Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Chinese New Year: With Fireworks, Dragons, and Lanterns by Carolyn Otto

From the Publisher

Children have never had so many reasons to learn how Chinese people everywhere ring in the new and ring out the old. As China takes its new place on the global stage, understanding Chinese culture and values becomes ever more essential to our next generation.

For two joyous weeks red is all around. The color represents luck and happiness. Children receive money wrapped in red paper, and friends and loved ones exchange poems written on red paper. The Chinese New Year is also an opportunity to remember ancestors, and to wish peace and happiness to friends and family. The holiday ends with the Festival of Lanterns, as many large communities stage the famous Dragon Dance. Fireworks, parades, lanterns, presents, and feasts: these are some of the joys experienced by all who observe Chinese New Year.

Celebrate Chinese New Year is the latest, timely addition to National Geographic’s popular Holidays Around the World series. With 25 colorful images and a simple, educational text, the book is a lively invitation to revel in this child-friendly, national and international holiday. Carolyn Otto brings the historical and cultural aspects of the Chinese New Year into focus, and young readers experience the full flavor of an event celebrated by over a billion people in China, and countless others worldwide.

Children's Literature

This new entry in the "Holidays Around the World" series satisfies on many levels. Beginning readers will find large-type, easy-to-read phrases and sentences—"We let the old year out," for example—on each two-page spread. More advanced readers will be treated to captivating descriptions of the sights, sounds, tastes, and traditions of Chinese New Year, from foods to firecrackers. All will delight in captioned photos that sparkle with excitement and bring to life the holiday as it is celebrated by children and families around the world. The six pages of back matter provide further reading for higher-level readers, teachers, and parents. Included are facts about Chinese New Year, illustrated directions for making a paper lantern, information about the Chinese calendar along with a chart of the Chinese zodiac, a recipe for fortune cookies, instructions for a game, lists of recommended books and websites, a glossary, a world map showing where the book's photos were taken, and "The Origins of Chinese New Year," by consultant Haiwang Yuan. Reviewer: Paula K. Zeller

School Library Journal

K-Gr 4

Stunning full-page, color photographs, coupled with clear and understandable text, bring this holiday to life. While titles about Chinese New Year are plentiful, this one stands out due to the showcasing of international celebrations. It shows festivities and traditions in such varied countries as Brazil, Canada, and Japan. Customs meant to bring good luck in the New Year, such as hanging colorful lanterns and giving lucky red envelopes with money, virtually jump off the page. Scrumptious delicacies, illuminating fireworks, and vividly colored dragons are clearly identified through the bold text on each page. A back section entitled "More About Chinese New Year" includes clear and simple directions for making a Chinese lantern, a fortune cookie recipe, information on the Chinese calendar and Zodiac signs, a game, a glossary, and more resources to explore. Superior to Ann Heinrichs's Chinese New Year (The Child's World, 2006), this one is a visual treat.-Michele Shaw, Quail Run Elementary School, San Ramon, CA

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