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From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

Life is hard in Minli’s Village of Fruitless Mountain, where she lives with Ba and Ma, her father and mother. Despite their hardships, Minli finds joy in the magical stories Ba tells at dinner each evening. When Minli spends her family’s last two coins to buy a goldfish, the fantasy of her father’s stories merges with the bleak reality of their daily life. Unable to feed the fish, Minli releases it in the river, and in payment the fish tells her how to get to Never-Ending Mountain. There, Minli knows, she can ask a question of the Old Man of the Moon. Determined to find out how to change the fortune of her town, she sets off. Grace Lin deftly inserts a series of tales inspired by traditional Chinese folktales into the larger tapestry of Minli’s extraordinary journey that is full of adventure and trials. Gorgeous book design augments this fast-paced fantasy, including occasional full-page color illustrations, chapter heading decorations, and a typeface treatment that visually distinguishes the folktale segments from the overarching story of Minli’s quest. (Ages 8–11)

CCBC Choices 2010 © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2010. Used with permission.

From Horn Book

January 1, 2010
Minli seeks the Old Man of the Moon, hoping to change her family's fortunes. Interspersed with the main story are folktales explaining past events or anecdotes allowing characters to relate their experiences. Lovely full-page illustrations in blues, reds, greens, and luminous golds as well as delicate chapter-openers, all influenced by traditional Chinese art, contribute to the folklore-inspired fantasy's sense of timelessness.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From Horn Book

September 1, 2009
Minli lives with her father, a storyteller and dreamer, and her disapproving mother in a poor village in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain. An encounter with a goldfish peddler prompts Minli to seek the Old Man of the Moon, who makes his home atop the forebodingly named Never-Ending Mountain, to ask him for help in changing her family's fortunes. On her arduous journey, Minli is assisted by folklore creatures, including a talking fish who points her in the right direction and a dragon who becomes her closest compatriot. Other children, too, help on her quest; twins (collectively named Da-A-Fu) outsmart wicked Green Tiger, and Minli's friendship with a buffalo boy prefigures her success. The story's many elements are entwined, neatly symbolized by the intricately tangled red threads of destiny that, as Minli discovers, are overseen by the Old Man of the Moon. The book's format reflects this interconnectedness: interspersed with the main text are folktales explaining past events or stories allowing characters to relate their experiences. Likewise, as Lin's appended author's note indicates, her own life story informs the work, as do her dozen cited sources. Lovely full-page illustrations in blues, reds, greens, and luminous golds as well as delicate chapter-openers, all influenced by traditional Chinese art, contribute to this original, folklore-inspired fantasy's sense of timelessness. The book's numerous typos are unfortunate.

(Copyright 2009 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From School Library Journal

Starred review from July 1, 2009
Gr 3-6-Living in the shadow of the Fruitless Mountain, Minli and her parents spend their days working in the rice fields, barely growing enough to feed themselves. Every night, Minlis father tells her stories about the Jade Dragon that keeps the mountain bare, the greedy and mean Magistrate Tiger, and the Old Man of the Moon who holds everyones destiny. Determined to change her familys fortune, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon, urged on by a talking goldfish who gives her clues to complete her journey. Along the way she makes new friends including a flightless dragon and an orphan and proves her resourcefulness when she tricks a group of greedy monkeys and gets help from a king. Interwoven with Minlis quest are tales told by her father and by those she meets on the way. While these tales are original to Lin, many characters, settings, and themes are taken from traditional Chinese folklore. The authors writing is elegant, and her full-color illustrations are stunning. Minlis determination to help her family, as well as the grief her parents feel at her absence, is compelling and thoroughly human."Jennifer Rothschild, Prince Georges County Memorial Library System, Oxon Hill, MD"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

From Booklist

Starred review from May 1, 2009
Grades 3-6 *Starred Review* In this enchanted and enchanting adventure, Minli, whose name means quick thinking, lives with her desperately poor parents at the confluence of Fruitless Mountain and the Jade River. While her mother worries and complains about their lot, her father brightens their evenings with storytelling. One day, after a goldfish salesman promises that his wares will bring good luck, Minli spends one of her only two coins in an effort to help her family. After her mother ridicules what she believes to be a foolish purchase, Minli sets out to find the Old Man of the Moon, who, it is told, may impart the true secret to good fortune. Along the way, she finds excitement, danger, humor, magic, and wisdom, and she befriends a flightless dragon, a talking fish, and other companions and helpmates in her quest. 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. Lins own full-color drawings open each chapter.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

From AudioFile Magazine

Minli and her family are trying to eke out a living in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain, on the banks of the Jade River. While Minli's mother is bitter about their hard life, her father lightens their harsh existence by spending the nights telling stories of the Jade Dragon who made their mountain fruitless. Grace Lin's story draws on many elements of Chinese folk tales. Janet Song weaves the folktales into Minli's quest to find the Old Man of the Moon and change her family's fortune. Song carries the listener to a mystical land where listeners will cheer Minli on her quest and root for her to be reunited with her parents. N.E.M. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine