Disclaimer: I received this arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own. 

 

Book: The Girl, The Gate, and The Dragon 

 

Author: Grace Lin 

 

Book Series: Standalone 

 

Rating: 3.5/5 

 

Diversity: Chinese folklore based with Chinese MC and characters 

 

Recommended For...: Middle Grade readers, Fantasy, Chinese Folklore, Dragons 

 

Publication Date: May 13, 2025 

 

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy 

 

Age Relevance: 8+ (getting lost, pregnancy, scary scenes, death, grief) 

 

Explanation of CWs: There is a pregnant character with some slightly scary pregnancy issues mentioned in the book. There are some scary scenes and the main character gets lost at the beginning of the book as a part of the main plotline. There is a scene with death and grief shown. 

 

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Robin 

 

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 

 

Pages: 352 

 

Synopsis: Jin is a Stone Lion—one of the guardians of the Old City Gate who is charged to watch over humans and protect the Sacred Sphere. But to Jin, those boring duties feel like a waste of time. What isn’t a waste of time? Perfecting his zuqiu kick, scoring a Golden Goal, and becoming the most legendary player of all the spirit world. But when Jin’s perfect kick accidentally knocks the Sacred Sphere out through the gate, he has no choice but to run after it, tumbling out of the realm he calls home and into the human world as the gate closes behind him. Stuck outside the gate, Jin must find help from unlikely allies, including a girl who can hear a mysterious voice and a worm who claims he is a dragon. Together, they must find the sphere and return it to the world beyond the gate…or risk losing everything. 

 

Review: Overall, I really liked this one. I liked that this book is based on Chinese (???) mythology and we follow a little lion statue named Jin throughout most of the book. However, we have a few different point of views along with a back and forth timeline in the narrative. The storytelling is very unique and builds upon itself constantly. The book is very fun, but serious, making it a great bedtime tale.
 
 The only issue I had was that it was a bit weird in the pacing, but other than that I was hooked from the first page. 

 

Verdict: This was a good one, especially for newer middle grade readers!