It’s Chinese New Year Eve and have I got a special brand new Chinese New Year book to share with you today! This new book, written by Michele Wong McSween and illustrated by Jeannie Chen, and is part of the Gordon & Li Li series of board books. I’ve been a big fan of Gordon & Li Li ever since I discovered this series when my son, Brandon, was just a tiny little guy. In fact, Gordon & Li Li may have been our very first Chinese children’s book ever! Back then, it was practically impossible to find any books with Chinese in them which weren’t dry and boring instructional books (which, of course, I also bought). Gordon & Li Li are absolutely adorable and I challenge anyone to not fall in love with them!
In this newest book, panda cousins Gordon (from Brooklyn and only speaks English) and Li Li (from Beijing and only speaks Mandarin) teach each other about Chinese New Year in each other’s language. This beautiful and colorful book is full of fun and interesting information about Chinese New Year. It covers all the most important and celebrated aspects of the Chinese New Year event so it’s a great introduction to those wanting to learn more about the biggest Chinese holiday. For the little ones who do know about Chinese New Year, they will gleefully point to each page and probably shout something like, “Yeah, I know that! I love that!” Most of the book is in English with only the main ideas and words in Chinese, along with Pinyin and the phonetic pronunciation. It contains the perfect amount of Chinese so as not to overwhelm a little reader learning Chinese (and the parent who might not be fluent in Chinese – like me, haha). I love that the author includes the pronunciation so that you can sound out the Chinese words phonetically – it’s great for those of us who can’t read Chinese to be able to still say the words and phrases in Mandarin. It’s also an effective way to learn to read the Chinese characters.
The illustrations are colorful and delightful and the pages are strong (it’s a board book) so the tiniest loves of your life will be able to read/look at this book over and over again – which they will! But beware – there are several pages showing and explaining the traditional foods of Chinese New Year and they will make you so HUNGRY! At least it made me hungry! This book also gave me some ideas for our own Chinese New Year celebration!
If you would like to buy this book or check it out, you can find it at https://www.amazon.com/ /dp/0982088183/
Happy New Year, everyone! Xīnnián kuàilè (新年快乐)!
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂
Awww, thanks!