It's Chinese New Year!

In this installment of the Bumba Books: It's a Holiday series, the spotlight is on Chinese New Year. On each two-page spread, a full-color, full-bleed photo shows a feature of the festivities, while straightforward sentences describe that feature in terms ideal for preschooler comprehension. A photo of a team of dancers wielding a frilled dragon in a parade is paired with People dance to celebrate. Some people dress as dragons. A photo of tiled rooftops lined with glowing red paper lanterns appears alongside People decorate with red. This color means good luck. Though the information is slight, it covers the major elements kids in the target audience would recognize, like decorations, food, presents, and time of year. Occasional critical-­thinking questions offer opportunities for deeper consideration. Though an image of a Chinese lunar calendar, which has little explanation and no comparison to the Gregorian calendar, could be confusing for some readers, this is a useful introduction to the basics of a holiday that will likely be unfamiliar for many young ones.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist

While the vibrant contemporary photos are attractive, the lack of cultural background information limits these books' usefulness. There's no historical information in Thanksgiving; Chinese New Year contains none of the holiday's legends; and Halloween vaguely mentions that "it started in Europe." The simplistic texts include sidebars with reader-engagement questions (e.g., "What else might people give thanks for?"). Reading list. Glos., ind. [Review covers the following Bumba Books: It's a Holiday! titles: It's Thanksgiving!, It's Chinese New Year!, and It's Halloween!.] (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.