Bringing In the New Year

A loving family celebrates Chinese (or Lunar) New Year in this brightly-illustrated picture-book from author/artist Grace Lin. As Jie-jie sweeps the doorstep and Ba-ba hangs up spring-happiness poems, the entire family gets into the spirit, welcoming in the new year with joy and festivity...

Pairing a simple text - no more than a sentence or two per page - with colorful gouache illustrations, Bringing in the New Year is a pleasing picture-book celebration of this important moment in the Chinese year. Like Lin's Dim Sum for Everyone!, which I have also read, it seems aimed at younger, preschool children, perhaps ages two through five, and introduces many customs and objects associated with Chinese New Year. I do feel, much as I did with show more Dim Sum for Everyone!, that it would have been nice to specify what words like Jie-jie (older sister) and Mei-mei (younger sister) mean, but leaving that aside, this is one I would recommend to picture-book readers seeking simple but appealing Chinese/Lunar New Year titles. show less

This delightful board book introduces a Chinese family and their activities to bring in the new year, culminating in the dragon parade. The text is relatively simple and introduces several key customs of the holiday without being overly didactic but rather letting them flow smoothly into the story of the family preparing for the new year. The book ends with a factual description of the holiday and elucidates some of the family's actions in the story by explaining the meaning behind the customs. Throughout the book, the bright and cheery illustrations are eye-catching and help to expand on the story. The toddlers in my class were especially compelled by the pictures and pointed out details like the snow or asked questions about things show more they didn't recognize. show less

I liked reading, “Bringing in the New Year” for two reasons because of the illustrations and the point of view. The drawings of the Chinese dragon represent the customs and traditions of the Chinese culture, but also the symbolic importance to their holidays and celebrations. The use of color and paint is vibrant and lively, representing the happiness of their celebrations. The drawings of the people and families with big smiles on their faces are ready for their favorite holiday of the year. In addition, the point of view in the book is of a young child describing Chinese New Year. She talks about her family and the planning process they go through leading up to the very special holiday. The point of view of the young girl adds to show more the suspense of the story because she wonders if the holiday is coming, and leads up to the dragon at the end of the book, so she knows Chinese New Year is going to occur. She stated, “And I put on my new qi pao dress for the New Year feast. Now will the New Year come?” The big idea/message of the book is the significance of family and cultural traditions, and the role they play in one’s life. The importance is for students to understand individual cultures and respect everyone’s differences. show less

I liked this book a lot for a few reasons. First, because I did not know much about the Chinese New Year, so it was interesting to learn about a different cultures holiday. I also really enjoyed the illustrations because they were very colorful and detailed. The picture of the lion that is used to “scare away last years bad luck” was so colorful that it really stood out to me. I also really enjoyed the plot of the book because throughout it, different ways of celebration were shown. From making dumplings, using firecrackers, lighting lanterns, so many traditions are done that I enjoyed learning about. I think the overall message of this book is just to teach different cultures in a simple way about the Chinese New Year. The book did show more a great job of showing customs and traditions done during this holiday as well as helpful illustrations in order for readers from a different culture to see how the New Year can be celebrated in another culture. show less

I loved this book! I really liked how it follows a girl celebrating the Chinese New Year. I think this book is fantastic because of the culture and diversity to offers to readers. Throughout the story we learn about the different traditions and cultural aspects through the text and illustrations. The illustrates help narrate the story as well. I like how clear and colorful they are. It is easy to see exactly what the character is doing and the tradition she is participating in. I also liked how the story was relatable and easy to follow. For example, the text was simplified and the character was relatable. She enjoyed celebrating the holiday with her family like most young children. The big idea of this book is to be aware of different show more cultures and traditions within that culture. I think this book gives young readers the opportunity to learn something new and appreciate diversity. show less

I enjoyed the book because it taught people the traditions of the Chinese New Year through the story of a little girl going to a festival celebrating the new year. Through the girl's journey throughout the festival, the book describes various kinds of cultural aspects of the holiday visually through illustrations, an example being when the author writes about the decorative lion and how they are supposed to scare away last year's bad luck. The colorful images and descriptive language allow the reader to mentally imagine the various traditions. I learned a lot about Chinese culture through reading the story and I found it very interesting, it would easily grab the attention of young readers. The language is also simple so the story is show more easy to comprehend for starting readers.
The main message of the book is to be open to learning about other cultures and to embrace diversity because it's fun and exciting to learn about the similarities and differences in how different kinds of people celebrate their holidays show less

In my opinion this is a very happy, educational, and an enjoyable read. The first pages in the book are full of traditional Chinese items for the new year; there are pictures of items and labels to go with them so the readers know what they are looking at. The book is about the traditional Chinese New Year and before reading this, I was unfamiliar with their preparation for the holiday. It was interesting to compare their holiday to the American traditions. The illustrations were cheerful and colorful to represent the happiness and mood of the holiday. The text and language was simple enough for a beginning reader to understand and read on their own. The plot was nicely organized, going through each process of the traditions. I learned show more that the Chinese New Year is not only about bringing in the new year, but it is about cleansing from the previous year as well. I liked that the inside front and back cover included pictures for the holiday and then the inside pages were a story of a girl and her family celebrating the holiday. It was enjoyable to see the tradition through the eyes of a child. I would recommend this to lower elementary school students when introducing different cultures and holidays. show less