February 1 is Lunar New Year and it is the Year of the Tiger! Whether you’re celebrating or hoping to learn more about Lunar New Year traditions, we have some books for you.
Books about the Lunar New Year:
Alex’s Good Fortune
By Benson Shum
32 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593222942 | Penguin Workshop
Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for Alex and her family, so it’s even more special when she gets to share her favorite traditions with her best friend, Ethan. Together, they join the Chinese New Year parade and get to help make the dragon dance. Then they prepare for the festivities by tidying up, decorating, and making dumplings. After that, it’s time to open red envelopes, eat a great big feast, and enjoy the lantern festival! Complete with fun facts about the holiday in the back of the book, young readers will want to revisit this story again and again.
Baby Loves Lunar Phases on Chinese New Year!
By Ruth Spiro
Illustrated by Irene Chan
20 Pages | Ages 0-3 | Board Book
ISBN 9781623543068 | Charlesbridge
While celebrating Chinese New Year, Baby discovers the science behind lunar phases! Accurate enough to satisfy an expert, yet simple enough for baby, this clever board book explores the lunar calendar, the moon’s orbit, and the reason the moon seems to change shape. Beautiful, visually stimulating illustrations complement age-appropriate language to encourage baby’s sense of wonder. Parents and caregivers may learn a thing or two as well.
Lunar New Year Mad Libs
By Ellen Lee
48 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780593383926 | Mad Libs
Ring in the holiday with some ADJECTIVE firecrackers and COLOR envelopes, and celebrate Lunar New Year with your family, friends, and Mad Libs! Lunar New Year (also known as Chinese New Year) is here, and Mad Libs is joining in the celebrations with Lunar New Year Mad Libs! Filled with good cheer and good fortune, these 21 fill-in-the-blank stories about the traditions and joy of the holiday will have the whole family ready to ring in the new year together.
Maisy’s Chinese New Year
By Lucy Cousins
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback
ISBN 9781536216783 | Candlewick
Tomorrow is Chinese New Year, and Maisy’s friend Tiger is coming home for the occasion. Hooray! Tiger has brought some beautiful gifts, some with a special symbol that means good luck. Maisy has asked all her friends to her house to celebrate with a delicious feast, and Penguin and Ostrich are handing out lucky red packets with money inside. Now it’s time for Tiger to tell the story of Chinese New Year, while everyone stays up late for fireworks. But the best is to come on New Year’s Day, when Maisy and all her friends take part in a dragon dance! Vivid with red and gold, this First Experiences book – featuring a simple visual glossary of common Chinese New Year’s objects – will be a favorite of little ones new to the tradition as well as those for whom it’s a beloved event.
The 12 Days of Lunar New Year
By Jenna Lettice
Illustrated by Colleen Madden
24 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback
ISBN 9780593306789 | Random House BFYR
Count out twelve ways to celebrate Lunar New Year! This cheery addition to the 12 Days series celebrates tradition, culture, and family in the lead-up to Lunar New Year! Young readers and their caregivers will enjoy counting all the different ways they can engage with their communities and honor their ancestors. This simple rhyming story is paired with warm illustrations and a full page of stickers, making these books the perfect gift for kids
Stories to share:
Ten Little Dumplings
By Larissa Fan
Illustrated by Cindy Wume
48 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735266193 | Puffin Canada
In the city of Tainan, there lives a very special family – special because they have ten sons who do everything together. Their parents call them their ten little dumplings, as both sons and dumplings are auspicious. But if you look closely, you’ll see that someone else is there, listening, studying, learning and discovering her own talent – a sister. As this little girl grows up in the shadow of her brothers, her determination and persistence help her to create her own path in the world . . . and becomes the wisdom she passes on to her own daughter, her own little dumpling. Based on a short film made by the author, inspired by her father’s family in Taiwan, Ten Little Dumplings looks at some unhappy truths about the place of girls in our world in an accessible, inspiring and hopeful way.