the year of the cat

by Phuong Chi Nguyen, Daniel Rettig, Mae Linh Rettig

English Summary:
The legend of the Lunar New Year Race tells of how the first
twelve animals that finished would be honored in the zodiac. But one very important animal is missing...

What happened to the Cat?

Follow the clever Cat on a magical journey through the ancient land of Vietnam to finally win its rightful place among the chosen twelve.

Vietnamese summary:
Sự tích về Cuộc Đua Tết Nguyên Đán kể về lần đầu tiên
mười hai con vật hoàn thành sẽ được vinh danh trong cung hoàng đạo. Nhưng thiếu một con vật rất quan trọng ...

Chuyện gì đã xảy ra với con mèo?

Hãy theo chân chú Mèo thông minh trong chuyến hành trình kỳ diệu xuyên qua vùng đất cổ xưa của Việt Nam để cuối cùng giành được vị trí xứng đáng trong số mười hai được chọn.

32 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 10, 2023

Reviews

[Svet Mori · Rating 5 out of 5]

« The Year of the Cat » is a familial project from Phuong Chi Nguyen, better know under her pen name Jeannie Lin, co-written with her children, Daniel and Mae Linh, while her mother Hai took care of the vietnamese translation. The purpose was to make the young generation discover their culture and grandma's language, but also to allow other families to do the same. So this book is bilingual, with vietnamese on left pages and english on right ones, above the gorgeous illustrations by Thaomy Le bringing us through mountains, countryside and villages. And can we talk about how cute and expressive the cat is ?

Impossible to tell much of the story without spoiling the pleasure of discovering it. If you probably know 2023 is the year of rabbit in chinese zodiac, maybe do you ignore it's not the case everywhere ; in Vietnam, cat takes rabbit's place. To understand why, you will have to dive in this very beautiful children book's pages !

The text is very accessible, with short sentences and simple vocabulary perfectly suited to young children, but also beginner adult learners. No french translation on the horizon, so you'll need at least some bases in one of the book's two languages to appreciate it.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun look at what might be a little-known fact – that the Chinese zodiac is one different from the Vietnamese. The Chinese have the Year of the Rabbit while the same lunar twelvemonth for the Vietnamese revolves around the Cat – and this colourful drama is a fable-styled look at why. It's very much steeped in tradition – you can feel this would have been told in similar fashion at any time since Aesop's day, although modern means present this as a bilingual book, featuring the original Vietnamese and the English translation. Probably of more import to people of the right Asian heritage, this still travels fairly well and will be worth anyone's time for at least one read.

[Maryanne]

Cute story, nice art

[Raven Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

We thought we knew there was no Year of the Cat. But Vietnam has a different perspective. Gorgeously illustrated

[Cecilia Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Told in both English and Vietnamese, the vibrantly illustrated story explains why there are two animals: Rabbit and Cat

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for this tale for the Lunar New Year