Starry River of the Sky

The month of December is quickly passing and somehow Christmas is just around the corner.  If you are like me you are frantically finishing up the last loose ends of shopping and so I thought I would post about one of our latest reads in case the last thing on your list is a great book.  Starry River of the Sky is Grace Lin's latest book and is considered a companion novel to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon.

Starry River of the Sky features Rendi a young boy who has run away from home and is working as a helping hand at the inn in the Village of Clear Sky.  It is a village where nothing is quite right.  Master Chao, the innkeeper, and Widow Yang are always fighting, Peiyi and Rendi don't get along and her brother is gone to who knows where.  Mr. Shan is a permanent guest at the inn who appears clueless and forgetful but every so often makes a comment that makes Rendi question how crazy he really is.  And the moon.  It is missing. But only Rendi seems to notice its absence and the loud crying that comes every night.

But one day Madame Chang comes to stay as a guest at the inn and with her arrival begins the telling of enchanting tales.  The stories are craftily woven throughout the book, each bearing significance in the greater story and the unraveling of the conclusion.  And for the readers of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, some of the tales will ring familiar.

Grace Lin's lyrical writing creates a magical story that left my kids begging for "just one more" chapter each night.  And the complexity of plot combined with the beautiful writing made me more than happy to oblige.