Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Review

Match the following literary terms to their definition.

• a character who changes in the story

• Dynamic character

• the emotions or attitudes an author wants you to feel when you are reading

• Symbolism

• an important message about a topic from the author's point of view

• Connotation

• the feelings from a word (+ or -)

• Theme

• the use of a physical object to represent an idea

• Tone

Reorder the following key events in the exposition (beginning) of the novel.

• Minli wants to help her parents and change their fortune. She uses 1 of her 2 copper coins on a goldfish that is promised to bring gold.

• Ma gets angry that Minli bought the goldfish. She sets it free so they don't have to feed it and it tells her the way to Never-Ending Mountain.

• Minli and her parents live in a hut in a poor village beneath Fruitless Mountain. Ba tells her stories that her Ma thinks are a waste of time.

• Minli packs a bag and goes off in search of the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how to change her family's fortune.

Match the following stories/trials to the best theme statement they convey.

• Hold onto things until they are needed.

• The Story of the Goldfish Man

• Selfishness will not get you happiness.

• The Story of the Paper of Happiness

• Fates can be changed.

• The Story of the Old Man of the Moon

• Fates cannot be changed.

• A String of Destiny

• Pride can hurt what you love.

• The Story of Fruitless Mountain

Match the following stories/trials to the best theme statement they convey.

• Holding onto anger/rage only hurts you in the end.

• Minli watches Da-A-Fu trick the green tiger

• Beautiful things should be shared, not kept greedily.

• Minli is given a coat by the villagers made from pieces of the own clothing

• Be generous and kind, even if you don't know someone well.

• Minli meets the buffalo boy and the weaver girl

• Happiness comes from being thankful for what you already have, not from wanting what you don't.

• The Story of the Dragon's Pearl

• You only lose what you cling to.

• Minli is caught by the King and being given the "borrowed line"

Read the following excerpt from Chapter 34, when Minli arrives at Da-A-Fu's village:

As they reached the trees and breathed in the spicy scent of the flowers, Minli gasped. "It's beautiful," she said. The children laughed again, and the brilliant red of their clothes and the golden yellow flowers of the trees seemed to make Minli's eyes dazzle with color.

But their brilliance was a contrast to the stone rooftops of a village below. The homes looked as though they had to be hewed from the cold, harsh rock of the mountain; and Minli saw that the flowering trees were the only things that grew easily from the unforgiving rough soil.

How does the tone change when Minli sees the village below the flowering trees?

• The tone changes from inspired to disgusted

• The tone changes from surprised to mournful

• The tone changes from amazed to bleak

• The tone changes from depressing to happy

What was preventing Dragon from flying?

• He just needed patience. He would fly when he turned 150 years old.

• The painter had made his tail too long.

• He only needed courage.

• He had to remove the ball from his head.

Why does Minli tell Dragon “I didn’t ask the question because I don’t need to know the answer?” (259)

• She doesn't want the dragon to feel bad that she asked his question instead of hers.

• The Old Man of the Moon whispered the answer to her anyway!

• Minli realized she already knew what fortune was, and she already had it.

• Minli realized she had a different question anyway.

When Minli meets the Old Man of the Moon, she learns that fortune and happiness does not come from ​ (a)   , but realizes that it comes from one word she sees in the Book of Fortune: ​ (b)   .

• gold
• thankfulness
• faith
• wisdom
• friends
• family
• peaches
• greed
• opportunity
• pride

Reorder the following to show how Ma has changed over the course of the novel.

• Ma softens and offers to help carry the fishbowl. She helps feed the fish. She laughs.

• Ma is always sighing and complaining of their fortune. She thinks Ba's stories are a waste of time. She blames Ba's stories for Minli running away as they search for her.

• Ma agrees to go home after hearing The Story of the Paper of Happiness, which convinces her to wait for Minli's return.

• Ma doesn't mind hearing Ba's story.

• Ma tells Ba her own story.