Happy Lunar New Year! The Lunar New Year starts on February 10. Celebrated by many cultures and countries around the world (including but not limited to China and Korea), the lunar new year is the beginning of the new year based on the lunar calendar. Dates vary each year, but it usually takes place in late January or early-mid February. Want to learn more or pick up some stories to help your family celebrate? Take a look at these picture books from our Children’s Room.
Boys Don’t Fry by Kimberly Lee. A young Malaysian boy enthusiastically assists his grandmother prepare their Lunar New Year dinner, all the while learning about the history of their traditional cuisine.
Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin. This exuberant story follows a Chinese American family as they prepare for the Lunar New Year. Each member of the family lends a hand as they sweep out the dust of the old year, hang decorations, and make dumplings. Then it’s time to put on new clothes and celebrate with family and friends. There will be fireworks and lion dancers, shining lanterns, and a great, long dragon parade to help bring in the Lunar New Year.
Chinese New Year Colors by Rich Lo. This vibrant, simple, and highly graphic bilingual book is the perfect introduction to Chinese and English words for colors as it honors one of the biggest holidays around the world.
Friends Are Friends, Forever by Dane Liu. Just before Chinese New Year, Dandan discovers that her family is moving to America, far away from her best friend Yueyue; before they leave Yueyue gives her a stack of red paper and a spool of string so she can share the art of paper cutting with Americans–and when Chinese New Year comes around again Dandan remembers Yueyue’s gift and introduces her new friend Christina to this ancient art.
Grace’s Chinese New Year by Jackie Huang. Sweep away the bad luck; sweep in the good luck–it’s Chinese New Year! Grace and her family are getting ready for the festivities.
Grumpy New Year by Katrina Moore. Daisy, a young Chinese American girl, is excited to be celebrating the Lunar New Year with her Yeh-Yeh in China, but at first she is too grumpy from lack of sleep to enjoy the activities he has planned.
Nian, the Chinese New Year Dragon by Virginia Loh-Hagan. Mei hates springtime. Why? Because it’s only in the spring that Nian, a fierce dragon, is able to leave his mountain prison under the sea to terrorize the local village. When the villagers hear the rumblings of Nian’s hungry stomach, they know that winter has ended and spring is coming. But this year on the night before the first day of spring, a magical warrior visits Mei in her dreams. He tells Mei that it is her destiny to face and defeat Nian. But she must do it within 15 days or the dragon will be free forever.
A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling. Ren has always been too little to help make her favorite pineapple cakes for the Lunar New Year, but when her one-of-a-kind brother Charlie arrives for the festivities, with his help, she finally gets her chance.
Tomorrow is New Year’s Day: Seollal, a Korean Celebration of the Lunar New Year by Aram Kim. Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year, is Mina’s favorite day of the year. Mina can’t wait to share the customs of Seollal with all of her friends at school. She will show her classmates her colorful hanbok, demonstrate how to do sebae, and then everyone will make tasty tteokguk in the cooking room. Yum! Her little brother may even join in on the fun… if he can find a way out of his bad mood.
Two New Years by Richard Ho. A multicultural family celebrates the traditions of two New Years–the Jewish Rosh Hashanah in the autumn, and the Asian Lunar New Year several months later.
Wish Soup: A Celebration of Seollal by Junghwa Park. Sohee’s favorite part of Seollal is tteokguk–the special Korean rice cake soup traditionally only enjoyed on New Year’s Day. Each bowl is said to make the person who eats it one year older. This year, Sohee wants to eat as many bowls as she can to finally be an eonni, or “big girl,” to her younger siblings and cousins. Before Sohee can even get to her first bowl, though, she’s interrupted by a series of holiday-related chores, leaving plenty of opportunity for her mischievous younger sister Somi to eat not only Sohee’s tteokguk, but their whole family’s!
