My First Chinese New Year

Karen Katz (2004), 32 pages

Audience: toddlers, pre-K

Format: picture book

Let's celebrate Chinese New Year 2012! A lunar holiday, this is typically celebrated anywhere from late January to early February and lasts 15 days. This year happens to be the Year of the Dragon – symbolizing a very lucky year!

Read along as one little girl joins her whole family for several fun-filled days in celebrating the lunar New Year. Katz's describes the traditional preparations (such as getting a new haircut and a new red dress, to hanging decorations, and cleaning the house) and customs (giving lucky red envelopes with money and honoring ancestors are also mentioned). Grandparents, Aunts, cousins, sit down together to enjoy a New Years feast including special foods such as a “precious sticky rice puddings” – yum, yum! And at the end, the family goes out to see a Chinese New Year’s parade where lions and dragons dance for all to see exclaiming “Gung Hay Fat Choy, Happy New Year”.

Author and illustrator Karen Katz is known for her bright, cheerful pictures; this style works well here – with bright reds and yellows a festive tone is set right from the beginning. Her narrative is simple but informative making this a great introductory book. Chinese New Year will be coming up soon, so be prepared and have this little book on hand – it’s a great read for preschoolers who are learning about this event for the first time.

Take time to integrate a few surprise props into your story-time by bringing some red envelopes for kids to pass around (one of my teacher’s had some for me to use and they were a big hit!) or make some fun craft projects like paper lanterns or dragons for the kids to play with.

Reviewed by: Katharine Conn, MLIS

If you liked this book, you may like: Red is a Dragon by Roseanne Thong, Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin or This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong

Other books by this author: The Color of Us, Counting Kisses, Daddy Hugs, Excuse Me! A Book of Manners, Mommy Hugs, My First Kwanzaa, My First Ramadan, and Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale

Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes

Roseanne Thong (2000), 34 pages

Illustrated by Grace Lin

Audience: toddlers

Format: picture book

In Thong’s book, Round is a Mooncake, everyday objects, food, and environment construct lessons in shapes and Chinese-American culture. A premise, which creates an interesting and rich backdrop of circle, square, and rectangle shapes as described by one little girl discovering them among her surroundings. The author’s use of simple language, repetition, and rhyming text is engaging and descriptive. For instance, “round is a mooncake, round is the moon; round are the lanterns outside my room.” Thong uses equal parts Chinese and American references to discuss common shapes. For example “square is the box that pizza comes in; and dim sum made by Mrs. Chin” an illustration shows the family eating a meal of pizza slices and Chinese dim sum. In addition, prompting techniques are used throughout the narrative asking the reader to participate: “what other round things to do see?” or “I can name more square things, can you?” – a great way to involve children in the storytelling process. Concept books (literature featuring fundamental shapes, numbers, or letters) are essential to a child’s development. This book is unique serving as a foundation for gaining shape awareness whilst learning Chinese customs and traditions. Pairs nicely with Thong’s picture book, Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors for a comprehensive look at colors and textures.

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: The Shape of Me and Other Stuff by Dr. Seuss, When a Line Bends … A Shape Begins by Rhonda Gowler Greene, or Brown Rabbit’s Shape Book by Alan Baker

Other books by this author: Red is a Dragon: A Book of Colors, Wish: Wishing Traditions Around the World, Gai See: What You See in Chinatown, and Fly Free!

Dim Sum for Everyone

Grace Lin (2001), 28 pages

Audience: toddlers

Format: picture book

Who wants some dim sum? Everyone will after reading Lin’s book Dim Sum for Everyone. Join a family with three little girls as they go out for a tantalizing meal at a Chinese dim sum restaurant. A series of little dishes are served from carts straight to the table. Diners get to point and choose each dish; mouthwatering sweet pork buns, fried shrimp, turnip cakes, sweet tofu, and egg tarts are paraded before the reader. Ma-Ma, Ba-Ba, and all three daughters have their favorites. So everyone chooses a little dish to share “we eat a little bit of everything; everyone eats a little bit of everything.” Whether you eat out frequently or are going for the first time - it’s never too early to teach kids about new cuisines. In addition, Lin includes some historical background on dim sum’s evolution, translation, and customs. Lin’s illustrations are bold and patterned; primary colors dance across the page appealing to young children. Traditional Chinese ingredients (ginger, daikon, bok choy, taro, etc.) and other dim sum dishes (dumplings, stuffed eggplant, rice noodles) even decorate the endpapers … yummy! Parents might want to use this book in a preliminary discussion of food; for example go to the grocery store and point out new vegetables or ingredients. Expand your palette and your child’s vocabulary at the same time!

Reviewed by: Katharine Quinn, SJSU MLIS Student

If you liked this book, you may like: Bee-Bim Bop! By Linda Sue Park or Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger

Other books by this author: Fortune Cookie Fortunes, Kite Flying, Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Lissy’s Friends, and Olvina Flies, and Robert’s Snowflakes