Moy Moy

by Leo Politi

A little Chinese girl in Los Angeles participates in the celebration of the Chinese New Year.

Genres: Picture Books, Holiday

32 pages, Library Binding

First published June 1, 1960

About the author

Leo Politi was born in California and spent most of his childhood in Italy. He was an artist and children's book author. He was especially drawn toward Mexican themes.

Reviews

[Mir · Rating 4 out of 5]

I assume this book was intended to teach children a little about Chinese culture and make it seem sympathetic. As a little kids growing up in San Francisco I failed to realize it was portraying something exotic and different -- to me it was a realistic book about a family celebrating the new year. The shops look like the many shops I saw walking around my neighborhood, plenty of Chinese people then (and still some now, tho fewer) wore traditional clothes part of the time, practically everyone celebrated Lunar New Year and went to see the parades. I even called my little sister Moy Moy because that's what our friends called their little sisters.



I have even fed "lettuce" to the lion! It is not scary, kids, you just scream and pretend to be scared.



I remember wondering why she wanted the doll the most when those kites look so much cooler.

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have loved to read this as a child. It was written in the 60s when Chinese culture was pretty mysterious. This is about a family getting ready for Chinese New Years. Moy Moy means little Sister. She has 3 older brothers. I like that they talk about the characters and how to say Happy New Year in Chinese.

I had fun reading this to the kids. I got to talk about all the things I learn at school that relate to this story. They thought it was a good story. It got 3 stars.

I like reading these older stories. This was a good book and I'm glad I found it.

[Aleska Sever · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it contains relevant aspects of Chinese culture. The story is about a girl, called "Moy Moy", and her brothers who are preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year in San Francisco. This book is categorized as Non-fiction. The book has illustrations with many details, however, I think that many of these illustrations overload the book and can cause distraction of children. In addition, Moy Moy is a book that supports knowledge of a new culture through the New Year. I would emphasize in this book about respect for other cultures, the necessary elements to celebrate the new year. The children's reaction to this book is to be more curious about Chinese culture.

[Laura]

This is a great book to talk about cultural diversity and respect. It is the story about a Chinese family that lives in Los Angeles and celebrates their New Year. I would have students read it and then talk about their thoughts and curiosity in Chinese culture.

[Capn · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better Chinese New Year storybooks I've read, but just not quite as culturally in-depth as Politi's Mexican and Mexican-American books (Rosa, Three Stalks of Corn for example). Would have liked just a little more content, and though there were both the lion dance and the dragon dance, there was nothing about the family meals or feast, and "Chinese cookies and candies" (where's my Haw Flakes?!) is just not up to snuff compared to Politi's usually very detailed descriptions of a specific food served only at that particular celebration, etc. Apart from the lucky money dangled for the lion to eat (and not sui choy? It was always a vegetable as well in Vancouver's Chinatown, anyway), there wasn't much about 'luck' and bringing luck for the coming year. No mandarin oranges, no red and gold colour scheme mentioned... and "Gung Hay Sun Nin" I have never heard (Gung Hay Fat Choy is what we have always said for "Happy (Prosperous) New Year". Sun Nin Fai Lok, too...). Then again, I'm not exactly fluent in Cantonese.

Still good, still Politi, still worth reading, but not his best.. though again, still worth a go. :)