263 books
—
21 voters
Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “Mooncakes” as Want to Read:
Mooncakes
by
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 g
...more
Hardcover, 32 pages
Published
April 1st 2013
by Orca Book Publishers
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
Mooncakes,
please sign up.
Recent Questions
Community Reviews
Showing 1-30

Start your review of Mooncakes

I liked the story and illustrations, but after I read the story I had to look up what the moon festival celebrated because I still didn't know.
...more

Nov 07, 2018
Abigail
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Readers Looking for Picture-Books About the Moon Festival and/or Chinese Folk Beliefs About the Moon
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 th
...more

In Mooncakes by Loretta Seto, follows the story of a little girl who is celebrating the Moon Festival with her parents. As her family eats mooncakes, her parents share stories/folktales about the moon and those who live on the moon. This book does a great job of sharing the Chinese culture by the stories the parents tell their daughter and what the moon festival is all about. Although book itself does not have a resolution to a problem, but the Chinese folktales that are shared do. The book has
...more

This was my first time reading a story about mooncakes through a lyrical lense. This story depicts a girls who is celebrating the Moon Festival with her parents and as the time moves along her parents tell her the historical fiction that of an magical true, a jade rabbit who lived on the moon, and how a women got to eternal life. This cute yet informational story is quite an realistic plot. The scenes portrayed in this story is what happens quite often in Chinese culture on this particular day.
...more

This picturebook with its soft illustrations and nod to traditional Chinese fables provides a beautiful glimpse into the celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival. The book frames three fables within the context of a young girl and her parents celebrating the Moon Festival by sitting outside, eating moon cakes and drinking tea, and recounting stories. This framing draws readers into the intimacy and purpose of this holiday, as a family takes time to celebrate unity as they rest together. The fabl
...more

this children’s picture book centered around a young girl celebrating the chinese moon festival w/ her parents. they hung paper lanterns, ate mooncakes, drank tea and talked about 3 legends of who lives on the moon and why.
my favorite was jade rabbit 💚🐰
”long ago, three moon magicians wanted to test the kindness of animals on earth. the magicians turned themselves into three poor old men and pretended to beg for food...but when the moon magicians asked rabbit, he had nothing to give. instead, ra ...more
my favorite was jade rabbit 💚🐰
”long ago, three moon magicians wanted to test the kindness of animals on earth. the magicians turned themselves into three poor old men and pretended to beg for food...but when the moon magicians asked rabbit, he had nothing to give. instead, ra ...more

In this book, Mooncakes by Loretta Seto, a little girl and her parents are celebrating the Chinese Moon Festival. As they eat traditional mooncakes, her parents tell her stories about 3 different Chinese folktales about the moon. My favorite part of this book is the accurate portrayal of the Chinese culture and holiday. I think this would be a great addition to the multicultural book section of a library because it really gives an authentic view of the culture and aspects of it including traditi
...more

I'm super medium on this book. My gripe is the flow, the book illustrates different Chinese folk tales that deal with the moon and in between each one the narration cuts back to the child with her parents. The present day bits just felt repetitive. AND as I write that sentence I realize that a child would totally be into that and only a grown up adult reader might be less than thrilled by it. This is a great book to read to kids that have been talking/ asking about the moon or for families getti
...more

This is a great book for children to read as it teaches them about some of the folktale type stories that are told to young Chinese children during their moon day festival. The pictures in the book show a loving family and they really compliant the books story. It may be harder for new readers as the sentences are a little bit longer and the change of sense may be confusing, it is a good book for children who can already read but are not ready for full chapter books or books with a complicated p
...more

Challenge: May 2020 2/31 books. Parents share the traditions of the Chinese Moon Festival with their child including the traditional stories about various inhabitants of the moon and how they got there as the result of good actions or misdeeds. The family circle is signified by the shape of the mooncakes, the lanterns, and the moon. Softly rendered illustrations in pencil, watercolor, and gouache reflect the pearl glow of the moon. Another wonderful gift for a child. This harvest festival is cel
...more

I was reading up on the Mid-Autumn Festival since some of my ESL students celebrate it (and one of them brought me mooncakes!), and this one came up on the list. Very nice tale, although too long for storytime. I actually enjoyed the addition of the traditional tales in the body of the story. And the illustrations were lovely. Very nice.

This book is filled with stories that parents tell at the time of Chinese Moon Festival. The stories were nice but there wasn’t enough of an explanation of what the festival is about, or enough in the stories the parents are telling the child, to give those who don’t celebrate the Moon Festival and understanding of what it is about.
+11 #wintergames #teamelectricsex #impulseread
+11 #wintergames #teamelectricsex #impulseread

This was a cute childrens' book with very beautiful illustrations. However not knowing anything about the chinese moon festival and the traditions that are normally celebrated, I felt a little confused and left out. I still don't know about the moon festival, or how the story that the little girl is told, relates to the moon festival. But overall I enjoyed it.
...more

I visited the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon recently. While there I tried mooncakes for the first time. And that's when I was introduced to Loretta Seto's Mooncakes book. What a simple, little kids book that teaches simple truths. I learned a little about Chinese culture; I learned about the Jade Emperor, Hou-Yi, and Chang-E; I learned about Wu-Gang, the selfish woodcutter; and I learned about the Jade Rabbit. Good little book. Great art.
...more

I'm using this for a lesson about family traditions. While I like the stories within the story, I wish there was only one or two. I think there ends up being too many 'moon' stories and they end up taking away from the story of the girl and her family, which was the story I liked best of them all.
...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

It was so adorable! I even teared up for some reason, maybe it's cause I'm sick and I need something warm and fuzzy and this picture book was exactly that.
...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
News & Interviews
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” So, this January, as we celebrate Martin Luther King...
36 likes · 13 comments
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »