Review: The Girl, the Gate, and the Dragon by Grace Lin

Meet Jin. Jin is a spirited stone known as a Gongshi. Jin is part of a stone sculpture at the Old City Gate, an ornate arch. Jin is a lion cub, and his parents are part of the sculpture along with a ball, a sacred sphere. When Jin has the chance to sub in at a zuqiu game, he is so excited he practices all week. His father is not excited. Gongshi have responsibilities to watch over people and guide them when they can help – it is both a responsibility and an honor. Jin finds watching over people boring. He wants to play zuqiu and get a golden goal. Little does Jin know, but his zuqiu dreams will be dashed by an emergency that will stop everyone in their tracks.

This story of stories reveals the power of interconnected family and friends in a race against an evil dragon. The book’s strength is in the way it reveals Jin’s emotional journey both inside himself as he learns to notice others and becomes less selfish, as well as his journey to find what he has lost and reunite with those he pushed away.

The author’s signature art complements the text with several full page, colored drawings as well as smaller line drawings at the beginning and ends of chapters.

Readers will celebrate this latest offering by the Newbery Honor Award-winning author! If this sounds like the book for you, preorder it here: https://linktr.ee/gracelinauthor