Chinese New Year Books

Grace Lin's BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR tells of a Chinese family who sweeps out the old year and brings spring-happiness poems, lanterns and celebrations in for the New Year. Lively color drawings bring to life the customs of one family's Chinese New Year celebrations.

This is a beautiful book with colorful illustrations. The text is simple and makes this a quick, informative story. Being a teacher, I could use this story in a preschool class or with older children. Grace Lin is a very gifted illustrator. My daughter and I enjoy all of her books.

Cultures and customs are explored in Chinatown by William Low.

Young readers visit a city within a city, where streets of herbalists, tai chi masters, and outdoor fish market abound. This colorful section of New York City will prove fascinating to young eyes as they're introduced to people with a different heritage.

As always, knowledge and understanding promote friendship.

In this story, with beautiful jewel-toned illustrations reminiscent of Hopper's paintings, a young child, accompanied by his grandmother, shows the reader various aspects of his life in an urban Chinatown. The busy urban setting takes on the elements of smalltown life as the pair cross a street, watch tai chi practicioners, greet the street cobbler, and visit the produce market, the fish market, the herbalist, a kung fu class and other fascinating places. The story culminates at a parade celebrating Chinese New Year. The colorful pictures, rich with detail, and simple, informative text give lots of opportunities for discussion. My two-year-old son has loved this book from the first time we read it, and requests it over and over again.

I have had the pleasure of eating dishes prepared by Angela Chang, and I can testify to their delectable combinations of intriguing flavors and textures. This book captures some of the best dishes that have come from Angela's kitchen -- dishes that rival the best of French and Italian cuisine in their own special way. I haven't yet tried any of the recipes in my own kitchen, but I expect that Angela has discovered and passed along every labor-saving technique that doesn't detract from the overall quality of the dish. She's one terrific cook, I can tell you, and you will be too with her book on your kitchen counter.

I have had the pleasure of eating dishes prepared by Angela Chang, and I can testify to their delectable combinations of intriguing flavors and textures. This book captures some of the best dishes that have come from Angela's kitchen -- dishes that rival the best of French and Italian cuisine in their own special way. I haven't yet tried any of the recipes in my own kitchen, but I expect that Angela has discovered and passed along every labor-saving technique that doesn't detract from the overall quality of the dish. She's one terrific cook, I can tell you, and you will be too with her book on your kitchen counter.

This is a beautiful book.
We found it very informative.
In fact I gave it to my children's Chinese Teacher today as a New Year;s gift and she used it to teach the class abit about Chinese New Years.
I am now ordering another one for our family as I know my kids will miss the one we gave to our teacher.
The book describes several ceremonies, traditions and history of the Chinese New Year with lots of hands-on activities.
Well done!

I am always looking for books and activities about Chinese New Year for my daughters' teachers. This book has made that task much easier. The historical explanation of Chinese New Year is simple and straight forward. The ideas for parties both at school and at home are great! The directions for craft projects, snacks, and games are clearly described. The illustrations are playful and colorful. This is a wonderful book for parents and teachers who need help with ideas to celebrate Chinese New Year.

I did a review of his 1999 book and waited eagerly for his Y2K Feng Shui guide. I was not disappointed and was pleasantly surprised that he added some new features to make reading reference more convenient. Instead of having to flip to the back of the book to check for the meanings of the lucky and unlucky stars, like what I found in his 1999 guide, this time, he put those relevant affectations to each sign in full context at the beginning of each animal sign. This greatly helps in terms of easy reference and obviously you would imagine an increase in book thickness! Also he gives 1-4 stars ranking of important aspects for the New Lunar Year on career, money health and love, a most welcomed addition.

The only beef I have is with the publisher and all those in like that dish out books on magickal and feng shui stuff, is the absence of an email or contact address from the author. Readers who buy and read these works obviously will try to apply tips for themselves and more often than not, need clarifications on areas that puzzle or confuse them. What's worst is not having something tried and not work than doing it WRONG and inviting a host of unintended bad vibes or bad luck. So publishers be more sensitive, in this case Thorsons, try and include an email contact for this series when we reach the year 2001...that is, if that isn't already apparent in these times and age. Bookwise, a necessity!

When learning chinese astrology, you should have a guideline. That's you'll have when you read this book, although this book only give the main guide, not the detail's one. Also -- this book -- gave me another perception about how to calculate "lucky stars" which is different from what I've learn for past two years. I think this book will help all beginners and experts to practice it to their lives. Enjoy it !!!

Written in celebration of 2008, the most recent year of the rat, The Year of the Rat: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac is a children's picturebook about an eager young rat named Ralph. Grounding the story in the basic animals and associated character traits derived from the ancient Chinese Zodiac, The Year of the Rat follows Ralph as his inquisitive nature gets him into trouble. But when his dear friend the boy Bing runs into trouble at his birthday party, it takes the quick thinking of a born rat to save the day! The colorful, simple illustrations are brimming with unfettered enthusiasm in this charming children's story.

My three sons loved the book. We made the purchase at Kidspace in Pasadena and had the opportunity to talk with the author.
He was very entertaining, and my sons are constantly pestering me to read this book. This would be a great addition to any children's library. It is well-written with wonderful illustrations.

WOW! This book is an illustrated encyclopedia all about Chinese New Year! Exciting and informative, with photos, colorful art, and boxed text, this book is not only impressive and fun at first glance, it's also really authoritative and assertive and ACCURATE on the subject!

I usually prefer kids' books that teach via fiction and fun stories, but when I was a kid, a few of my favorite books *were* illustrated encyclopedias. This would have been a fave right up there with them.

Is this book really out of print? I'm getting it. (What I'm looking at now is from the library.)

I have quiet a few books on Chinese New Year, but this book is terrific! It is small in size, but packs a punch in information and vividly colored photos.Each page has about 2 sentences, so it is also perfect for new readers. There is a wealth of information in this book and it even has a Words to Know & defination list and also includes 2 other Chinese New Year Books to check out as well as an internet site called FactHound.com which also has some interesting sites. It has Chinese New Year information up to 2007 date wise, but as far as what each Chinese New Year is animal and information wise was updated in 2002. It would be nice it this was up to date, but it does have lots of terrific information!

This is a really nice book on Chinese New Year but the price is a bit steep and there are other Chinese New Year books out there that have close to the same information, more pages at a less price.

There are 9 chapters to this book and each chapter is about 1 page of written information and a bright colorful picture except for Chapter 4 which is 2 pages & illustrations. And Chapter 6 has 1 full page of writting, and has 3 pages of illustrations with 2/3 sentences about the Chinese New Year. There are a few interesting tidbits like the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year is the birthday of all dogs and how to prepare your heart and home for the Chinese New Year as well as things not to do... like using scissors or a knife on New Years Day because you could cut off your good luck. In Chapter 7 which is titled " Family Comes together" explains the Tray of Togetherness and the 8 sweet foods in the tray as well as what their special meanings are.
The last few pages have 6 english words, their pronouncation, there is a receipe for making Nian Gao which is a Chinese New Year Cake. There is a page on other books and the books website. It also has an art project which is a circle snake but I am not really sure this is really a Chinese activity - it's basically a construction paper ring chain with a snake's head in the front.

If you've ever wandered through the streets of a Chinese city during Chinese New Year (or any Chinatown in the world during Chinese New Year) and wondered why there are so many stands selling oranges and pomelos, cans of abalone, and flowering plum or pussywillow branches, this is the book for you. You'll discover that this is a festival unlike any other as many of the activities and symbols have origins in ancient myths and even more modern word plays and puns. Simple, easy-to-read, and full of interesting insights into both classical and modern Chinese practices.