The Monster of Black Wind Mountain - Jeff Pepper

The monk Tangseng and his disciple, the short-tempered Monkey King Sun Wukong, begin their multi-year journey to retrieve Buddhist scriptures from Thunderclap Mountain in India. They first encounter a mysterious river-dwelling dragon, then run into serious trouble while staying in the temple of a 270 year old abbot. Their troubles deepen when they meet the abbot's friend, a terrifying black bear monster.

This is the 7th book in the best-selling The Journey to the West series of stories for students learning to read Chinese. It is based on the epic 16th century novel of the same name by Wu Chen'en. That novel was inspired by an actual journey by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang, who traveled from Chang'an westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned seventeen years later with priceless knowledge and spiritual texts. Over the course of the book Tangseng and his companions face the 81 tribulations that Tangseng had to endure to attain Buddhahood.

The story is written, as much as possible, using the 1200-word vocabulary of HSK4. It is presented in Traditional Chinese characters and pinyin, and includes an English version and glossary. A free audiobook is available on YouTube's Imagin8 Press channel and also on www.imagin8press.com.