Lin, G. (2009). Where the mountain meets the moon. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-12363-1
Minli lives with her mother and father
in a small village near a mountain that doesn’t have any vegetation and a river
that is not fit for drinking. She and
her parents work hard everyday growing rice.
Her father tells her stories in the evening, but her mother says it is a
waste of time. Minli decides to go
searching for a fortune for her family and village. Along the way she meets a dragon, an emperor,
a buffalo boy and finally the Old Man of the Moon.
Lin has created a very satisfying book
by describing such a rich and varied landscape for her setting. She says, “…a black mountain that cut into
the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal…nothing grew on it and birds and
animals did not rest there…village that was a shade of faded brown.” And then we see the emperor’s garden as “soft
sunlight cast leaf shadows across her face and the wind made gentle ripples in
the moss-colored lake in front of her. The
Imperial Garden was just as beautiful in the day as it was by night.” She also describes the goldfish man with his “cart
was full of bowls of flashing fish that glittered like jewels.” As a contrast
to their brown village. And later a man
pulling a cart of cabbages and calls Minli “Little Mouse.” As Lin describes her settings for the book
she also helps create the mood for the reader of sad, weary to great joy and
happiness.
We also see a theme of peaches
throughout the book. She has Minli and
the dragon eating them of course, but Lin also describes some children’s faces
as “plump peaches”, she has the emperor plant a peach pit and grow a tree magically. These peaches appear not only in the main
story of Minli, but also in the tales that Lin includes along the way starting
with Minli’s father and continuing from different characters in the book. This ties the main story to the tales in a
perfect way.
Lin has included many cultural makers
such as names: Minli, Ba (for father), Magistrate
Tiger, A-Fu, Da-Fu, A-gong, Amah, and Dragon.
These help immerse us into the Chinese culture. Lin also includes paintings throughout. Small
ones on top of each chapter page and full pages spread throughout. The full page illustrations are in color and
show pagodas, their dress of colorful clothes, mosaic ceilings, tables that you
sit on the floor at, the Man of the Moon sitting on a floor with red string
around him, and more. Through the
illustrations we get a glimpse of the culture Lin is exposing us to. She also includes some food items, such as,
bamboo, cabbages, noodles, chives, and tofu soup.
Reviews:
2010
Newberry Honor Book
“While these
tales are original to Lin, many characters, settings, and themes are taken from
traditional Chinese folklore. The author's writing is elegant, and her full-color
illustrations are stunning. Minli's determination to help her family, as well
as the grief her parents feel at her absence, is compelling and thoroughly
human.” –School Library Journal
“With beautiful language, Lin creates a strong, memorable
heroine and a mystical land. Stories, drawn from a rich history of Chinese
folktales, weave throughout her narrative, deepening the sense of both the
characters and the setting and smoothly furthering the plot. Children will
embrace this accessible, timeless story about the evil of greed and the joy of
gratitude. Lin’s own full-color drawings open each chapter.” –Booklist
Activities:
PDF of vocab and summary with links
Say, A. (1991). Tree of cranes.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN:
0-395-52024-X
A young boy plays in his neighbor’s
pond, even though he knows he is not supposed to. As he goes home he is nervous he is going to
be in trouble. He finds his mother
folding paper cranes to make a wish.
Mama is not pleased that he is wet and feels warm, so she puts him in a
warm bath, gives him a warm meal and makes him rest. He sees Mama digging up his tree that was
planted when he was born. She tells him
about when she lived in California and about Christmas. They decorate the tree and the next morning
he finds a samurai kite under it.
Through this book we see a development
of setting. We see the boy at the carp
pond, then at the house that is the traditional Japanese house with simple
walls, ceilings, and sliding doors, a wooden bath that would look almost like
an American Jacuzzi, and sliding paper windows.
We also see the mom sitting on the floor at a table and the boys bed is
a mat on the floor.
Say also shows us their clothing
styles. The boy starts off in shorts and
a jacket, but later dons a Japanese robe when he is sent to rest in bed. The mother also is dressed in a kimono,
however we later see the father home from work in a suit.
The boy shares at one point that Mama
was going to make him a hot lunch. “I
knew what that meant. Rice gruel. Only sick people ate rice gruel.” And that is what he had along with a sour
plum, yellow radishes, and hot tea. This
shows that Mama cares for him and is trying to make sure he stays well. She also shares with him about when she lived
in a warm place, “Ca-li-for-ni-a” and
tells him about trees decorated with winking lights, boxes of presents under
the tree, and they light candles on the tree and decorate with the paper cranes
she made.
Say also depicts an Asian look in their
physical look. Dark hair, tan skin, and
almond shaped eyes. The pictures however
are realistic and not cartoonish giving a respect to the story he is
sharing.
Reviews:
“The story is a poignant one, illuminated with
finely drawn illustrations reflecting the serenity of a Japanese home and the
quiet love between mother and son.”—Publisher’s Weekly
"A gift from artist to child that indicates a ripe
maturity in both its illustrative and textual elements. Serving as a bridge
between American and Japanese cultures,…understated and pristine, Tree of
Cranes is the achievement of a master in his prime, one of the best picture
books of this or any other year." Horn Book
Activities:
Other books
written by Allen Say include:
Say, Allen.
1993. Grandfather’s journey. ISBN
0395570352
Say, Allen.
1999. Tea with Milk. ISBN
0395904951
Yep, L. (1995). Hiroshima: A novella.
New York: Scholastic. ISBN:
978-0-590-20833-8
An
Atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima August 6, 1945. It was the first atom bomb used in a war. That morning people were going about their
business as normal. Riko and her little
sister Sachi are going to school and as a bomber flies over everyone takes
cover in the bomb shelters, but there is no bomb dropped. Later that morning the real bomber plane comes
and no one is prepared for the devastation that occurs. Sachi survives, but is badly disfigured and later
becomes one of the Hiroshima Maidens.
The story is fiction based on real events and a compilation of
people.
Yep
brings us into the book with setting, “…women go out with baskets to shop. A peddler wheels his cart carefully through the
crowd…Some people believe Hiroshima is so beautiful that the Americans have
decided to spare it.” This not only
gives us a sense of a normal morning there, but it also helps us connect in a
way that any ordinary day can bring life-changing events. We see that Riko and Sachi stop by a shrine
to pray to Buddha for their father who is in the army. Yep describes the buildings as many are made
of wood and paper. Because of the
material, school children like Sachi are outside in the streets tearing down
houses so that if a bomb is dropped they can contain fires. Older children are working in factories and
recording phone messages at army headquarters.
We get the sense of war, but it has not drastically affected
Hiroshima.
Yep
also describes the sisters as having an air-raid hood that are supposed to
protect them from burning sparks, and as they run, “lunches and emergency bags
bouncing.” After the bombing, in 1949,
Americans return to Hiroshima to help.
In 1955 they take 25 women to New York for surgeries to help them. Yep describes Sachi as not being able to
communicate in English, but she tries to learn and adapt, “she tries to act
like a good Japanese daughter.”
Later
in the book Yep includes a story of Sadako, who got sick from radiation. She had heard a legend that if she folded
1000 paper cranes she would get a wish.
She did not get her wish and dies 10 years after the bomb was dropped,
but they did build a statue for her and now children send as many as 400
million paper cranes to Hiroshima.
Reviews:
“Yep's account
of the bombing of Hiroshima and its devastating aftermath is at once chilling
and searing, hushed and thundering. Within a factual framework, the author sets
the fictional story of a girl named Sachi, allegedly a composite of several
young residents of the bombed city… Yep interjects the resonant words of an American-the
Enola Gay's copilot-who, surveying the destruction just after the bomb has hit
Hiroshima, scribbles a note to himself: "What have we done?" This
powerful chronicle ensures that what was done on that awful day will remain in
readers' memories for a very long time.” –Publisher’s Weekly
“His words are powerful and compelling, and the facts he
presents make readers realize the horrors of that day and its impact beyond. As
a fictional character, Sachi never becomes much more than a name, but even so,
readers will be moved by her tale.” –School Library Journal
Activities:
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