for children’s literature in the United States. Be sure to check out Grace’s blog to read about and see photos from “the Newbery call” .
One thing that I really admire about Grace is that she is so accessible to her fans via her regularly updated blog and her full schedule of book signings and school visits. This Saturday, February 20th, she will be at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, USA hosting Learn How Books Are Made with Grace Lin where she will show the many steps of publishing, read one of her books, answers questions, draw some of her book characters and sign books. After a lunch break, she will talk about Lunar New Year customs, referencing her books Bringing in the New Year and The Year of the Rat. Perhaps she will share some of the special lunar crafts that she has been making to help celebrate the Year of the Tiger (and have you made our Paper Tiger yet?). Of course, all of us at PaperTigers have a special affinity for the Year of the Tiger and so does Grace:
In my book, The Year of the Rat there is the story of the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac, which tells of the great race of the animals to win the the honor of a year named after them. The winning animals had their own characteristics as you can tell by how they they competed
The Tiger won his place by sheer strength, courage and nerve. That is why they say people who are born in the Year of the Tiger are risk-takers and brave. So, this year, the Year of the Tiger, is the year where we all have to be strong, brave and ready to take risks. It might be a bit unpredictable and surprising.
Now, I was born in the Year of the Tiger so this is MY year. But, it doesn’t mean it will be a lucky one. When it is YOUR year, it means it will be a year of important and possibly life-changing decisions. It’s the year where big things happen that change the course of your life.
Hey ho, everyone, 'tis I, the CARLMAN who has survived the Second Great Ice Age. Well, it 
wasn't really that bad, but that's how people act in Charlotte when we get the least bit of snow. There was a major holiday yesterday that had people giving gifts and going out to dinner. No, I don't mean that holiday--the one with all the kissing and pink and frilly hearts and stuff that makes a MANLY MAN cringe--I mean Chinese New Year. It began yesterday and, in its honor, I present a review of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. Today's review is from our new friend Laurence. Actually, Laurence is new to you but he lives down the street from me and is a good friend to me and my family. Let's hear what Laurence says about this book:
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin is about a girl named Minli and her family that lives in a village that is very poor and plants and harvests rice. She is so inspired by her father’s stories that she sets off on her journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to make a wish that her family and village would be wealthy, and her parents’ struggle to find her, and the people she meets along the way. Enough with the plot, let’s gossip about the pros and cons. Grace Lin used mostly everyday verbs like shocked, scared and gratefully, instead of using words like dumbfounded, petrified, and beholden to the settings, characters, and predicaments. Plus, Grace Lin did not describe the characters very well, like when she wrote that A-Fu and Da-Fu were cheerful and were little rays of sunlight, (although too much description is bad).
Now that we’ve enough of the cons, let’s go to the pros. I am bursting with pros for this sensational piece of literature. I don’t what I was thinking condemning one of my favorite novels. Okay, first, Grace Lin was eager to use fiction elements like dragons, talking fish, and a book of all the knowledge in the world and mingle it up with the non-fiction elements to spice up her story and keep page turning bound. Secondly, she had surprises throughout the novel keeping readers on the edge of their seat until the book was over. Third, (see, I told you I was bursting full of great things for this book), Grace Lin instinctively knows what readers would not understand, she explains those things with a story told by a character, therefore clarifying the subject, like when a talking fish told about the Dragon’s Gate. Fourth, (I know this is getting repetitive), Grace Lin not only wrote a piece of literature, she went beyond that, introducing readers to Chinese culture, immersing them into their ideas and traditional customs.
Okay, this is the moment you have been waiting for…overall “Where the Mountain Meets the Moon” was a hunky-dory book even though Grace Lin did not employ vivid verbs but had lots of blue-ribbon parts and details throughout the book.
Thanks, Laurence! I totally disagree with you about Grace's use of verbs and descriptions. They very vivid to me and I could picture everything she wrote. But I completely agree with your pros! This is one terrific b
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Today we are thrilled to be announcing our Spirit of PaperTigers Project, an initiative of Pacific Rim Voices, whose aim is to promote literacy while raising awareness of our common humanity. The idea is to donate 100 book sets of 7 carefully selected multicultural books to libraries and schools in areas of need across the globe.
The following titles have been selected for inclusion in the 2010 Book Set:
Planting The Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai, by Claire A. Nivola. Frances Foster Books, 2008.
First Come the Zebra, by Lynne Barash. Lee & Low, 2009.
.
Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing, by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, illustrated by Helen Cann. Barefoot Books, 2008.
The Storyteller’s Candle/La velita de los cuentos, by Lucia Gonzalez, illustrated by Lulu Delacre. Children’s Book Press, 2008.
My Little Round House, by Bolormaa Baasansuren, English adaptation by Helen Mixter. Groundwood Books, 2009.
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference, by Katie Smith Milway, illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes. Kids Can Press, 2008.
Where The Mountain Meets The Moon, by Grace Lin. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2009.
Our website currently highlights all the authors and illustrators whose books have been selected, as well as other features related to the project. Please note that we will be further exploring the particular reasons for selecting each title, here, on the blog, during the month of February.
One important aspect of the Spirit of PaperTigers project is that we will be receiving feedback from the book set recipients. In the course of the coming months, as feedback comes in, we will be posting it to the blog and the site, so everyone can find out about where the books are going and who they are reaching.
To learn more about the project and enjoy the new features, visit the website. And please help us spread the word on this exciting new venture!…
Another year has flown by and it is almost time to ring in 2010. At this time of the year we are inundated with “Best of 2009″ lists and, for those of us interested in children’s and young adults literature, there is no better place to see the literature lists than at Susan Thomsen’s blog Chicken Spaghetti. Susan has compiled a Best Children’s Books of 2009: The Big List of Lists which is truly an amazing resource and well worth your time to check it out!
In my mind 2009 was truly an outstanding year for children’s and young adult literature especially multicultural books. One of my resolutions for the year was that I would focus on reading more young adult books than adult books and I am proud to say that I succeeded! However I can’t say the same for my other resolution of keeping a list of all the books I read during the year. I’ll have to make a better attempt at that list in 2010!
Some of my highlights from 2009 were:
Wanting Mor by Rukhsana Khan
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing by Guo Yue and Clare Farrow, illustrated by Helen Cann
The Bite of the Mango by Mariatu Kamara with Susan McClelland
What about you? What did you enjoy reading in 2009? Any book related resolutions for 2010?
NBC’s The TODAY Show is the top-rated daily American morning news and talk show with over 5.5 million daily viewers. So it is especially exciting to learn that The TODAY Show has picked Grace Lin’s newest novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as their Kids Book Club December selection!
Grace blogs: I am THRILLED to announce that Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is the December selection for Al Roker’s Kids Book Club on the TODAY SHOW!!!!
I am scheduled to appear on The TODAY Show with Al Roker and the Book Club Kids on Friday, December 4th at 9:45am! Tell your friends, spread the word and send me some positive thoughts –hopefully I don’t make any social gaffes on national TV… For those of you who miss it, don’t have a TV, despise jovial weathermen, etc., I also have some new events on the schedule! There’s a couple in NYC, right before and after my interview and there is a newly scheduled book signing at the Newtonville Books (Newtonville, MA). Click here for details.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon has been receiving rave reviews and awards since it was released in June. PaperTigers was delighted to host Grace on Day 2 of her Blog Tour to celebrate its launch and we wish her every success with tomorrow’s appearance. Congratulations, Grace!
Hey, reader guys everywhere, it's Carl with an interview with the one and only Grace Lin. She's the author of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (among other terrific books) and was here for our Word Play Saturday about 10 days ago. Not only is she a great author, but she is also one of the genuinely nicest people I've ever met. But why am I talking--let's hear what Grace has to say:
Why do you think it's cool for boys to read?
I think it's cool for boys to read because that means they are exercising their brain muscles. No one wants a weak brain!
You're right about that. Our reader guys have demonstrated their pumped-up brains! Well, tell me this--is it cool for boys to write/draw? Why?
The way things are remembered is through stories. Even in video games,commercials, movies--think about it--everything is told through stories. Those are the things that are remembered.
It's cool for boys to write and draw because that means they are making stories. And that means they will be remembered. It's cool to be remembered. Who wants to be forgotten?
One of the main characters in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a dragon. Tell us about the difference between Asian dragons and those we read about in the West.
Western dragons are usually evil--they capture princesses (I'm not sure why) and knights must go kill them.Asian dragons are not evil. Asians think the dragon is a noble creature--very powerful, to be sure--but usually compassionate andwise. There are many types of dragons in Asian culture. They were usually rulers of water and weather.
A lot of the pictures in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon are in the ancient Chinese style. Was that hard to do? And what do you use to achieve that style? Brushes or something else?
I was very influenced by traditional Chinese art. It was not easy to do, but I had a lot of fun doing it. I use a paint called gouache, which is a thin watercolor, and brushed to do my work. Some of my brushes are really thin-tipped, almost as thin as an eyelash!
You live near Boston—do you see many sports? (You lucky duck—you get to see the Celtics!)
Boston is a big sports town! It is usually the Red Sox that get the most attention, but since they are out of the playoffs, I am watching the Bruins hockey team. Unfortunately, they aren't doing so well either. There's always next year!
What do you like to do for fun?
For fun, I like to ride my bike and eat things that are bad for me, like ice cream and chocolate milkshakes. And, of course, I like to read and surf the internet.
Which do you like better--cheeseburgers or pizza? What do you like on them?
I like burgers the best--w/o the cheese. But with everything else--tomato, lettuce, mayo--all that is good. On pizza, I like it with salami and spinach. I know spinach sounds weird, but it tastes good! Really!
You seem very cool. Could we make you an Honorary Guy?
Sure. Should I change my name to Greg?
No, that’s not necessary. Thanks for the interview!
We really appreciated it. Go get Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. (see my review here) It's
really good. And she're written a couple of other good novels, The Year of the Dog and The Year of the Rat. They're good too. In fact, I saw on another blog that a mom is reading The Year of the Dog to her sons and, when she tries to stop, they holler for more!
Sooooo, because of her terrific books and for being such a nice person, we are bestowing the greatest honor we have by making her an HONORARY GUY!
PaperTigers is delighted to be hosting author and illustrator Grace Lin on Day 2 of her Blog Tour to introduce her latest book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which, as Aline pointed out last week, has already received its first award! We’ll be publishing a full review in our next issue of PaperTigers… in the meantime, Grace has kindly answered some questions and shared some pictures with us.
Welcome, Grace: thank you for joining us!
In an article you once wrote called “Why Couldn’t Snow White be Chinese?”, you talk about an experience you had as a child when your school put on a production of The Wizard of Oz and you were told by a friend you couldn’t be chosen to play Dorothy because “Dorothy’s not Chinese”. How would you relate that experience to your writing of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which has been described as being written in “the Wizard of Oz tradition”?
Wow, that is a very astute observation of my work. While I did not write Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as an attempt to create an Asian Dorothy, it is probably one of the reasons why I felt so strongly that the main character needed to be a girl and why this book is an Asian-inspired fantasy (a story influenced by my Asian-American values rather than an attempt at a traditional Chinese tale).
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is very, very loosely based on the Chinese folktale “Olive Lake,” Aside from adding many layers and changing plot points, I also changed the main character from an adult male to the girl, Minli. In some ways it may have been easier to leave the character male; I would not have had to worry about how I bent /ignored some Chinese customs that inhibit women — like the fact that there is no foot binding, for example. But I very much wanted the main character to be a girl, a strong and brave and clever girl who (now that you mention it) was someone I would’ve wanted to pretend that I was as I child.
You have referred to your illustrating of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon as being “like the classic books of yore” - do you think illustrated books for independant readers are starting to be published a bit more nowadays and how important do you think they are?
I loved the illustrated Middle Grade books when I was younger and I still do. I think they add so much to the experience of reading. To me, they are perfect — they give a glimpse of visualization into the world you are reading, but not so much that you aren’t left without anything to imagine. Also, they make the experience of owning and holding a book feel that much more special — turning the page and seeing a full color illustration is almost like discovering a jewel and the book itself feels like a little treasure.
I hope these days, in the age of technology with browsers and kindles, these kinds of illustrated books will be even more cherished. With so much doom and gloom about the future of publishing, to create books that are not just cheap throw-aways, but are beautiful objects to enjoy is something to consider. It is being done; my editor was able to convince her boss to print Where the Mountain Meets the Moon with full color illustrations by using Castle Corona by Sharon Creech as an example, but it is uncommon. I’d like to see a little more of it.
And on a different tack, can you tell us a bit about your A Painting A Month project?
Well, the Small Graces project began a bit out of guilt. I do a lot of school visits. I am so grateful and honored that schools invite me. But a great portion of my income depends on the fees I receive from these visits; AND my most natural state is introverted -there are only so many visits I can do in a year without stammering incoherently. I’m kind of like a jar of marbles -every visit I do I am less one marble until I am empty. So, I can’t give away my marbles for free.
… But many times schools ask me to come for free. Most of the time it is because they can’t afford to pay me, or any author. I feel horrible that I have to say no. I realize that it isn’t fair that the only schools that get authors to visit are the ones that can afford to. Every visit I do, I can see the excitement in the students and a newfound appreciation and love of books. But, at the same time, most authors (the usually financially-strapped author) depend on school visits as a part of their job, to help support them so they can write; the reality is, people need to get paid for their work.
So that is why I decided to create the Small Graces project. It benefits The Foundation of Children’s Books, an organization that funds school visit programs for low-income schools. So, schools that usually can’t afford an author to visit get one; and the author doesn’t have to suffer financially either.
Supporting the Foundation is a win-win for everyone. Students of all incomes get wonderful programs; fellow authors are able to make a living to keep creating books; and I am alleviated of my guilt. So please bid on one of the paintings, you can be winner too!
Absolutely! The June picture has already sold but check in at the beginning of July to see what treat Grace has in store: in the meantime, browse through the gems from the first half of the year.
And before Grace wends her way to her next stop on her Blog Tour, which will be over at Mother Reader (I’ll change it to the direct link tomorrow), let me just share these three images with you - I am always fascinated by the artistic process and love to get behind the scenes. The first is a photograph Grace took of a temple in Shanghai, on which she based her beautiful illustration of the Imperial Garden in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - the second is her sketch and the third, the final illustration from the book. Stunning!
So, 1) get out there and find a copy of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon - or 2) leave a comment here: we have a copy of the book to give away following the official launch on 1 July - or 3) send us a photo of your child’s bookshelf for our Around the World in a Hundred Bookshelves, which will include a copy in next month’s draw…
And do join Grace for the Official Online Launch on July 1 - further information about the book AND the party can be found on Grace’s Party Graces blog…
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Looking for a lovely calendar for 2012? Be sure to check out award winning author/illustrator 
So I couldn’t resist picking up Ed Young’s Red Thread (Philomel Books, 1993) when I came across it recently: and it’s a wonderful story, which grows in meaning the more you read it. Wei Gu is a young man who, having been orphaned as a boy, is keen to find a wife and be part of a family. Hearing that a matchmaker is going to be in the town of Quinge, he travels there and makes sure he is at the temple good and early – in fact, he is so early that it is still dark (and here, Young’s illustrations are particularly stunning). He meets an old man, a spirit who can tell him that the red thread connecting him to his future wife leads to a three-year-old girl, and that they will marry in fourteen years time. Not only that, but they can go together to see her right there and then. However, Wei Gu is disgusted that she is apparently the daughter of vegetable sellers; and he also finds her ugly. Horrifically, he orders his servant to murder the child – but the red thread cannot be broken so easily and when Wei Gu marries fourteen years later, he discovers that the flower seed his beautiful wife always wears between her eyebrows carries a not unfamiliar story with it…
Kids officially make the greatest videos ever. Why do we bother letting grownups make movies at all?
Another wonderful video roundup, Betsy! I loved the Star Wars videos in particular.
JINX — I blogged about that shadow-puppet “Where The Mountain Meets the Moon” today too, heaping it with well-deserved praise and pairing it with a “Walk Two Moons” I received from some undergraduates at Longwood University ( http://bit.ly/ja7ql3 ). I’m getting more and more excited for this film festival!
Oh! And you even included background info on the Boogie Woogie vid. Well played, sir.
I should probably confess to you that I am using my librarian superpowers to delay the birth of your child so that she might arrive on the same date as my own. If I can make Heather late and myself earlier then my nefarious plan will come to fruition soon. Mwah-ha-ha!!