Review by Booklist Review
Family is at the heart of this bilingual Mandarin-English board book, which follows one family's preparations for and celebration of Chinese New Year. Simple cut-paper artwork features stick-figure people engaged in a highlighted activity on colorful backgrounds, creating scenes about a variety of traditions, such as cleaning the house, shopping for new clothes, making dumplings, and lighting firecrackers. Each spread devotes one page to the illustration and a key vocabulary term (always a family member here), while the opposing page uses the word(s) in a sentence. For example, "Daddy helps me cut my hair." On all pages, the text is printed in Mandarin (both in pinyin and zhù yīn), under which the English is provided. Those wishing to hear pronunciations, whether in Chinese or English, can scan the included QR code, which links to a free audio recording of the book. This title concludes with a two-page family tree that shows the vocabulary for the maternal and paternal sides of the family, from grandparents down (two generations) to "me / wŏ."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Toddler-PreS--This bright, bilingual board book focuses on vocabulary for family members as the characters prepare for Lunar New Year. Each spread has one side of text that includes large traditional Chinese characters with Zhuyin and Pinyin, and the English translation at the bottom. In all languages, the words for the different family members are highlighted. On the other side of the spread is a simple stick-figure paper cutout illustration of the action described, such as "Little sister and I make dumplings together." As Chinese family labels are often different depending on age to the speaker or side of the family, the last spread is a family tree with three generations of family vocabulary, many of which were introduced in the text. With an emphasis on family, this book doesn't have an explanation of the holiday-related actions, making it a good choice for families that already celebrate or a starting point for families who aren't familiar with the holiday. VERDICT A fun bilingual book of family vocabulary with a holiday twist. Recommended for collections where Chinese bilingual books are popular or needed.--Jennifer Rothschild
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