Mondo et autres histoires is a 1978 short story collection by French author J. M. G. Le Clézio.

The stories in this collection all concern adolescents who in one way or another leave their familiar (civilized) circumstances and have numinous experiences accompanied by a rite of passage or other initiation.

In "Lullaby" a young girl leaves the busy town for the sea, and a meditative experience (compared to passages in Thoreau's Walden and Rousseau's Reveries of a Solitary Walker) lets her realize a transformed way of respiration after which a journey ensues along rocks with mysterious inscriptions, a bunker, a white villa, a Greek temple, and other places of self-discovery.

An encounter with a threatening man prompts her to jump from a cliff and crawl back to her village just before she, apparently, is to understand the meaning of her journey.

[2] Mondo is a mysterious young boy who appears one day in a small hamlet and quickly integrates himself into daily life.

One day, Mondo buys a Kit Carlson booklet and goes to the shore, where he meets Giordan the fisherman, who teaches the boy to fish and tells him stories of the world.

Later, in the summer, Mondo stumbles across the House of Golden Light, in which lives Thi Chin, a Vietnamese woman who invites him to have tea with her.

Throughout the summer, Mondo returns to sleep at the House of Golden Light, assuaging his fear of the Ciapacan.

The next day, the Police Commissioner goes to the House of Golden Light and asks Thi Chin if she has seen Mondo return home.

Eventually, Thi Chin finds a pebble in her garden in which the words “toujours beaucoup” (always a lot) were carved.

Later, she decides to go to a sheltered cove and light a fire, taking joy in burning pieces of paper and watching the words disappear.

She tries to hide, but knowing that she has been spotted, has no choice but jump off of a cliff and into the sea, letting the waves carry her back to shore.

The next day, Lullaby walks in the forest, trying to ignore her dilemma but eventually coming to the conclusion that she cannot continue her adventures.

She is unsettled by the bustle of the town, and after visiting a department store and eating an omelet, she decides to return to school.

The headmistress questions her about her week-long absence, but doubts Lullaby’s descriptions of her adventures in nature and the Greek house, assuming that she was skipping to see a boyfriend.

He reaches the base and spots a large valley filled with lava and icy foam at the top of the mountain.

[6] Booklist wrote "This collection of stories by the recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature may not be to everyone's goût, but no one who reads it will complain about the quality of the writing."

and "Anderson's elegant translation conveys the detailed, physical, fluid, and complex lushness of the language, which may engage and satisfy readers of Garcia Marquez and other master stylists.

[7] The Washington Post described the stories as "strange, hypnotic, overtly poetic pieces" and concludes "In Le Clezio’s fictional universe, the world exists in a prelapsarian state of timeless grace, at least until the inevitably corrupt and destructive world of adults comes crashing in.

"[8] Library Journal found that "his quiet explorations of beauty and culture are freshly, conversationally written.