Independent Reading Level: Grades 5
Awards: A Newbery Honor Book (2010)

Independent Reading Level: Grades: 2nd - 5th
Awards: John Newberry Medal (2010)

Mother/Daughter book club 9/18 10am Hills

a very pretty story about stories. I enjoyed reading this one. I loved that all of the stories had morals or lessons in them. ( )

2010 Newbery Honor
2010 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature

Hubby and I finished listening to this audiobook read by Janet Song in the car on our way to Spokane. This is a beautiful story combining various Chinese folktales (some having a Japanese equivalent that I'd heard of before, such as a red string that binds together people who are destined to meet. Probably came from China originally, though).

Janet Song has a soft Chinese accent and felt like a good choice to set the atmosphere for this story. Her different voices for the characters and her pacing kept the story engaging.

Minli goes on a journey to change her family's fortune, learning much about the magical histories of various cities and other places in the process, and coming to appreciate the importance of friendship and thankfulness. She befriends a flightless red dragon, a buffalo boy, a king, some cherubic twins, and ultimately meets the Old Man of the Moon. ( )

Inspiration from Chinese folklore

Story about young girl Minli and she goes on a hero's quest to fix and improve her family's circumstances. Her and her family live in a poor village at the bottom of a mountain. It has Chinese culture and folklore as it talks about the Jade Dragon and how it will make the fruitless/rainless mountain grow when it is reuinted with its lost-long children. Minli believes in this folklore and hopes one day her mountain, family and community can prosper and experience this.
Themes of gratitude and value.
Minli's father is the one who tells her folklore and cultural stories while her mother doesn't believe in "foolish fantasy".
Minli then leaves home and begins her journey of saving her family, inspired by these stories, by buying a goldfish for good luck. The goldfish then shows her the way to the Never-Ending Mountain to meet the Man of the Moon. She then continues on many adventures where she expereinces the "Book of fortune", "green tiger", "A-Fu" and "Da-Fu". Many mystical characters in the villages. She saves a dragon and later realizs the dragon is reunited with his mother Jade Dragon and Minli's village is growing and prosperous again.
Her life lessons were learning to be grateful for what she had, it was a reward for her good character and that hope and never giving up lead her to bring prosperity back to her village.

"What kept Minli from becoming dull and brown like the rest of the village were the stories her family told her every night at dinner." (Chapter 1, pg 3)

Minli is different and that is why she embarks on a journey of becoming a hero in the story. Going on this quest brings her challenges but helps her find joy and appreciation along the way. She learns to appreciate storytelling.

"Money must be used sometime. What use is money in a bowl?" (Chapter 3, pg 17)

Ba says this to Ma when she is getting upset at Minli for buying the goldfish with the money they gave her. This quote shows the patience and attitude of a concerned mother as the father is trying to justify and embrace Minli's choices and motives, inspired by storytelling. ( )