Daughter of the Mountains by Louise RankinThis book is one of the options at Mater Amabilis for Level 1A Year 2 People and Places. The site notes that there are references to Buddhism and astrology in the book which would need to be discussed, and that is certainly true. I didn't consider this for First Son because I figured he'd prefer to read about a boy than a girl, but I had a copy and decided to read it in case I wanted to use it next year. It's simply fabulous.
Momo, a young girl of Tibet, follows thieves and her stolen dog down the mountains and into India. She meets friends and allies along the way and helps others in her turn as well. The descriptions of the geography are wonderful. I almost wish I could go hiking in Tibet!
While she was still near the top of the mighty Jelep La, she could see far down and away to the end of the world, it seemed. Her eyes passed lightly over the lower ranges of the Himalayas, crowding together in upsurging, jumbled heaps of blue and green. Far, far below these solid hills the earth lay flat, a deep turquoise blue, and shimmering away in the distance till it melted into the paler blue of the sky. As she gazed, Momo could hardly tell where the earth ended and the sky began.I'm please with the People and Places as I've planned it without this book so I don't think I'm going to change it to put this one in. I like it so much, however, that I'm going to put it on the list of our read-alouds for next year. It'll be nice to involve Kansas Dad, too, who can tell us how Catholics should respond to Buddhist beliefs.
