I loved this book for reasons including the language and writing. It's an informational book on the Chinese New Year and the events and traditions it holds. The overall message is to inform students of the Chinese New Year, as well as to show students it is a time of celebration. It also explains a lot of the symbolism in Chinese activities and food.
After reading the first two pages, I knew I would love the book. It describes different Chinese celebrations, relating them to American holidays. For example, on the first page it says "the holiday is coming up and people are buying sweet-smelling flowers. Is it Valentine's Day?" On the next page it has a picture of a child in a lion suit and it says "Is it Halloween?" On the third page of the introduction, it is a picture of firecrackers, and it says "Is it the fourth of July? Throughout the book, it describes that flowers are placed in homes to prepare for the New Year, and the fireworks and the dancing lion are supposed to scare off evil spirits and bring good luck. I thought the way the author introduced these traditions was a great way to grab children's attention and help them make connections between American holidays and the Chinese celebrations.
The writing was also very descriptive and engaging. When it is describing the fireworks and how they'll pop it says" TAT-A-TAT! SNAP! BANG! KABOOM! Shiny balls will bloom and glisten." The way they used the descriptive words shiny and glisten, along with the sounds of the fireworks, helped readers imagine being there and watching the fireworks. Another example is in the middle of the story where it is telling the history of a Chinese legend about a beast who raged through the town. The author wrote" It plucked up people and gulped them down. Then villagers discovered that loud sounds terrified the monster. Since then, earsplitting noise has been a custom of Chinese New Year." I think the wording was unique and interesting such as "gulped and plucked," and how it described the "earsplitting noise." The wording and language made it a lot more interesting to read.
The pictures were also creative looking, it almost looked like someone painted them. They really helped the reader imagine what all of the celebrations look like. When it explains that to prepare, you must look your best with a haircut, fresh clothes, and a home full of flowers, it had a portrait of a family of 3 generations posing for a picture. They were in suits and gowns, looking very nice and clean. Towards the end, when there were pictures of the actual celebrations with dancing dragons and lions, the pictures were colorful, detailed, and authentic looking. For someone who doesn't know anything about the Chinese, a child could learn a lot about the way they dress, the patterns on the dragons and lions, and the Chinese symbols and statues from looking at the pictures. ( )

This early chapter book provides early readers with excellent background about the Chinese New Year holiday that is celebrated in many Asian countries and in other places around the world. This non-fiction text contains wonderful pictures of the various components of the celebration so that children can develop a frame of reference and start to learn about other cultural holiday. The book covers many aspects of the 15 day celebration - from the preparation to fireworks, dancing, family gatherings, and remembering loved ones. It covers the Chinese Zodiac as well as the Festival of Lanterns.

This is a wonderful book to have in the classroom to help expose children to other cultures and their holiday. I thought this book was very informative, but very interesting and readable. This book can be used to compare and contrast to the Western New Year holiday's and to help young readers see events from multiple perspectives. This can certainly be brought into a geography lesson or world history lesson (although I know the emphasis in US classrooms is usually on Western history). ( )

Another great book illustrated by Jason Chin. This children's book explains about the Chinese New Year and some of the traditions that take place during the 15 day celebration. Traditons such as giving treats the the Kitchen God to bring good luck, and creating noise and lightning fireworks to scare of the evil spirits during the new year. I liked how this book gave brief but descriptive explanations of a holiday that many children may not be familiar with. Plus Chin's illustations always bring the story to life through his creative outlook on the story.