Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim, illustrated by Grace Zong

Rating: 4 stars

At the rate we're going, we're going to have to keep renewing this book until the Chinese New Year! (It is late September as I type this...)  Kiefer will not let me return it--he's pulled it out of the library bag twice already.

It's definitely worth telling you about, and since it's been sitting around our house, I've been reading it almost once a day for the past few weeks.

Natasha Yim wrote a great Chinese twist of Goldylocks and the Three Bears. On Chinese New Year, Goldy Luck's mom asks her to bring a plate of turnip cakes to her next door neighbors. Once there, she tastes the family's congee rice porridge, determines the one in the plastic bowl is just right and gobbles it all up. She feels sleepy so tests the three chairs available, favoring the fun rocking chair--she ends up rocking it to pieces. Oops! She still feels sleepy and wanders to the bedrooms, selecting the third bed, a little futon, and falling fast asleep.

The (panda) bear family come home to this mess and finds the messy intruder fast asleep...until she is startled awake by their presence and runs back home immediately, embarrassed by her behavior. She thinks of her neighbors all day, and returns--with a fresh bowl of congee--to help clean up and celebrate the new year together.

There are lots of lessons to draw from this book, or you can simply enjoy the nice version of a classic story with wonderful illustrations by Grace Zong. Better yet, make the turnip cakes from the recipe in the back of the book and bring one by my house, please!

My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz

My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz
Rating: 5 stars

Bottom line up front: this is the best explanation of Chinese New Year that we've found.  I'm curious if there are other books people have found to explain the holiday, one that is mostly foreign to us but one that we're very curious about.

Ever since we read The Runaway Wok a few weeks ago, Lorelei has been very curious about Chinese New Year.  I'm super excited about her interest in anything cultural--as a former Peace Corps Volunteer I'm all about introducing cultures other than our family's American, Polish, Cajun cultures.  I've found a place to take her on 12 February, so I'm hoping she doesn't get freaked out by the loud drums and fireworks.  But you never know until you try! 



Gung Hay Fat Choy!

 Anyway, back to the book, which is one of the Chinese New Year books on our shelf to help prepare us for our little field trip.  Karen Katz's books are simple; every time I read them I wonder why I didn't think of that.  But they're also sweet, and the drawings are just the same--simple and sweet. 

But this one is a more than simple and sweet--it's actually a really great introduction to Chinese New Year because it outlines all the different customs within the holiday--customs like sweeping your house (to get the bad spirits out), decorating the walls with red paper (for good luck), purchasing plum and quince blossoms (to remind us new things can grow), and getting your hair cut (to start the year all fresh and new).  There's lots more packed in there, too, and each custom has an illustration to match that helps explain the custom, visually, to the little readers.

If you're a teacher, My First Chinese New Year is a great educational tool.  Karen Katz also has written My First Ramadan and My First Kwanzaa, too, in case you're looking for a complete, introductory set to lesser known holidays!

The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale by Ying Chang Compestine

The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale by Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Sebastia Serra

Rating: 4.5 stars

Yesterday I was itching to get out of the house, so when I put Ben down for his nap Lorelei and I scooted out the door to go to the grocery store...and hit the bookstore on the way there.  We almost didn't make it to the grocery store--there were too many good books to read!  We'd were ready to leave but then she'd find another book and say, "This is the last one, Mommy!" and then I'd see another I wanted to read and say the same thing back to her.  When I told my mother that we were there for about 90 minutes, she asked if there was a sale or something.  No way!  We didn't buy anything.  We just went to read.

While I wonder if Lorelei is related to me when she pushes away an uneaten dessert, I know she's mine when we can spend hours at a bookstore.  Together! 

Anyway, this was one of the books that caught my eye and I just couldn't leave without reading it.  I have a special spot in my heart for anything Asian--I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand and I have a graduate degree in Southeast Asian Studies (that is gathering dust!).  The Chinese New Year is coming up (3 February 2011) so there was a small display of Chinese books. 

The Runaway Wok is a story of sharing, a Robin Hood-style tale where a rusty old wok steals from the richest family in Beijing and gives to the poorest family in the city.  Of course, the rich family never shared any of their food, toys, and money, and of course the poor family shares all of the food, toys, and money that come their way.  The illustrations are high-spirited to say the least, and the scenes were just so different than what Lorelei is used to seeing, that these alone would have kept us in the bookstore for another hour.

"What's a wok, Mommy?"  Proudly, I said: what we used to make bee bim bop last night! 

"What are those lanterns for?"  They are decorations for the new year festival, or party.

"What's that dragon?"  A big puppet-like thing that walks and dances through the street!  Cool, huh?

"Can we see one sometime?"  Ok!  You got it!  Let me figure out where we can go!

THIS is why a book like this is so wonderful--to start conversations like this, to start thinking a bit differently, to just broaden--if only ever so slightly--the horizons of a young child.

I think my only mild critique is the way the rich family gets carried off.  The wok tricks them into chasing it and falling in, and then carries them away from the city forever.  For not sharing!  But I think it's appropriate and wouldn't change it--it's a fable, after all, and if it makes Lorelei a better share-r (to fear that Mommy's wok will magically whisk her away forever), well...that's not bad!