December 31, 2022
Little Button absolutely loves learning about different cultures and their celebrations. She’s still completely fascinated by Chinese New Year – remember the wobbly dragon she made a few years back 🐲. So, she quite literally jumped at the chance to check out this beautiful new book. Thank you so much to @scholastic_uk for sending us a copy of All About Lunar New Year by Kevin Tsang and Linh Nguyen. Here’s what we thought of it.
All About Lunar New Year by Kevin Tsang and Linh Nguyen
Synopsis
Dive into this treasure trove of all things Lunar New Year, with glorious traditions and customs inspired by countries and cultures from all over the world. Create paper firecrackers, your very own fire-breathing dragon, make tasty treats and more! This is the ultimate book of Lunar New Year fun!
Our review
All About Lunar New Year is an absolutely stunning new book, written by Kevin Tsang and illustrated by Linh Nguyen. It’s aimed at 8 to 12 years old’s, however, it could quite happily be enjoyed by much younger children when supported by a grown up. I like how it’s split into 4 clear sections, making it accessible and super easy to dip into.
Lunar New Year around the world
The first section of this book talks about the lunisolar calendar, Chinese zodiac, and is enriched with legends and traditions. This was the bit that Little Button made a beeline for. In fact, I had to wrestle with her to get it back, in order to write this review.
Each spread is beautifully presented and balanced with the most delightful illustrations, don’t you think? The large full page images take center stage, and, give a vivid window into the celebrations.
Little Buttons absolute favorite bit is all about the legend of the Chinese zodiac. And, I have to say, we were all pretty taken by the idea of the Jade Emperor making a Zodiac as a way of keeping time. Can you imagine holding a great animal race to determine the order of the Zodiac! How exciting.
Arts and Crafts
The second section features 15 fun Lunar New Year themed things to make, from paper fireworks to fluffy lucky sheep. With varying difficulties, this is a fab resource to keep the little ones entertained. Apparently Daddy Button is an OX, so you can imagine the littles delight in finding a lucky red ox craft to make in his honor. #LOL
Recipes
Next, is a recipe section featuring 12 yummy treats to make! They all look incredible. Dumplings, tray of togetherness, fortune cake and new years cake are top of our list to try. 😋 As a parent, I especially like (and am very grateful for) the simple instructions, and illustrations which indicate what the dish should look like once finished.
My Lunar New Year
And finally, towards the end of the book is a lovely and thoughtful section for little ones to record their own celebrations and goals for the New Year! We thought it would be a fab place to record all the lovely things we have tried to put into practice, such as wearing red clothing, as the color symbolizes happiness and good luck. Or, sticking in photos of recipes we have tried out.
Our overall thoughts
Hands down All About Lunar New Year by Kevin Tsang and Linh Nguyen has absolutely tickled Little Button. She simply adores it! It really is such a wonderful book, and the gorgeous illustrations make it fun and very engaging for all ages. We love the detail, and especially the thought that’s gone into the first section that covers what the Lunar New Year is.
We would 100% recommend it for any little ones bookshelf ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ *Little Button would like to give this book more than 5/5 stars, and I’d have to agree.
Order your copies now!
You can order your very own copy of All About Lunar New Year by Kevin Tsang and Linh Nguyen from all good bookstores, including Amazons and Waterstones.
Disclosure: We received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own.