Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
by Grace Lin
★ Top 25 book of 2009 · #19 on Best Books of 2009
This fantasy adventure for young readers draws on Chinese folklore and comes with illustrations by its author. It earned a Newbery Honor and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature, both in 2010.
Best for: Young readers who enjoy folklore-inspired fantasy adventures with illustrations
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar.
What Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is about
Minli is a ten-year-old girl with a quick, eager spirit who lives in the poor Village of Fruitless Mountain, where the land is hard and dry. She loves the stories her father, Ba, tells at the dinner table, while her mother, Ma, finds them nonsense and is bitter about their poverty. Hoping to change her family's luck, Minli buys a talking goldfish, which points her toward Never-Ending Mountain and the Old Man of the Moon, who can say how to bring good fortune.
Along the way she frees a dragon who cannot fly and becomes her friend, and she meets dangers and kindnesses in equal measure. This children's fantasy follows a ten-year-old girl named Minli on a journey to change her family's fortune. The tone is whimsical and warm, with stories nested inside stories. It will delight young readers, and anyone who enjoys a tale about gratitude, friendship and family.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon on the Best Books of 2009
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon came out in 2009. Of the 42 books first published in 2009 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #19 on our Best Books of 2009 list.
Why it made the list: 240 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (15 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2009 list
- Drive Daniel H. Pink, #17
- Fallen (Fallen #1) Lauren Kate, #18
- 1Q84 村上春樹, #20
- The Magicians Lev Grossman, #21
See all Best Books of 2009 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2008 Best Books of 2010.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 210 want to read it, 10 are reading it now and 20 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 from 15 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 45 | 55% |
| Reader love | 88 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 36 | 20% |
Questions about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
When was Where the Mountain Meets the Moon published?
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin was first published in 2009.
Was Where the Mountain Meets the Moon one of the best books of 2009?
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 2009, out of 42 2009 books that cleared our data bar. 240 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (15 ratings).
Why is Where the Mountain Meets the Moon on the Best Books of 2009 list?
240 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4.5 out of 5 (15 ratings).
More of the best books of 2009
- The Last Olympian Rick Riordan, #1
- Catching Fire Suzanne Collins, #2
- The Maze Runner James Dashner, #3
- The Help Kathryn Stockett, #4
- Dork Diaries Rachel Renée Russell, #5
- I Will Teach You to Be Rich Ramit Sethi, #6
See the full Best Books of 2009, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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