I've decided to switch the weeks I do the Super Woman Spotlight and the Get Talking Guide. I thought it would be better if you had a bit more time to start thinking about some of the issues brought up in the book. So, here they are, the discussion questions for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
Stories are an important part of Minli’s life. What does Ma think about stories? Why do you think she feels this way
When Ma and Ba discover Minli is gone, they react in different ways. How does Ba react? How does Ma react?
After Dragon finishes his story, he seems sad that he is not a "real" dragon. Minli tries to cheer him up by saying that he feels real to her and they can at least be real friends. What does it mean to have a real friend? What qualities do you look for in a real friend?
When Minli meets Dragon they each share their stories, but they conclude they will have to ask the Old Man of the Moon to determine which one of them has the real borrowed line. Given what you know from the story, which one do you think is the real borrowed line? Support your answer with evidence from the story.
Minli is faced with a difficult decision when she reaches the Old Man of the Moon. She can only ask one question. What question does she ask? Why does she ask that question? What details in the story help you understand her decision?
When Dragon discovers Minli sacrificed her opportunity to ask her own question in order to ask his, he wants to fly her back to the Old Man of the Moon. Minli replies that she does not have to ask the question because she already knows the answer. She realized fortune and gold do not make a fortune; it is something else. What does Minli mean? Do you agree with her? Why or why not?
When Minli returns to her home, Minli and her parents discover several different types of good fortune. What good fortune do they discover? Which of these is the most valuable of all to Minli and her parents?
Questions taken from http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/kids_books_9780316114271.htm
If there is anything else you'de like to discuss about the book, feel free to bring it up at the meeting.
See you there!
Gloria
Monday, June 27, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Two For The Price Of One
As you may or may not know, I had last week off. I was able to visit my sister and her family in Colorado, so I didn't get much of a chance to post anything. That just means you get an extra long post today.
We had so many more people at our last meeting! It was nice to see so many new faces. We started off the meeting with a wordsearch full of words from our book, The Ordinary Princess. I wanted to have treats that related to the book so, I decided to have two types of treats. We had oatmeal cranberry cookies and lemon cookies for the time Princess Amy was in the forest and chocolate pudding with whipped cream for all of the fancy food she ate while living in a palace.
We had a couple of people who had to leave early, so we decided to pick next month's book before discussing The Ordinary Princess, but I'll get to that later.
It was a little difficult to get a hold of the book for some people, so there were some at the meeting who hadn't had a chance to read it yet. Part way through the discussion I gave a synopsis of the book, with spoilers (don't worry, I made sure no one cared), so we could include more people in the discussion.
Ok, now for next months books. I wanted to incorporate the theme of the summer reading program, One World, Many Stories, into the book we read this month. I looked for books that would let us discover another country. There were a lot to choose from, but I finally narrowed it down to two. They were Glass Shoe, Golden Slipper by Paul Fleishman and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.
Glass Shoe, Golden Slipper is actually a picture book that tells the story of Cinderella. The unique thing about this book is that every page covers the story from a different country's point of view. We have about 15 picture book versions of Cinderella from different countries in our collection and I thought it would be fun if everyone picked three or four to compare for our next meeting.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is about a girl in China that wants to improve the life of her family, so she sets off to talk to The Old Man Of The Moon to ask how to improve their fortunes. Interwoven throughout the story are different folktales of China.
When we voted on the book we ended up in a tie, but ultimately Where the Mountain Meets the Moon won the vote.
And now for the book info:
Grace Lin grew up in Upstate New York with her parents and two sisters. While the other sisters became scientists, Grace became an artist. Surprisingly enough, being an artist was not Grace's first choice. She first dreamed of being a champion ice skater, and drew many pictures of herself twirling and dancing on the ice. Unfortunately, Grace had neither the talent nor coordination to make it to skating stardom. However, the pictures she drew of herself held much promise and quickly became Grace's career focus. After attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Grace quickly set out to achieve her dream of creating children's books. Her first book, THE UGLY VEGETABLES, was published in 1999 and was quickly heralded. As well as being an American Booksellers Association's "Pick of the List" and a Bank's Street College Best Books of the Year, THE UGLY VEGETABLES was nominated for the California Young Reader Children's Choice Award and named a Growing Good Kids Book Award CLASSIC.
Grace followed that success with the publication of over a dozen more books, including DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! and LISSY'S FRIENDS. Grace's first children's novel, THE YEAR OF THE DOG was released to glowing praise in 2006 and nominated to the TX Bluebonnet list, which she followed with THE YEAR OF THE RAT. Her most recent novel WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON was awarded the 2010 Newbery Honor, chosen for Al Roker's Today Show Kid's Book Club and was a NY Times Bestseller. Grace's early reader LING & TING was awarded with the Theodor Geisel Honor in 2011. Grace, herself, has been honored by the Boston Public Library with the Literary Lights for Children Award and was an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominee for the United States.
Book and author information taken from http://www.gracelin.com/
Photos by Alexandre Ferron
Our next meeting is going to be on July 8, 2011 at 3:00 pm in Community Room A in the Saint George Library Branch.
I hope we'll see you there!
Gloria
We had so many more people at our last meeting! It was nice to see so many new faces. We started off the meeting with a wordsearch full of words from our book, The Ordinary Princess. I wanted to have treats that related to the book so, I decided to have two types of treats. We had oatmeal cranberry cookies and lemon cookies for the time Princess Amy was in the forest and chocolate pudding with whipped cream for all of the fancy food she ate while living in a palace.
We had a couple of people who had to leave early, so we decided to pick next month's book before discussing The Ordinary Princess, but I'll get to that later.
It was a little difficult to get a hold of the book for some people, so there were some at the meeting who hadn't had a chance to read it yet. Part way through the discussion I gave a synopsis of the book, with spoilers (don't worry, I made sure no one cared), so we could include more people in the discussion.
Ok, now for next months books. I wanted to incorporate the theme of the summer reading program, One World, Many Stories, into the book we read this month. I looked for books that would let us discover another country. There were a lot to choose from, but I finally narrowed it down to two. They were Glass Shoe, Golden Slipper by Paul Fleishman and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin.
Glass Shoe, Golden Slipper is actually a picture book that tells the story of Cinderella. The unique thing about this book is that every page covers the story from a different country's point of view. We have about 15 picture book versions of Cinderella from different countries in our collection and I thought it would be fun if everyone picked three or four to compare for our next meeting.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is about a girl in China that wants to improve the life of her family, so she sets off to talk to The Old Man Of The Moon to ask how to improve their fortunes. Interwoven throughout the story are different folktales of China.
When we voted on the book we ended up in a tie, but ultimately Where the Mountain Meets the Moon won the vote.
And now for the book info:
In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli lives in a ramshackle hut with her parents. In the evenings, her father regales her with old folktales of the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon, who knows the answers to all of life's questions. Inspired by these stories, Minli sets off on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change her family's fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest for the ultimate answer.
A bit about the Author
Grace Lin grew up in Upstate New York with her parents and two sisters. While the other sisters became scientists, Grace became an artist. Surprisingly enough, being an artist was not Grace's first choice. She first dreamed of being a champion ice skater, and drew many pictures of herself twirling and dancing on the ice. Unfortunately, Grace had neither the talent nor coordination to make it to skating stardom. However, the pictures she drew of herself held much promise and quickly became Grace's career focus. Grace followed that success with the publication of over a dozen more books, including DIM SUM FOR EVERYONE! and LISSY'S FRIENDS. Grace's first children's novel, THE YEAR OF THE DOG was released to glowing praise in 2006 and nominated to the TX Bluebonnet list, which she followed with THE YEAR OF THE RAT. Her most recent novel WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON was awarded the 2010 Newbery Honor, chosen for Al Roker's Today Show Kid's Book Club and was a NY Times Bestseller. Grace's early reader LING & TING was awarded with the Theodor Geisel Honor in 2011. Grace, herself, has been honored by the Boston Public Library with the Literary Lights for Children Award and was an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award nominee for the United States.
Book and author information taken from http://www.gracelin.com/
Photos by Alexandre Ferron
Our next meeting is going to be on July 8, 2011 at 3:00 pm in Community Room A in the Saint George Library Branch.
I hope we'll see you there!
Gloria
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Get Talking: The Ordinary Princess
Here are a few questions to get you thinking about the book.
Did you like the book? Why or why not?
What was your favorite part?
Who was your favorite character?
Why do you think the fairy Crustacea gave Amy the gift of being ordinary?
Was Amy happy with who she was, even though she wasn't as pretty as her sisters?
What qualities does Amy have that her sisters might not?
Do you think Amy should have run away when she heard about the dragon? How could she have handled it differently?
How do you think the story would have ended if Amy had really been a cooks assistant and Perry a man-of-all-work?
These are just to get the discussion going. We'll welcome anything else you'd like to talk about.
I'll see you Friday.
Did you like the book? Why or why not?
What was your favorite part?
Who was your favorite character?
Why do you think the fairy Crustacea gave Amy the gift of being ordinary?
Was Amy happy with who she was, even though she wasn't as pretty as her sisters?
What qualities does Amy have that her sisters might not?
Do you think Amy should have run away when she heard about the dragon? How could she have handled it differently?
How do you think the story would have ended if Amy had really been a cooks assistant and Perry a man-of-all-work?
These are just to get the discussion going. We'll welcome anything else you'd like to talk about.
I'll see you Friday.
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