Lunar New Year children’s book recommendations are by Angela Ferraris, The Retired School Librarian.
(The content below contains Amazon affiliate links. When you buy through these links, Mrs. Ferraris may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. The Retired School Librarian is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. All titles can be found on my Amazon Storefront under Lunar New Year– https://www.amazon.com/shop/mrs.ferraris/list/2K33C9R4LWHM1?ref_=aipsflist )
❗This cumulative list grows over time, with the newest books always appearing at the top.❗
Ping’s Perfect Pot
by Helen H. Wu (Author), Zihua Yang (Illustrator)
Summary: Ping and her grandpa are getting ready for the Lunar New Year. They buy a tangerine tree from the market. While Grandpa cleans the house, hangs decorations, and prepares food, Ping tries to make several different pots for the tree. He encourages Ping to keep creating, even when she faces challenges and fails several times.
Comments: The back sections are “Lunar New Year Traditions” and ” Author’s Note.”
I believe this book effectively teaches how to prepare for the Lunar New Year and highlights the importance of perseverance through repeated failures until one achieves a goal.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Sparkles for Sunny: A Lunar New Year Story
by Sylvia Chen (Author), Thai My Phuong (Illustrator)
Summary: Sunny is the youngest of the Lao family and is always getting hand-me-downs from her two older sisters. During this Lunar New Year celebration, she really wants to stand out with a unique qípáo, but her family has four golden rules: make what you can yourself, get good deals, share extras with others, and never waste anything. So, Sunny knows buying a new outfit is out of the question. What will she do?
Comments: This is a lovely story of a young girl accomplishing her goal not just by herself, but by managing to make all of their outfits unique.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Why We Eat Fried Peanuts: A Celebration of Family and Lunar New Year Traditions
by Zed Zha (Author), Sian James (Illustrator)
Summary: Mèng learns about her tài nai nai, her great-grandmother, through her father’s storytelling. He shares the Chinese traditions he learned from his grandmother and explains how his great uncle became part of the family.
Comments: Throughout the story, Mandarin words are woven in, each accompanied by informative boxes that explains their pronunciation and meaning.
The back sections include more information about Chinese history, culture, and how to make friend peanuts.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Monkey’s Sweet Surprise: A Lunar New Year Mix-Up (Tales from the Zodiac Kitchen)
by Patricia Tanumihardja (Author), Bonnie Lui (Illustrator)
Summary: Last year, Monkey messed up the Lunar New Year celebration and vowed to make it up this year by making pineapple tarts for the Jade Empress. However, he was unable to do so because he was busy helping three of his friends collect the missing ingredients for their dishes.
Comments: The back sections include a wheel of the twelve animals with their corresponding dates and a recipe for pineapple tarts.
This is a cute story to pair with a nonfiction book about the Lunar New Year.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Legendary Cakes: A Story of Tết, the Vietnamese New Year
by Kerisa Greene (Author)
Summary: Two grandchildren get to spend Tết Eve with their Bà, where they learn how to fold and make bánh chưng, a traditional New Year food. Their grandmother tells them the story of the Hùng emperor and the contest to find the most delicious dish for the New Year holiday.
Comments: The illustrations were created from scanned textures of objects such as rice paper wrappers, banana leaves, and a woven hat. Some patterns were hand-carved on wood blocks. These were digitally rendered.
The back pages include a glossary, a bánh chưng recipe with illustrations of how to fold the banana leaves, about Tết, and an author’s note.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
The Chinese New Year Helper
by Ying Chang Compestine (Author), Ginnie Hsu (Illustrator)
Summary: Jia lives in Chinatown, where her family is preparing for the Chinese New Year in their large restaurant. Whenever she tries to lend a hand, people tell her she is too young to help. However, during the celebration, Jia discovers a way to make a meaningful contribution.
Comments: The illustrations were created using gouache and then Photoshop.
There is an author’s note at the back that provides more information about Chinese New Year.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Let’s Celebrate Korean New Year!
by Michelle W. Park (Author), Hyewon Yum (Illustrator)
Summary: Two sisters wake up on Seollal, the Korean New Year, and dress in traditional Korean clothing, excited to celebrate. As they walk past a table filled with festive food, they head to the kitchen to make mandoo, a type of dumpling. Throughout the day, the girls enjoy holiday dishes, play games, and entertain their family.
Comments: The illustrations were created with colored pencil. The back sections include a glossary, an activity, and a Lunar New Year recipe.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Wish Soup: A Celebration of Seollal
by Junghwa Park
Summary: Sahee, a young girl, wants to be an eonni, a big girl, on Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year. She begins to eat her Tteokguk soup to become one year older, but keeps getting interrupted.
Comments: The illustrations were created using watercolor, colored pencils, and oil pastels, and then finished digitally.
There is a recipe for Tteokguk soup in the back.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Throw a Lunar New Year Party (Party Time!)
by Christina Leaf
Summary: This nonfiction book features illustrations and photos with each activity. There are photos of the end product, a list of materials needed, and step-by-step instructions.
Comments: An adult may need help with the recipes. I like how there is an explanation for each decoration or recipe and how it is related to the holiday.
There are six activities. There is a glossary and additional learning sections in the back.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Lunar New Year (Celebrations & Festivals)
by Natasha Yim (Author), Jingting Wang (Illustrator)
Summary: In this nonfiction picture book, Ling, her sister Mei, and grandmother, Po Po, share how they prepare and celebrate a 15-day holiday, the Lunar New Year. They clean the house, honor the Kitchen God, gather flowers, decorate, and cook food to celebrate with the family.
Comments: The first half of this book tells about Ling’s preparations and celebrations for Lunar New Year, while the second half is full of facts, with several nonfiction text features, such as photos, labeling, recipes, riddles, and a quiz.
Rating: 4.5/5 📗📗📗📗1/2
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Lunar New Year: A Celebration of Family and Fun (Big Golden Book)
by Mary Man-Kong (Author), Michelle Jing Chan (Illustrator)
Summary: This narrative nonfiction book is about a family, including grandparents, celebrating the Lunar New Year. Celebrations last for fifteen days, and more than 1.5 billion celebrate. We learn how one family dresses, gives gifts, decorates their home, and eats certain foods.
Comments: This is a great introduction to the Lunar New Year. There are a few nonfiction text features, such as a wheel of the zodiac animals and a map of the different countries in Asia that celebrate
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Boys Don’t Fry
by Kimberly Lee (Author), Charlene Chua (Illustrator)
Summary: Jin comes home to a family all helping to prepare the dishes to celebrate the Lunar New Year. His Mamah allows him to help in the kitchen.
Comments: There is an Author’s Note and recipe for Peranakan Pongtech Chicken.
The illustrations showed all of the various foods. I liked the pasted endpapers with the labeled foods.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
Two New Years
by Richard Ho (Author), Lynn Scurfield (Illustrator)
Summary: A mother teaches her family about the traditions of her new year, Rosh Hashanah in the fall, and the father teaches his family about the tradition of his new year, Lunar New Year in the spring.
Comments: The book is not divided by what is different in each year, but by what they have in common. This may be a bit confusing for children if they want to know how they are different.
I appreciated the back section, which provided more explanations of each culture for better understanding.
Rating: 4/5 📗📗📗📗
Details and buying options are on this book’s Amazon page.
The selected children’s books are chosen by a certified, retired elementary school librarian who passionately reads and recommends picture books to teachers, school librarians, parents, grandparents, and other book enthusiasts.
Most of the books Mrs. Ferraris recommends are checked out from the public library. The only exception is for the complimentary copies that she receives for an honest review, which are duly noted.