Maybe It's a Sign -- New Middle Grades Novel Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The lunar new year began last week. In the Chinese zodiac it is the year of the dragon. With the celebration of the lunar new year there are many different superstitions that people of different cultures hold. I shared some fun facts a few years ago about it in particular in the Chinese culture. Today I am sharing a book about a Chinese American girl who is dealing with the loss of her very superstitious father as well as being in middle school. The book is Maybe It's a Sign by E.L. Shen. Lunar new year seems like the perfect time to share this book. It is recommended for ages 10 to 14.

The Pop-Up Guide Cities Around the World -- Book Review with Crafts, Recipes and More!

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Looking to teach little ones about the world? Today we are sharing a fun pop-up book that takes us around the world. I am also sharing links to crafts, activities, and recipes to go with each city and/or its country. The book is The Pop-Up Guide: Cities Around the World by Maud Poulain and illustrated by Sandra de la Prada. It is recommended for ages 3 to 5. 

It's Chinese New Year, Curious George

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Happy New Year!! With the start of January, we all begin our thoughts for the new year. Whether you make resolutions, choose a word for the year, or just reflect, we all have our own traditions. As we get into January perhaps you start to celebrate or learn about the lunar new year. Over the years we have shared various things from fun facts, crafts and books about the lunar new year, Chinese New Year and Chinese zodiac. By the way the lunar new year begins January 22, 2023 and it is the year of the rabbit. Today I am going to share a wonderful new book that helps young children learn about the Chinese New Year and it does it with a well-loved character--Curious George. The book is It's Chinese New Year, Curious George by H.A. Rey and Maria Wen Adcock. It is a tabbed board book and is recommended for baby through 4 year-olds. 

All About Vietnam -- Book Review & More!

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

May is Asian American and Pacific Island Heritage Month. All month long I will try to share books, crafts, and activities to help celebrate this fun heritage. Today I get to share the newest book from one of my favorite series about Asian countries. It is All About Vietnam: Projects & Activities for Kids: Learn About Vietnamese Culture with Stories, Songs, Crafts & Games by Tran Thi Minh Phuoc and illustrated by Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong. It is a middle grades reading level but can be shared with younger kids if you do the reading!

2022 is the Year of the Tiger--Tiger Fun Facts & Craft Round-Up

 

The lunar new year begins on February 1, 2022. Many countries celebrate the lunar new year and see it as one of the most important holidays of the year. I have shared about different countries and different celebrations over the years. I always enjoy checking out the Chinese horoscope that goes with it. The legend says that the Jade Emperor wanted twelve animals to be his guard. He sent an immortal to tell the animals and they raced to the Jade Emperor. The first twelve animals became his guard and are the animals of the Chinese Horoscope. This year we are on the third animal of the horoscope, the tiger. 

Ting Ting the Girl Who Saved China Review with crafts and more!

 

Disclosure: I am participating in a virtual book tour with The Children's Book Review and Ryan O'Connor. I was sent a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and will also receive a small stipend.

The Chinese New Year is a very important holiday in China. It is also called the lunar new year and is celebrated in different countries with different traditions. It usually falls in January or February and is celebrated for fifteen days in China and seven to fourteen are public holidays. Now we have shared many books, crafts and more about the Chinese New Year and the Chinese zodiac including this fun facts post with many details about the holiday and celebrations. Today we are sharing a fun book about a young girl learning about her own ancestor's role in the Chinese New Year celebration and how she saved China. The book is Ting Ting, the Girl Who Saved China by Ryan O'Connor and illustrated by Xiang Minghui. 

Paper Quilling Chinese Style -- Getting Ready for Chinese New Year

 

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The lunar new year begins this week (on the 12th). The most famous celebrations of the lunar new year are the Chinese. I thought in preparation of the Chinese New Year I would share two paper quilling books both in Chinese style that has projects that will lend with the Chinese New Year as well as spring and more. The first book is Paper Quilling Adorable Animals Chinese Style by Zhu Liqun Paper Arts Museum.  

The Year of the Pig -- Fun Facts, Craft Round-Up and Book Review

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing sent me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is officially the Year of the Earth Pig according to the Chinese Zodiac. I thought it would be fun to celebrate the Chinese New Year with a look at fun facts about pigs as well as the Year of the Pig and of course some pig crafts and a fun Chinese pig story. We will start with fun facts about pigs!!

Fun Facts about Chinese New Year!

The lunar new year (better known as the Chinese New Year) begins next week, February 5, 2019. This year will be the Year of the Earth Pig. (Stay tuned for some facts about pigs, the year of the pig and a pig craft round-up coming soon.) I thought it would be fun to look at some fun facts about this holiday. In China and many cultures this holiday is the big holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas is in America. It amazes me how I learn something new about this holiday every year as I prepare post. So read below to learn a bit about the holiday and some fun facts about it.

Chinese New Year Resources

Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The lunar new year begins on Friday this year. Many countries celebrate the lunar new year but in America it is often referred to as the Chinese New Year. We already shared a few resources for the year of the dog (this new year), but I wanted to share a few more with you. The first is a book that gives a new version of the old fairy tale, The Emperor's New Clothes. The book is The Chinese Emperor's New Clothes by Ying Chang Compestine and illustrated by David Roberts. 

The Year of the Dog--Chinese New Year

Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

It is hard to believe the lunar new year is approaching. This year it is February 16, 2018. This coming year will be the year of the dog in the Chinese horoscope. I always love when it is the year of the dog since that is the sign I was born under. Now this year we had a New Year's Eve themed birthday party for Hazel and one of the things I tried to do was have some different cultures represented so we had a table set up for the Chinese New Year with items from Oriental Trading. 

Year of the Rooster-- Reviews & More to Celebrate the Chinese New Year -- MKB Chinese New Year Blog Hop

Disclosure: I was sent copies of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

The lunar new year which is celebrated in China as well as many other countries
 is January 28th this year. We will be saying goodbye to the monkey and enter the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese Horoscope. We have had a fun year of the monkey and are looking forward to the year of the rooster.  To teach Hazel more about the Chinese culture we have enjoyed two books written for the year of the rooster. Both are bilingual books. The first is called The Year of the Rooster by Oliver Chin and illustrated by Juan Calle.

Chinese History Lesson -- Back to School Ideas

Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

So far we have had lessons on building imaginations, books for young learners, and science. Today we are going to look at world history with books about Chinese history. We will start with What Was It Like, Mr. Emperor? by Chiu Kwong-chiu and Eileen Ng and translation by Ben Wang. 

Chinese Meets Japanese with Chinese Origami for Children -- Product Review for Summertime Fun Series

Be sure to check out my on-line Thirty-One Review & Party!! Get all your summer organizing essentials!!

 

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these products free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

 

Sometimes in the summer one needs some quiet or indoor activities due to various reasons--tired, busy momma, or bad weather. Origami is a perfect activity for those times. Today we are sharing a fun book where the Chinese culture meets the Japanese culture as well as some fun packs of origami paper to try out the various projects. The book is Chinese Origami for Children by Hu Yue and Lin Xin and illustrated by Samoo Tang. 

The Year of the Monkey -- Exploring Chinese New Year with books & Chinese New Year Link Party

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me copies of these book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

We have explored the lunar new year and more specifically the Chinese New Year for several years now and have tried many different crafts, recipes and books (see below for a sampling and links). We have looked at the Chinese Zodiac and as of yesterday we have begun the year of the monkey. Last year was the year of the sheep.

A Monkey Valentine Craft from a Kit

 Since we are not Chinese or any of the cultures that celebrate the lunar new year, we do not do too much for our Chinese New Year except try to learn a bit about it. This year since we have an idea of the celebration and the stories behind it we decided to take a look at Chinese stories and especially ones involving the monkey.  We started with Celebrating Chinese Festivals by Sanmu Tung.

Valentine Crafts & More -- Crafty Weekends Link Party

Last week's Crafty Weekends Party was huge and there were so many great ideas I was a bit overwhelmed with putting together all the features!! Put that together with a busy week (and Hazel first snow day of the school year and the second is tomorrow) I didn't get much adult crafting done. We did however make some fun Valentine's Day crafts. The crafts I am sharing today involve two kits from the Paper Source which I purchased for us, so this is not really a review per say. I will provide you links when possible. I do not receive any compensation if you click them or purchase from them. They are solely for your convenience.  The first kit is the Ombre Heart kit which is actually in the clearance section and no longer available on-line. I made the teacher Valentine (the large one) and added on some of the words of 1 Corinthians 14.

The Year of the Monkey -- Book Review

Disclosure: I was sent this book to review free of charge from Immedium. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

February 8, 2016 begins the lunar new year. There are several cultures that celebrate the lunar new year, but the Chinese is the largest one and the most heard about one. The Chinese have an animal zodiac for each year. It is based on a twelve year (and twelve animal) system. We are ending the year of the sheep and will be beginning the year of the monkey. There are several versions of legends as to how the twelve animals were picked. Today we will focus on the year of the monkey!!

Chinese Zodiac and Chinese New Year Book Reviews

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of these books free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs Chinese New Year Blog Series and Giveaway. More details about all of this below including the giveaway!!

Seal Nakhon Si ThammaratBy Fine Arts Department (กรมศิลปากร) of Thailand. 

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The Dragon New Year Book Review for Multicultural Children's Book Day & Chinese New Year Blog Series

Disclosure: Peachtree Publishers sent me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today I am going to review my second book for Multicultural Children's Book Day (MCCBD). On Monday I reviewed the first book, Endeavour's Long Journey. There I shared all the exciting things going on with MCCBD. MCCBD is a national event which  Valarie Budayr from Jump Into a Book and Mia Wenjen from Pragmatic Mom created to celebrate diversity in children's books. MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media. This year's MCCBD is January 27th! The 2015 sponsors for MCCBD are: 

Platinum Sponsors: Wisdom Tales Press, Daybreak Press Global Bookshop,  

Gold Sponsors:  Satya House,  Multicultural Kids.com,   Author Stephen Hodges and the Magic Poof,  

Silver Sponsors: Junior Library Guild,  Capstone Publishing, Lee and Low Books,  The Omnibus Publishing.  

Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing,  Rainbow Books,   Author Felicia Capers,   Chronicle Books   Muslim Writers Publishing , East West Discovery Press. 

Multicultural Monday: All About China -- Book Review

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation. 

Today I am going to share our exploration of China. The fourth book in Tuttle's All About series has recently been published. It is All About China by Allison "Aixin" Branscombe. Like the other books: Indonesia, Japan and Korea, All About China gives a wonderful overview of what it is like to live in China. The book is full of information, stories, crafts and recipes. In the beginning the reader is introduced to two Chinese children who share their lives throughout the book.