Book Review: Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin

I bought Starry River of the Sky from the Dollar Store because of the gorgeous purple cover and because I love kids' fantasy books, plus this one is diverse and has folklore I'm unfamiliar with. Here is the B&N summary:

The moon is missing from the remote Village of Clear Sky, but only a young boy named Rendi seems to notice! Rendi has run away from home and is now working as a chore boy at the village inn. He can't help but notice the village's peculiar inhabitants and their problems.

But one day, a mysterious lady arrives at the Inn with the gift of storytelling, and slowly transforms the villagers and Rendi himself. As she tells more stories and the days pass in the Village of Clear Sky, Rendi begins to realize that perhaps it is his own story that holds the answers to all those questions.

The main story is told from Rendi's viewpoint, with various characters telling stories to one another. The accompanying artwork and the gorgeous cover art is all done by the author, Grace Lin, herself! I enjoyed reading the new to me folktales and piecing together Rendi's and the villagers' stories. This story would be a great one to read to kids. The chapters are short and easy to read, as the reading level is for kids 8-12 years old (I would have been able to read this book at 7). I have not read any other books by Grace Lin, but I plan to. It must be difficult to make one's writing lyrical when writing for children, but she does it. This book reminded me a bit of Dragonwings by Laurence Yep, as it's also about an angry, far from home Chinese boy in the "real world" who finds himself dealing with mythological figures. This book also discusses loss, grief, and big feelings. I love fairytales, folklore, mythology, and the moon, and if you do too, read this book. 

Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 15
From: Dollar Store
Status: give away

Trigger warnings for this book: attempted kidnapping, child tied up and threatened with death and violence, animal maimed by accident, verbally abusive father, violence and killing mentions in stories, adults are drugged with poisoned wine but recover, death mentions, theft, wine mentions (several), child teases/bullies younger child, period-typical sexism, angry child with attitude problems, child runs away