Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, A+
The plot: Young Minli runs away from home to find the Old Man of the Moon so that she can ask him how to change her family’s fortune for the better.
My impression: The narrative is beautifully structured–a series of stories within stories–and utterly charming. The only thing that bothered me a tiny bit while reading was not knowing if the stories were traditional or made up by the author. But, at the end, there is an “Behind the Story” chapter in which the author answered that very question! There may be no such thing as a perfect book, but Where the Mountain Meets the Moon comes as close as to make no difference.