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amelia_herring's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful followup to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. This one has a slightly different feel, and is more like a novel than a folktale. However, I enjoyed the characters, the plot twists and turns, and Lin's lyrical writing style. The color illustrations are sublime.
kmcneil's review against another edition
4.0
"...a work that is nothing short of enchanting" is how Starry River of the Sky is described in the School Library Journal below. I couldn't agree more. What a lovely story ... actually what lovely stories (plural), as woven between the main story are Chinese folk tales. The third graders at my school learn about Greek mythology, and so many of them just can't get enough. I will enthusiastically offer Grace Lin's Starry River of the Sky and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to those students as an alternative and as a way to expand their interest in folklore and myths.
From School Library Journal 9/1/2012
Gr 3‰ЫТ6‰ЫУThe moon is missing from the sky, and its absence causes unrelenting heat and drought. At night, Rendi can hear the sky moan and whimper for the missing moon, a sound that has plagued him since running away from home and ending up as a chore boy at an isolated inn. When a mysterious and glamorous guest arrives, she bring stories and asks Rendi to tell her tales in return. These stories weave the characters and plotlines together while revealing the backstory of Rendi's flight from home, the village's geography, and the missing moon, and how they tie together. This follow-up to Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown, 2009), takes place centuries earlier, when Magistrate Tiger's son was still young, and missing. The stories the characters tell are based on traditional Chinese folktales, but Lin adds her own elements and layers and mixes them with original tales to form a larger narrative that provides the background and the answers for the frame story. This tight and cyclical plotting, combined with Lin's vibrant, full-color paintings and chapter decorations, creates a work that is nothing short of enchanting. Like the restored moon, Starry River outshines the previous work.‰ЫУJennifer Rothschild, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Oxon Hill, MD Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.
From School Library Journal 9/1/2012
Gr 3‰ЫТ6‰ЫУThe moon is missing from the sky, and its absence causes unrelenting heat and drought. At night, Rendi can hear the sky moan and whimper for the missing moon, a sound that has plagued him since running away from home and ending up as a chore boy at an isolated inn. When a mysterious and glamorous guest arrives, she bring stories and asks Rendi to tell her tales in return. These stories weave the characters and plotlines together while revealing the backstory of Rendi's flight from home, the village's geography, and the missing moon, and how they tie together. This follow-up to Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown, 2009), takes place centuries earlier, when Magistrate Tiger's son was still young, and missing. The stories the characters tell are based on traditional Chinese folktales, but Lin adds her own elements and layers and mixes them with original tales to form a larger narrative that provides the background and the answers for the frame story. This tight and cyclical plotting, combined with Lin's vibrant, full-color paintings and chapter decorations, creates a work that is nothing short of enchanting. Like the restored moon, Starry River outshines the previous work.‰ЫУJennifer Rothschild, Prince George's County Memorial Library System, Oxon Hill, MD Copyright 2012 Reed Business Information.
brandypainter's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at Random Musings of a Bibliophile.
Starry River of the Sky is the companion novel to Grace Lin's Newbery Honor winning Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Just like its predecessor the book is a work of visual art, and this time I think the narrative is even more well done.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a good old fashioned quest story where the characters are on a journey and go to many places. Starry River of the Sky takes place in one small village and all the stories center around it and the people living there. Rendi is the main character and he is on a journey. While running away he is marooned in the Village of Clear Sky. He hates the place and all its inhabitants. He looks down his nose and scoffs at them. Rendi is teachable though and with the arrival of Madame Chan and the stories she tells he begins to become more sociable and makes friends with those who surround him. I loved Rendi as the prickly stuck up snob and I loved Rendi as a great friend and hero. His journey from one to the other is a wonderful story. Rendi's relationship with all the characters around him and the changes to them is also delightful.
As in the first book, Starry River of the Sky depends on the art of storytelling. Rather than having several narrators the stories here are mostly all told by the same two, the mysterious Madame Chang and Rendi. Lin wove the stories of both together with the story of the missing moon to create a beautiful narrative. The story is interesting and put together piece by piece just right. Just as in the first book the narrative is accompanied by Lin's gorgeous art, but I feel like the story in this one is great enough on its own and the pictures are just an added bonus.
If you enjoyed Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, you will most assuredly like this companion. If you haven't read either, you should. And it doesn't really matter which one you read first. They are not dependent on each other.
Starry River of the Sky is the companion novel to Grace Lin's Newbery Honor winning Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Just like its predecessor the book is a work of visual art, and this time I think the narrative is even more well done.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a good old fashioned quest story where the characters are on a journey and go to many places. Starry River of the Sky takes place in one small village and all the stories center around it and the people living there. Rendi is the main character and he is on a journey. While running away he is marooned in the Village of Clear Sky. He hates the place and all its inhabitants. He looks down his nose and scoffs at them. Rendi is teachable though and with the arrival of Madame Chan and the stories she tells he begins to become more sociable and makes friends with those who surround him. I loved Rendi as the prickly stuck up snob and I loved Rendi as a great friend and hero. His journey from one to the other is a wonderful story. Rendi's relationship with all the characters around him and the changes to them is also delightful.
As in the first book, Starry River of the Sky depends on the art of storytelling. Rather than having several narrators the stories here are mostly all told by the same two, the mysterious Madame Chang and Rendi. Lin wove the stories of both together with the story of the missing moon to create a beautiful narrative. The story is interesting and put together piece by piece just right. Just as in the first book the narrative is accompanied by Lin's gorgeous art, but I feel like the story in this one is great enough on its own and the pictures are just an added bonus.
If you enjoyed Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, you will most assuredly like this companion. If you haven't read either, you should. And it doesn't really matter which one you read first. They are not dependent on each other.
bekah_'s review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting book to read, it was very different than most other books that I have read. with the artwork that took my breath away and helped me imagine what was going on in the story. Which was amazing because it was such a different writing style than a lot of books. I also found how she separated the legends inside the overall story was such a new idea, it surprised me. It was such a different way of writing and telling an overall story with smaller stories. Rendi was a very interesting character. He was filled with hatred, which made me dislike him at first. But once Madame Chang came and got Rendi to open, I began to enjoy him and like him more. I went from being frustrated with him to sorry for him. The stories Madame Chang told were so interesting and I made sure to read every detail, good thing because you need to recall some of those small details later in the story. Following Rendi to the end of the story was hard because I had grown to enjoy his character so much that I did not want it to end.
dude_watchin_with_the_brontes's review against another edition
5.0
A tale of leaving and returning, of tigers and humans, anger and forgiveness. More than once it brought tears to my eyes - although it was written for children, the questions at the heart of this book are ones we still grapple with as adults, especially those of us who were raised in the tiger's den.
This book asks us who we become when we hold on to our anger, and what we create when we treat others with fear, or with kindness. Warning for both spoilers and possible triggers (allusion to domestic abuse):
I listened to the audiobook, and Kim Mai Guest's narration brings Lin's book beautifully to life. There's a dreaminess to the narration that matches the blurring between realism and myth. I love the bits of music that precede each story-within-the-story. I also took a look at the written book, because there are beautiful illustrations throughout the book. I'm sure the illustrations are even more meaningful to those able to read the Chinese characters in them. Whichever method you choose to read this book, you can't go wrong. I look forward to reading more books by Grace Lin, including the companion piece, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
This book asks us who we become when we hold on to our anger, and what we create when we treat others with fear, or with kindness. Warning for both spoilers and possible triggers (allusion to domestic abuse):
Spoiler
Coming from an abusive home, I was distressed by the universality of the final message of forgiveness and return. While I agree that holding on to our anger hurts us more than it hurts our abusers, I think sometimes forgiveness must be done from a distance, if at all. Some of the returns felt right - there had been words or deeds done in anger, in the context of a mostly loving home, such as the case of Chao's and Yan's families. But I found the story of Chang and WangYi distressing - feeding into the idea that a woman must take a man back if he has truly changed (which, translated into real life, is hard to distinguish from manipulation). And the idea of Rendi returning to his family because his abusive father loves and misses him... It just hit a little too close to home. His (and my father's) sorrow and regret may be real, but the abuser's feelings should not take precedence over another's safety.I listened to the audiobook, and Kim Mai Guest's narration brings Lin's book beautifully to life. There's a dreaminess to the narration that matches the blurring between realism and myth. I love the bits of music that precede each story-within-the-story. I also took a look at the written book, because there are beautiful illustrations throughout the book. I'm sure the illustrations are even more meaningful to those able to read the Chinese characters in them. Whichever method you choose to read this book, you can't go wrong. I look forward to reading more books by Grace Lin, including the companion piece, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.
karajrapp's review against another edition
4.0
Not quite as good of a story as Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, but still beautifully and creatively written.
librariandest's review
5.0
I was lucky to pick up an advanced copy of this at ALA. I loved [b:Where the Mountain Meets the Moon|5983694|Where the Mountain Meets the Moon|Grace Lin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1344265026s/5983694.jpg|6157354], so I went into Starry River of the Sky with high expectations. Good news! It did not disappoint. It's the same world and style as When the Mountain Meets the Moon, but the story and (most of) the characters will be totally new to readers. This is definitely not a sequel. More of a companion book.
Rendi is a boy with secrets. Why is he on the run? Where are his parents? Why is he so angry all the time? And, strangest of all, why can he hear sad moans at night when others cannot? Maybe it's because the moon has gone missing from the sky...
We first meet Rendi as a stowaway on a merchant's cart. He gets caught and is forced to take a job as a chore boy at an inn in the tiny Village of Clear Sky. While working at the inn, Rendi meets a colorful assortment of characters: Madame Chang, a beautiful guest at the inn who's always telling stories, Mr. Shan, a confused old man with a long white beard, the innkeeper and his neighbor who are bitter enemies, and the innkeeper's daughter, Peiyi, to whom Rendi takes an instant dislike.
Grace Lin weaves folktales and mysteries together, making the reader feel like a detective trying to put all the pieces together.
Rendi is a boy with secrets. Why is he on the run? Where are his parents? Why is he so angry all the time? And, strangest of all, why can he hear sad moans at night when others cannot? Maybe it's because the moon has gone missing from the sky...
We first meet Rendi as a stowaway on a merchant's cart. He gets caught and is forced to take a job as a chore boy at an inn in the tiny Village of Clear Sky. While working at the inn, Rendi meets a colorful assortment of characters: Madame Chang, a beautiful guest at the inn who's always telling stories, Mr. Shan, a confused old man with a long white beard, the innkeeper and his neighbor who are bitter enemies, and the innkeeper's daughter, Peiyi, to whom Rendi takes an instant dislike.
Grace Lin weaves folktales and mysteries together, making the reader feel like a detective trying to put all the pieces together.