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492nd out of 501 books
—
486 voters
A New Year's Reunion: A Chinese Story
A New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Book of 2011!
Maomao's dad works many miles away, but he is coming home for New Year!
Little Maomao's father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him, but before long the family is happily making sticky rice balls, listening to firecrackers, and watching t...more
Maomao's dad works many miles away, but he is coming home for New Year!
Little Maomao's father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him, but before long the family is happily making sticky rice balls, listening to firecrackers, and watching t...more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
October 31st 2011
by Candlewick Press
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The New Year is a particularly happy time for Maomao because her father gets to come home for Chinese New Year. His job is far away, and he can only visit once a year. [A page at the end of the book claims that more than 100 million workers in China work hundreds or thousands of miles away from home, making it difficult to visit very often.] While he is at home, the family spends time together, doing simple things such as forming sticky balls of rice, eating, talking, and getting a haircut. They...more
Children will get a sense of how important New Year’s celebrations are in China today in the lovely new book A New Year’s Reunion, by Yu Li-Qiong, illustrated by Zhu Cheng Liang (Candlewick; 40 pp.; $15.99; ages 4 - 8). Maomao and her mother eagerly await for her father to come home. “Papa builds big houses in faraway places, / He comes home only once each year, / during Chinese New Year.” Papa’s time with his family is filled with sweet, tender moments: making sticky rice balls with Maomao and...more
This was a bittersweet story, and my niece, nephew, and I all appreciated it. I think that the children identified with the little girl in this book, because they don't get to see their father as often as they'd like. They were able to understand what it feels like to miss Dad, see him, and then have to go back to missing him again. I think it was a challenging story for them to hear, but one that stirred their emotions a bit, which is important. I think that it's good for children to learn that...more
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A young girl, Maomao, is excited for the Chinese New Year because for those few days her Papa returns home from working far away. Maomao experiences a whirlwind of emotions. She is a little bit frightened because her Papa looks like a stranger at first. She is content sleeping between her parents at night while the firecrackers can be heard from outside. She is excited to find the fortune coin! And she is upset after a day out in the snow. Throughout all those different events and emotions, Maom...more
Maomao’s father works very faraway and only comes home once a year for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao does not recognize her father but after a while things return back to normal and the family is happy to be together. The family does all of their Chinese New Year traditions such as making sticky rice balls and listening to firecrackers. One tradition that Maomao’s family does is they hide a coin in one of the sticky rice balls, whoever finds it will have good luck for the next year. Maomao f...more
"A New Year's Reunion" by Yu Li Qiong shows insight to young children about the Chinese New Year as well as the joy and sorrow that accompanies reunions. MaoMao narrates this book as she tells how her Papa works in a far away place and comes home every year just for the New Years festivities. After she warms up to him, MaoMao is given a special coin to bring good luck. When the holiday is over, Papa has to leave once again to go back to work. The illustrations in this book do a wonderful job of...more
A New Year's Reunion is a sweet story about a family where one parent isn't always around because of work and their special time of year is the Chinese New Year. Many kids will be able to relate to the main character and her kind of family. They can also talk about different traditions they have in their home. It also gives the opportunity to talk about other cultures, particularly Chinese new year which can produce many fun activities for them to do like making their own chinese lanterns, flowe...more
For three days during the Chinese New Year Celebration, a young girl and her mother are reunited with her father. Together, they enjoy the special festivities of the holiday as well as simple everyday activities - running errands, housework - that seem special with daddy home. These illustrations somehow feel both quaint and sophisticated, perhaps reflecting the traditional and contemporary qualities of modern Chinese life. I didn't think that gouache paintings, with such broad strokes and satur...more
A New Year's Reunion portrays the traditions and customs of a young Chinese girl, Maomao, and her family during Chinese New Year. This holiday is an especially important one for her family because it is the only time in the year that her father comes home, since he works very far away. Readers are introduced to traditional chinese foods such as sticky rice balls, and symbols of Chinese New Year, such as the dragon dancing through their town. This book allows children to learn about the Chinese c...more
Little Maomao s father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him, but before long she is happily spending time and bonding with her father. Best of all, Maomao finds the lucky coin! But all too soon it is time for Papa to go away again. This touching and vibrantly illustrated tale, which won the Feng Zikai Chinese Children's Picture Book Award in 2009, is a wonderful tale for children with distant relatives and shows how...more
This picturebook depicts Chinese New Year in China. Papa is a migrant worker who can only return home once a year, for the holiday. The book mixes holiday traditions with the real emotions of seeing an unfamiliar loved one and then saying goodbye again. Zhu Cheng-Liang's beautiful paintings are simple and masterful, conveying so much in very child-friendly images. There is one, when they are packing Papa up again, where the angle of their heads conveys their sadness perfectly. A beautiful book.
This is the most recent published book about the Chinese New Year, one of the few which really describe the family union and celebration at the Spring Festival at the homes of over 100 million migrant workers in China. Many of them only are able to be with their families and children for a few days in a whole year since they usually work in faraway places. The book is masterfully illustrated with so many meaningful cultural symbols and traditions.
Little Maomao's father works in faraway places and comes home just once a year, for Chinese New Year. At first Maomao barely recognizes him, but before long the family is happily making sticky rice balls, listening to firecrackers, and watching the dragon dance in the streets below. Papa gets a haircut, makes repairs to the house, and hides a lucky coin for Maomao to find. Which she does! But all too soon it is time for Papa to go away again.
In this book, Maomao waits for her father to come home for Chinese New Year. The book tells the story of all that happens during the holiday, including Maomao's finding the good-luck coin in a sticky rice ball.
I enjoyed the book, though the ending was somewhat sad. This book would be good for children to learn about some of the events that might go on during Chinese New Year.
Yu, Li, and Cheng Zhu. A New Year's reunion. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 20112007. Print.
I enjoyed the book, though the ending was somewhat sad. This book would be good for children to learn about some of the events that might go on during Chinese New Year.
Yu, Li, and Cheng Zhu. A New Year's reunion. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 20112007. Print.
This book shows the love of a family for one another as they celebrate Chinese New Year . It is the only time during the year that the dad is able to come home since he works far away building houses. It made me really grateful for my own circumstances...that my husband rarely even has to travel for work,that we see him daily. We really liked the illustrations as well.
This story was so sad, and yet so lovely: a migrant worker in China comes home only once a year at New Year's to celebrate with his family and young daughter. The daughter is at first very shy around the father she barely knows but her love for him truly shows throughout the book.
I found the illustrations gorgeous and such a poignant accompany to the story.
I found the illustrations gorgeous and such a poignant accompany to the story.
Moamoa is excited it is almost the Chinese New Year, the only time her daddy gets to come home from far away. This is a sweet story about a little girl and her daddy, and it is a book that highlight some of the traditions of the chinese new year.
This book would be cute to use as a read aloud in January around the time of the Chinese New Year. I think it is also a good way to promote multiculturalism in the classroom.
This book would be cute to use as a read aloud in January around the time of the Chinese New Year. I think it is also a good way to promote multiculturalism in the classroom.
This was a well-deserved New York Times Best illustrated title, but the text is also accomplished. I'm wondering if there was a translator or if the author translated? (It looked like the book was first published in Taiwan a few years ago. A good example of a picture book taking on a moving and satisfying realistic family story.
This is a welcome addition to the libraries, holiday book collection. The customs and traditions of Chinese New Year are provided in a wonderful family story. I just wish the author had explained why the father had to work so far from home and why he was away for most of the year.
It is a great book to use when the students are learning about the holidays. The students can relate because sometimes the mother or the father has to go out of town. It has great illustrations like the dragon for the New Year’s celebration, rice balls, and the red money envelope. It shows that usually the Chinese culture only has one child and that the family is very united. Students will learn a lot about the Chinese culture and one of its special holidays.
Interesting book about a Chinese family celebrating the Chinese New Year! Provides insight into the Chinese culture from the perspective of a child, and therefore, is easy to comprehend for young children/students. Great for elementary grades!
Beautiful illustrations mark this charming holiday story about a little girl and her father whom she only sees once a year, on Chinese New Year. This would make an wonderful pair with The Runaway Wok for a Chinese New Year story time.
Simple, yet bitter-sweet story about Lunar New Year, one that involves all the well known traditions, but is really about a young girl spending time with her father on a rare trip home from work. Could make you tear up at the end.
A lovely book about families and the importance of Chinese New Year set in China. In addition, the book provides a different face of migrant workers that resonates across countries and cultures.
This book was supposed to celebrate family and the special traditions, but it actually had a little bit of the opposite effect on me. It was a little depressing to read about families that only get to be with each other once a year and while I did appreciate learning more about another culture, it was bleak in comparison. I can't imagine what that would be like - but in some ways, it was good that this book brought it up, because I hadn't been aware of it before. It was interesting to see the pe...more
PK-3
A story of a Chinese child and her family at Chinese New Years.
It is a good introduction to another culture. I would especially consider reading it during the Chinese New Year.
A story of a Chinese child and her family at Chinese New Years.
It is a good introduction to another culture. I would especially consider reading it during the Chinese New Year.
Warm and poignant story of a father's visit to his wife and child for a few days during New Years before returning to his work far away. I liked the illustrations too.
In some parts of China, parents may work far away and only get to see their children once a year. In this story, a little girl describes how she and her mother get ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the return, for a short time, of her father. New Year's customs are described as well as the girl's relationship with her father. I loved the bright illustrations, and especially how cute the little girl looks. For other books about absentee parents, see Jacqueline Woodson's Coming Home Soon...more
A beautifully illustrated book about a young Chinese girl who only sees her father, a migrant worker, for a few days during New Year's celebrations each year.
Another story of a migrant worker, this time in China. Great to pair with MIgrant and Amelia's Road for multiple perspectives on a global scale.
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Yu Li Qiong was born in Anqing in the People’s Republic of China in 1980. She holds a BA in literature from Nanjing University and an MA in dramatic art. Yu Li Qiong lives in China.
More about Yu Li Qiong...
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