Gives students a window into the Chinese Moon Festival. The child that narrates the story shows the traditions that families do each moon festival and tells the reader the stories that are told about and during the festival. ( )

This book is filled with stories that parents tell at the time of Chinese Moon Festival. The stories were nice but there wasn’t enough of an explanation of what the festival is about, or enough in the stories the parents are telling the child, to give those who don’t celebrate the Moon Festival and understanding of what it is about.
+11 #wintergames #teamelectricsex #impulseread ( )

A young Asian-Canadian girl celebrates the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with her parents in this lovely picture-book from debut author Loretta Seto and veteran illustrator Renné Benoit. As the girl describes this special night, in which her Mama and Baba let her stay up late with them, watching the moon, eating mooncakes, and telling stories, three traditional Chinese folktales are worked into her narrative, in the form of tales told by her parents. The first is the tale of Chang-E, who swallowed the elixir of immortality to keep it from her cruel husband, the archer Hou-Yi, and now lives on the moon**. The second is the story of Wu-Gang, a woodcutter who chops eternally at the cassia tree standing in the Jade Emperor's garden on the moon. The third is the narrative of Jade Rabbit, brought to the moon by three magicians, who were amazed at his willingness to sacrifice himself, to feed others...

Only the second children's story I have read that is devoted to the subject of China's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - the other was Grace Lin's Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - Mooncakes is a lovely little picture-book, one that pairs an engaging narrative with appealing artwork. I appreciated the way that Loretta Seto managed to spin a story about a contemporary young girl and her loving bond with her parents, while also including some moon-related folklore from the Chinese tradition. The illustrations by Benoit, whose work I know from such titles as Lily and the Paper Man, are just lovely, with a wonderfully subtle autumnal palette that felt appropriate, given the subject matter. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books about the celebration of the Moon Festival, or for children's stories that address Chinese folk beliefs about the moon.

** Folklore enthusiasts will be interested to know that this is just one version of the story. In others, Chang-E swallows the elixir, not to keep it from her husband, but to keep it from an unrelated thief. This variant of the story sees her choosing to live on the moon in order to be close to her husband, who begins the tradition of making offerings to the moon, in order to assure Chang-E that she is still in his heart. ( )

There are two reasons why I enjoyed reading this book. The first is for the illustrations. One of the pages is a picture painted in watercolors; to create soft whimsical image in a traditional Chinese style, to show and to emphasize the warm family oriented tone of the book. The illustrations give the reader a visual of what goes on during the moon festival and created a deeper understanding. The second reason I enjoyed this book is through the characters. The characters portray cultural accuracy and authenticity through important traditions and values associated in the moon festival such as family and kindness. Even though the characters are “out of this world” they still give important lessons to the reader. For example, the character Hou-yi wanted to live forever so that he could rule China. This shows the reader how one person ruling over everyone can be a bad thing and shows how kindness can save the world. The big idea of this book is to show that celebrating cultural festivals can bring people together in order to create kindness, and selflessness. Exposing readers to the cultural details gives them a deep understanding of a different way of celebrating traditions. ( )

Mooncakes is the lyrical story of a young girl who shares the special celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival with her parents. As they eat mooncakes, drink tea and watch the night sky together, Mama and Baba tell ancient tales of a magical tree that can never be cut down, the Jade Rabbit who came to live on the moon and one brave woman's journey to eternal life. With a gentle focus on the importance of family, Mooncakes is a perfect book for parent and child to read together, while its educational aspect makes it ideal for school libraries that wish to provide an insight into a unique cultural holiday.