Homeschool Reading · Folklore & Myth

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

by Grace Lin · a homeschool reading guide · Newbery Honor · 2010

Best for
Grades 4–5 (read-aloud from grade 3)
Reading level
700L Lexile® measure
Subject
Folklore (Chinese folklore · quest)
On Chalky
48 modules with personalized comprehension questions

Use this book for

The book

Minli's village sits in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain, where nothing grows — so she spends one of her two copper coins on a goldfish said to bring fortune, and then walks out of the valley to ask the Old Man of the Moon how to change her family's luck.

Published in 2009 and a Newbery Honor book, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon braids original Chinese-inspired folk tales into a quest novel, and the braid is the craft: tales told by borrowed characters — the dragon, the buffalo boy, the king — click into the main plot chapters later, teaching a reader to hold stories inside stories and watch for the join. Lin's own full-colour art and the warmth of the ending, which sends fortune home to the valley, have made it a modern read-aloud staple.

Why homeschoolers reach for it

Reading skills it builds

On Chalky, every module ends with comprehension questions written from the book's own text, each exercising a specific skill aligned to the Common Core reading standards for grade 4.

If your state asks you to document reading instruction, this is the record: which book, which skills, which standard each aligns with, kept automatically as your child reads.

Running it as a unit

In Chalky's grade 4 reading plan, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon runs forty-eight modules — about four weeks at 20 minutes a day, open-and-go: the modules are already sequenced, so there is nothing to plan the night before. A rhythm, not a rulebook:

  1. Weeks 1–3 — read and map the braid. One or two modules a day. Keep two lists: journey events and told tales — and draw a line every time a tale hooks back into the journey.
  2. Along the way — tell one back. The inner tales are built for retelling. Once a week, your child tells one aloud at dinner, as the characters do — narration in the book's own manner.
  3. Close — the question of fortune. Was Minli's family poor? Answer twice: before the journey and after. That conversation is yours; Chalky's questions will have covered the rest.

Pairs well with

Start your reading comprehension curriculum on Chalky

Standards references describe alignment with the Common Core State Standards for Reading, grade 4; homeschool requirements vary by state, and this page is a record of instruction, not legal advice.