Celebrating Chinese New Year
Grade 1-5?Hoyt-Goldsmith and Migdale have done a stellar job of bringing readers into a holiday celebration. Beginning with the pre-New Year preparations, children follow 10-year-old Ryan Leong and his family as they celebrate the Chinese New Year in San Francisco. Through big, bright photographs and a clear, easy-to-follow text, readers see the preparations and festivities and learn about the history and traditions. The author includes the symbolic meanings of the foods eaten and other customs, an explanation of the Chinese Zodiac, and an in-depth look at the Lion Dance. The book is more detailed than Kate Waters's Lion Dancer (Scholastic, 1990) and June Behrens's Gung Hay Fat Choy (Children's, 1982). The color photographs make it more inviting than Tricia Brown's Chinese New Year (Holt, 1995). Hoyt-Goldsmith's excellent book makes the Chinese New Year celebration accessible and understandable to all children.?Yapha Nussbaum Mason, Brentwood Lower School, Los AngelesCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theSchool & Library Bindingedition.