Pinmei has a grandmother, whose fairy tales are fascinated not only by her granddaughter, but by the entire neighborhood. One night, the emperor's soldiers break into a mountain hut and kidnap the Storyteller... To save her grandmother, Pinmei goes on a dangerous journey with her friend Yishan, who seems to have his own secret. Together they overcome obstacles familiar to them from ancient legends. They ride on a horse as white as snow, follow a mussel that turns into a swallow, and even descend to the seabed - just to find the Storyteller and snatch her from the clutches of a cruel and treacherous emperor! The fantastic adventures of the book's heroes are breathtakingly described and beautifully drawn by its author, Grace Lin. . Grace's readers will be pleased to meet familiar faces from her Newbery Award-winning novel Where the Mountain Talks to the Moon.