Happy Chinese New Year! Today marks the start of the year of the monkey, and to celebrate we are taking our story time to China with some fantastic stories.
- Brush of the Gods by Lenore Look and Meilo So
u Daozi was one of China's most treasured artists during the T'ang Dynasty. Daozi was addicted to painting from a very young age and painted over three hundred murals in his lifetime. This book covers a legend found in T'ang dynasty poetry that says that Daozi's work was magical and would come to life after he painted it. The legend also says that Daozi never died but simply walked through the wall into one of his paintings and lived there forever. For a book about an artist, the pictures in this book do not disappoint! My favorite part is when his paintings first start to come to life and the butterfly he paints starts to just barely flutter its wings.
- The Story of Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
Ping is a mischievous little duckling who lives with his family on a boat that sails the Yangtze River. The last duck on the boat each night always gets in trouble, and when Ping finds that he will be the last one night, he hides from the boat so as not to get in trouble. But then he is lost!
- This is Hong Kong by Miroslav Sasek
Come explore China's capitol - a bustling city where modern skyscrapers coexist with thousand year old traditions. Hong Kong is such a complex city, and this book really explores the ins and outs of it. Adults and kids alike will definitely learn something new with this one.
- The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy and Jean and Mou-sien Tseng
In this Chinese folk tale, seven brothers each have their own special power - super hearing, super strength, legs that instantly grow tall. When the brothers use their powers to help others, the Emperor gets very nervous. Powerful men have the ability to overthrow him. So he has them brought to jail and tries to kill them. The brothers put their powers together to do away with the evil Emperor in the end.
- Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan's Chinese New Year by Kate Waters and Madeline Slovenz-Low with photographs by Martha Cooper
I love books with real-world photography showing what life is like for real kids. My kids seem to enjoy them too because so much of history and the news is about adults. This story follows one family living in New York's China Town as they get ready for the Chinese New Year. This book really goes in to detail about the New Year traditions culminating with the main character getting to do his first lion dance through the streets on New Year's Day.
- Tikki Tikki Tembo retold by Arlene Mosel and Blair Lent
This is a classic that we all know and love! According to the book jacket, this story has been around for three decades and has sold over one million copies! This fable tells the story of what happens when a little boy with a tongue twister for a name falls down a well. Who will help him?
