A husband and wife live uncomfortably under a mountain. Advice from a wise man leads them to try and solve their problem. ( )

a funny book about how a wise man tricks a poor man into moving his house away from a mountain
1 book

I would not recommend this book due to the choppy language and demeaning story line. It is about a husband and wife who want to move a mountain away from their house. They ask a wise man many times for strategies to move the mountain. Eventually, the wise man tells them to do a "dance" which calls for them to walk backwards with their eyes closed. The ending is silly but does not portray this Chinese couple in a positive light. The language throughout the book was very choppy and hard to read. There were many short sentences that did not flow. I do enjoy the illustrations but the fluidity of the pictures does not match the words on the page. I do not plan on using this book in my classroom. ( )

I would use this book with a second or third grade class to discuss multicultural folk literature. This is Asian folk literature. Students could compare and contrast the folklore from different cultures. The writing is fairly simple and predictable, and would be best to use in younger classes, no older than third grade.

I really enjoyed the fable “Ming Lo Moves the Mountain” by Arnold Lobel. One reason that I enjoyed it is because of the cultural perspective that it depicts. The fable is set in China and the illustrations represent the geography, clothing, and architecture of the country. It is important that students are exposed to stories set in cultures other than their own. In addition, the book uses subtle humor to keep the reader engaged. For instance, the characters try to bang on pots and pans to scare the mountain away, and then they think they moved the mountain by doing a dance when they really just walked away from it with their eyes closed. Children enjoy stories that they can laugh at, while still learning a lesson. Lastly, the illustrations used a lot of soft, pastel colors as to not take away from the text. The illustrations are large and interesting enough to add to the story, but they are not too distracting. The main idea of the story is that in order to get what you want, you must put forth effort, not expect solutions to fall right into place on their own. ( )