Mooncakes

I really enjoyed reading this book for many reasons. First, there are folktales incorporated in the story that provide insight into Chinese tales that are around. For example, when the young girl and her parents are in their backyards watching the moon, her parents tell her about the women who lives on the moon, Chang-E, because she drank the elixir that took her to the Jade Palace. These stories bring awareness to the Chinese culture, which I admired about the book. Second, the descriptive language adds to the books. For example, “We watch small, dusty clouds brush the moon’s face. The wind shakes the leaves.” With this sentence, I can imagine the setting, and relate it back to any experience I’ve had watching the moon at show more night. Lastly, one thing I didn’t appreciate was that the characters all looked the same. For example, when the family is watching the moon outside, all of their faces look exactly the same. This could potentially promote stereotyping and is a false illustration of a typical Chinese family. The main message of this book is keeping family and cultural traditions around; sharing knowledge with children. show less

A young Asian-Canadian girl celebrates the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival with her parents in this lovely picture-book from debut author Loretta Seto and veteran illustrator Renné Benoit. As the girl describes this special night, in which her Mama and Baba let her stay up late with them, watching the moon, eating mooncakes, and telling stories, three traditional Chinese folktales are worked into her narrative, in the form of tales told by her parents. The first is the tale of Chang-E, who swallowed the elixir of immortality to keep it from her cruel husband, the archer Hou-Yi, and now lives on the moon**. The second is the story of Wu-Gang, a woodcutter who chops eternally at the cassia tree standing in the Jade Emperor's garden on the moon. show more The third is the narrative of Jade Rabbit, brought to the moon by three magicians, who were amazed at his willingness to sacrifice himself, to feed others...

Only the second children's story I have read that is devoted to the subject of China's Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - the other was Grace Lin's Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival - Mooncakes is a lovely little picture-book, one that pairs an engaging narrative with appealing artwork. I appreciated the way that Loretta Seto managed to spin a story about a contemporary young girl and her loving bond with her parents, while also including some moon-related folklore from the Chinese tradition. The illustrations by Benoit, whose work I know from such titles as Lily and the Paper Man, are just lovely, with a wonderfully subtle autumnal palette that felt appropriate, given the subject matter. Recommended to anyone looking for picture-books about the celebration of the Moon Festival, or for children's stories that address Chinese folk beliefs about the moon.

** Folklore enthusiasts will be interested to know that this is just one version of the story. In others, Chang-E swallows the elixir, not to keep it from her husband, but to keep it from an unrelated thief. This variant of the story sees her choosing to live on the moon in order to be close to her husband, who begins the tradition of making offerings to the moon, in order to assure Chang-E that she is still in his heart. show less

There are two reasons why I enjoyed reading this book. The first is for the illustrations. One of the pages is a picture painted in watercolors; to create soft whimsical image in a traditional Chinese style, to show and to emphasize the warm family oriented tone of the book. The illustrations give the reader a visual of what goes on during the moon festival and created a deeper understanding. The second reason I enjoyed this book is through the characters. The characters portray cultural accuracy and authenticity through important traditions and values associated in the moon festival such as family and kindness. Even though the characters are “out of this world” they still give important lessons to the reader. For example, the show more character Hou-yi wanted to live forever so that he could rule China. This shows the reader how one person ruling over everyone can be a bad thing and shows how kindness can save the world. The big idea of this book is to show that celebrating cultural festivals can bring people together in order to create kindness, and selflessness. Exposing readers to the cultural details gives them a deep understanding of a different way of celebrating traditions. show less

This book gives an insight into Chinese folklore through mooncakes. Every story told by her parents is captivating the illustrations further enhance this great book.

Nicely done. A bit unsatisfying to me, but I'm a pretty jaded reader. Turns out the Chinese Moon Festival is a quiet sort of Thanksgiving (though it could be scaled up, I'm sure).

Mooncakes is the lyrical story of a young girl who shares the special celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival with her parents. As they eat mooncakes, drink tea and watch the night sky together, Mama and Baba tell ancient tales of a magical tree that can never be cut down, the Jade Rabbit who came to live on the moon and one brave woman's journey to eternal life. With a gentle focus on the importance of family, Mooncakes is a perfect book for parent and child to read together, while its educational aspect makes it ideal for school libraries that wish to provide an insight into a unique cultural holiday.

This book is about a little girl telling about her Chinese traditions. It shows the importance of the traditions and the importance of family while taking part in these traditions. This books has a great way of telling the history behind Chinese tradition of mooncakes. I really like the way they made it easy for children to understand. These are traditions that children would most likely remember after reading the book because it is made into a children's story. I like how the characters in the story are depicted in both dialogue and in the illustrations. It shows the family always close together, for example when they are sitting outside under the moon they are all sitting very close together under one blanket. This makes it obvious to show more the reader that family is very important when celebrating these traditions. This would be a good story to read to students in class to share history and Chinese tradition, but it also would be a great book for parents to read with children! show less