Saturday was the first new moon of the year

Of the decade

The start of a new lunar year

The start of a Chinese New Year

We have been learning about how Chinese families

Celebrate the start of a new year

We have been reading books

Watching programmes on TV

And learning through art and play

Here are some of our favourite books

About China and Chinese New Year

The Great Race
The Story of the Chinese Zodiac
Written by Dawn Casey
Illustrated by Anne Wilson

This is a wonderful retelling of the tale of
The Great Race
There are several different stories
That explain how the twelve animals were chosen
For the Chinese calendar
This ancient legend
Tells how their order was decided by a great race
With bright and colourful illustrations
And rhythmic poetic text
This is a wonderful story to read aloud
All my children
Aged 2 to 9 enjoy this story
And love acting out the race with their toy animals
The book also included information
About the Chinese calendar
Special Chinese festivals
And the characters of the twelve animals

Lanterns and Firecrackers
Written by Johnny Zucker
Illustrated by Jan Barger

This is a simple introduction to the festival of
Chinese New Year
We follow a family as they prepare for and celebrate
Their spring festival
It shows and explains the different things
That the family do
The pictures are lovely and easy for children to copy
The bright dragon dance, fireworks and lanterns
Are a delight for young children
And a lovely way to begin to understand
Chinese New Year

Dragon Dance A Chinese New Year Lift The Flap Book
Written by Joan Holub
Illustrated by Benrei Huang

I love this book
The pictures are bright and offer lots of detail
For children to explore
The interactive elements of the book
Are perfect for engaging young readers
Letting them see all the special things
Families do together to celebrate Chinese New Year
The rhyming text is fun to read out loud
And is packed with information
A fun way for young readers to learn all about
This festive holiday

The Little Rat and the Golden Seed
A Story Told in English and Chinese
Illustrated by Li Jian

This is a truly beautiful book
Illustrated with Chinese ink paintings
The story tells of how rat became the first of
The twelve zodiac animals
An alternative legend to that of
The Great Race
The story exemplifies the characteristics of the rat
And so the people born in his years
This story is written in English and Chinese
We have a few books written in this way
The children enjoy looking at the Chinese writing
This is a magical adventure story
One that is exciting to read out loud

Five Flower Horse
Written by Xue Lin
Illustrated by Jian Zhi Qiu

This beautifully illustrated book
Tells the story of The Great Race
From the point of view of the horse
It then tells what happened to the horse
After the race
Horses were valuable in the Tang Dynasty
They were trained to fight in wars
To carry archers
To compete in horseback games
And to dance
This horse is a dancing horse
One of the very best
A wonderful story
About following your dreams
This book is written in both Chinese and English
It comes with a CD allowing us to listen to the story
In both languages
We listened to these stories
While colouring dragon masks for Chinese New Year
This book is one of a collection from Snowflake Books
Telling the stories of animals and their zodiac signs

New Year Around The World
Elspeth Graham

This books shares New Year celebrations
From around the world
It shares stories of hope and change
Magic and legends
We love seeing how different countries and cultures
Celebrate the start of a new year
This is a great book for comparing different festivals
The section on China is two pages
It tells of the legend behind some of the traditions
The lights, the firecrackers and the colour red
It shares some of the ways Chinese people celebrate
The information is clear and supported with illustrations and photographs

China
Written by Leonie Pratt
Illustrated by Emmanuel Cerisier

When learning about a festival
We also like to learn about the country of origin
This is a brilliant book about China for children
It tells about the country’s history
The country’s art and food
It shows Chinese writing and wildlife
The book is Internet linked so
Children can learn some Chinese phrases
Watch a video about Pandas
Find out their Chinese star sign
And prepare for New Year with a fun game
All on the Usborne Books website
This is a great resource for home education

The Willow Pattern Story
Written and illustrated by Allan Drummond

When I was a child living in Cyprus
I remember doing a dance at school
Linked to The Willow Pattern Story
I loved it and the memory has stayed with me all this time
It was in the mid 80s
So before the publication of this book
No one knows who told the first
Willow Pattern Story
There are many variations
And they seem to have started in England
The stories are inspired by the pictures
On certain pieces of willow pattern pottery
This book tells the history of the pottery
And The Willow Pattern Story
It is a beautiful story
And this book would be a wonderful way
To begin exploring the willow plate pattern
Children could look at different pieces of pottery
And write their own stories inspired by the design
Or they could design a plate that shows
Key points of their favourite story
Making and painting willow pattern plates
While listening to the stories would be a lovely activity
Twinkl has some lovely Willow Pattern lessons
And TES Resources does too

The Story of Wan-Nian’s Calendar
Written by Xue Lin
Illustrated by Jian Zhi Qiu

This is another book we have
That is written in both English and Chinese
It also comes with a CD so that we can listen to the story
In both English and Chinese
This book tells the ancient legend of Wan Nian
And how he made a shadow clock and a water clock
How he created a calendar using the sun for the seasons and the moon for the months
Wan Nian’s calendar is much more complicated
Than can be told in one book
But this beautiful retelling of an ancient legend
Is a really good place to start

Cleversticks
Written by Bernard Ashley
Illustrated by Derek Brazell

We all love this story
About a young boy starting school and feeling disheartened
All the children have a special skill that they are good at
Writing their name, tying their shoes
One day Ling Sung uses two paintbrushes as chopsticks to eat his snack
All the staff and children are amazed at his special skill
He teaches the other children to use chopsticks
And the other children help Ling Sung to become good at other things
A super starting school story
To ease worries and encourage a growth mindset in young children
To show that we are all good at something
We all have something to offer
Something special to share
The illustrations and text combine to show how we are all different
And yet in many ways we are all the same
So many positive messages from this super children’s story
A joy to read out loud and discuss with young children

And there we have some of our favourite books for Chinese New Year

Do you celebrate Chinese New Year?

Do you enjoy learning about festivals from other countries and cultures?

We have learned so much through reading these books together

Do you have a favourite book linked to Chinese New Year?