Our Lunar New Year - (Asian Holiday) 2nd Edition by Yobe Qiu (Hardcover)

It's like getting 5 books at once! We really enjoyed all the communities featured. It's hard to get a book that has Thai's songkran and India's Diwali in one book - as an Asian American, i appreciate that these communities are featured. Such an interesting book that has all the different communities and are illustrated by several illustrators too!

Ok what I like: beautiful pics and detailed description of Chinese celebration of lunar new year. That’s about it. What I don’t like- there’s a lot. I don’t understand why there is a sudden change in illustration style for Vietnamese Thai and Korean sections. The illustrations were kinda creepy/morbid. The faces looked drabby and dull. Almost lifeless, even though they are smiling. It looks SO different from Chinese and Indian celebrations. See pics. Next, my biggest peeve about this book is that Thailand and India are included in this book even though it doesn’t align with the title. They don’t celebrate lunar new year at the same time that Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean do, so…..?????? Just way off. Diwali is in the fall and Songran in April. Now this is just me doing a Google search, Songkran marks the beginning of Thai new year. However, the timing has nothing to do with the lunar calendar. So it really shouldn’t be in a “Lunar New Year” book. Same for Diwali aka the Festival of Lights. It’s not even about celebrating Indian New Year. It would be a much better book if 1) the illustrations were more consistent as well as happy bright looking. 2) change the title! Maybe something like “Celebrations Around the World in Asia”. That would’ve been a much more fitting title. While I love Yobe Qius mission of writing books for her daughter to see herself represented in books, I can’t love this one. And quite frankly I can’t suggest this book to anyone. I was going to use it as a cultural lesson for lunar new year in my daughters kindergarten class but it would just be confusing. What I also don’t like is that non Asians who read this and don’t know any better, will get the wrong info. Please consider changing the content Yobe. As well as changing the book description. It is misleading. It gave the impression that said countries are all celebrating lunar new year coincidentally. Sadly, I cannot bring myself to purchase other Asian books by Yobe because this book greatly failed my expectations.

Our Lunar New Year: Celebrating Lunar New Year in Asian Communities is a great way to find out how five Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year. It was a fun way of learning more about Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese and Indian have their own way of celebrating this holiday. I loved seeing the Chinese dancing dragons, the Vietnamese lion costumes, the games the Korean children play, the Thai parades, and how the Indian people decorate for the exciting holiday. There was a lot I learned about each one of the cultures: the food they eat, how they spend their day (or even over several days), and other traditions they during this time. It was fun to see that Our Lunar New Year: Celebrating Lunar New Year in Asian Communities is illustrated by three different talented artists: Christine Kim, Jennifer Prevatt and Pui Yu Chan. The pictures give great visualizations of the individual Lunar New Year celebrations of each of the countries. They were a great addition to the book. I am giving Our Lunar New Year: Celebrating Lunar New Year in Asian Communities five stars. I recommend it for readers who are between the ages of three and ten years old, as well as, for those who enjoy reading about their own or others’ cultures. I received a hard cover copy of Our Lunar New Year: Celebrating Lunar New Year in Asian Communities from the publisher, but was not required to write a positive review. This review is one hundred percent my own honest opinion.