Festivals and Celebrations Topic

‘Lunar New Year around the world’ is a brightly coloured delight. It explains how Lunar New Year is celebrated in different countries around the world in a really accessible way. The text on each page is brief and presented in different sections or boxes. The illustrations are very detailed and there is plenty to look at on each page. There are also a lot of activities mentioned in the book that children could easily do themselves, for example, making a paper lantern or writing a wish on a piece of paper. This book is great to share with any year group or would make a good assembly book.

This picture book provides a beautifully illustrated introduction to Chinese New Year.

The night before the celebrations, Mai-Anne explains that the Lunar New Year is about to arrive and that her family enjoys a special set of traditions. Mai-Anne helps to clean and decorate the house and is excited when her grandmother (Nai Nai) arrives in time for the most important dinner of the year – fish for good luck, noodles for a long life, dumplings for blessings and nian gao for success. After dinner, Mai-Anne and Nai Nai settle down together and Nai Nai recounts the important story of the Great Race. Along with Mai-Anne, the reader learns about the story of the twelve animals who race to cross the river. Then Mai-Anne enjoys a special family Dragon Dance, eats sweet tangerines and wears a special red outfit for luck.

This is a lovely picture book to read at Chinese New Year but also all year round too as a book that celebrates family moments, bonds with grandparents and the joy of special traditions. The illustrations and text are both warm and celebratory in tone. It also features a non-fiction section on the final pages with more information about Chinese New Year and the dragon dance.

Mog the Forgetful Cat is a classic favourite children’s book character and this story was released to celebrate 50 years of Mog stories.

Everybody loves birthday parties – unless you are a cat who prefers peace, quiet and no fuss. Mog isn’t thrilled at the idea of celebrating her birthday (because there will be too many people and strange things in the house) and retreats to the solitude of a garden tree. Initially upset because they can’t find Mog, the children soon track her down and give her a special celebration to remember.

Mog holds a special place in many children’s hearts and this story explores themes of celebrating special days with the ones we love.

We love this primary picturebook about a tiny spark discovering its place. As Little Glow observes various festivals and celebrations, it witnesses diverse traditions and finds itself able to join in radiating light and community joy.

This book offers wonderful classroom opportunities for exploring community festivals and celebrations, especially celebrations of light. The warm narrative and luminous illustrations lean into different traditions positively and encourage discussions about community and belonging.

‘Eight Nights, Eight Lights’ is a story picture book exploring the celebration of Chanukah (or Hanukkah), the Jewish Festival of Lights. With warm and inviting illustrations, the book brings the celebration to life, as we follow Max and his family, and other members of their Jewish community, through the eight days and nights of the festival.

The colour palette used in the book is really lovely, and the story is full of food, friendships, family, and fun. As a jumping off point in a topic on the Jewish faith and its festivals, this is a super resource and could lead to numerous activities, including making the food and playing the games described in the story. Highly recommended for school libraries and in any classroom for topic work on Judaism.

A book in many parts, this full-colour information book starts as a picture book with the main character, Lior, whose name means ‘light’, explaining how he and his family celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. They prepare the house and the food, play dreidel games and then welcome guests, explaining each of the components of the festival, and the origin story. The pictures are endearing and inclusive, featuring Lior’s dog, as well as grandparents, friends, neighbours and classmates, one of whom is in a wheelchair.

The book also features a great deal of non-fiction content, some as part of the story, such as the blessings said over the Hanukkah candles (both in transliterated Hebrew and English), as well as a large fully non-fiction section at the back that explains the Hebrew calendar, the story of Hanukkah and some craft activities. It’s an excellent book for those already with a basic understanding of the festival, but might be almost too much detail for those with no knowledge. However, it is colourful, comprehensive, and easy to read, and makes the festival feel as light and joyous as it should be.

If you want to find out more about Diwali and the customs and traditions that surround the festival, this is a great book to explore with children in the early years.  It is a simple counting book, counting the lamps that light Diwali and with each additional lamp, a message is shared.

 The book is filled with bright illustrations and vibrant patterns that are a feast for the eyes. Each double spread shows a family, dressed in beautiful traditional Hindu dress for the festival of Diwali, explaining the meanings behind the festival of light.

Where there are words that might be unusual or unknown to some children, such as mithai, these are explained in a glossary at the back of the book along with more detailed information about the festival.

Children who are not Hindu but are of another religion or none can draw parallels with their own festivals and family traditions and so explore the links and synergies behind the messages of many religious or cultural festivals.

A beautiful story of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr told from a child’s perspective.

Sara Khan gives us a realistic account of this Islamic festival to show true representation through words and pictures.

The main character Raya, tells us all about her family’s preparations ahead of the celebrations. This personal story sits alongside factual information to educate and engage the reader. I used this to introduce this festival as part of our RE lesson recently and the pupils in my class couldn’t wait to read it again. We enjoyed how true to some of our own pupils’ family preparations this book was and how it inspired conversation about pupils’ own festival experiences openly in classroom conversation.

A colourful and heartwarming picturebook story about celebrating Eid.

Safa is excitedly getting ready for Eid-al-Fitr. The preparations are fun to make and include drawing henna patterns on her hands, putting up decorations and eating delicious foods. She’s also looking forward to her favourite part – the presents. While she celebrates, Safa isn’t keen to share her present of a new bike, but her Mum helps her to learn how Eid is about sharing and to see the wider meaning of celebrating with family and loved ones.

A warm story about Eid that EYFS and KS1 children will love to read all year round.

This was very much enjoyed by EYFS children for the pictures, the story and as an introduction to Eid.

This is a picture book story with an Eid setting rather than an information book about the festival, and the narrative does introduce traditions such as special clothes and gift giving, making it a good way to start to engage the children with the topic.

This picturebook offers an explanation of the way in which many Muslims see the period of Ramadan from the first sighting of the new moon through the full moon and back, as well as giving insight into the ‘month of mercy.’ This book would be a great addition to any school or library as it would help support adults who are less familiar with the experience of Ramadan to explain it to children. The explanation of Ramadan is explained beautifully and sensitively in this book and the accompanying illustrations enhance the text perfectly, presented with a beautiful texturing effect that adds a ‘real-world’ feel to them.

This picture book about the month of Ramadan and the festival of Eid-ul-Fitr is a gentle, light and thought-provoking story of a special time of year. The story begins at bedtime with the rising of the crescent moon and the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Told through the eyes of a young girl, it embraces family and school life as well as – in her Grandma’s words – being ‘thankful for beautiful things’. This book will be of interest to primary school class teachers and leaders – it would work well as a class story, a shared book, an individual library book or for use in assemblies. It is a beautifully illustrated story to accompany the month of Ramadan and bring life to R.E. teaching. Perfect for primary school classes including those with many, few or no Muslim pupils – the story of Ramadan unfolds telling non-Muslim pupils about the delights and significance of Ramadan from a child’s perspective. At the back of the book is an Author’s Note explaining the origins of Ramadan with clarity and simplicity as well as a comprehensive Glossary of terms.

If you are learning about the Hindu festival of Ganesha Chaturthi or thinking about environmental issues, this book is an ideal read or read aloud, for children in upper KS1 or lower KS2. The illustrations and storyline effectively communicate the community of the main character, avoiding the potential for stereotypes and caricatures when stories are set in countries other than those in the UK.

The story raises the issue of the unintended consequences of traditional practices and celebratory customs. In this story, it is the purchasing of plaster figures of Ganesha to place in the river, which is the focus. This results in the pollution of the river as the colourful dyes and chemicals in the plaster, disperse into the water. The main character, Prema shows the reader how even small, creative and thoughtful acts can make a difference. Prema finds that using the clay from the riverbed is a much more sustainable and environmentally aware approach to the making of Ganesha statues. The story also demonstrates the power of friendship and community, where working together can have a greater impact on the issues that matter, than trying to solve issues on your own.

The book is beautifully illustrated and provides an opportunity to look at the details. The illustrations can be used to prompt discussion and to map what is known and what we might want to find out about temples, rivers used in religious festivals, Ganesha, the variety of clothing worn, religious symbols and festivals.

This is a hopeful story and one worth sharing for the many curricular avenues that could be explored as well as a good read-aloud story for enjoyment.

This is the Christian story of Easter as told through the eyes of the donkey that carried Jesus into Jerusalem and watched the events of the Easter story unfold. The text is accompanied by beautiful illustrations and would be suitable to use with the whole primary age range as they explore the meaning behind the Christian festival.

If you love Christmas, or would like to know more about how its traditions are celebrated across the world, from Colombia to Ethiopia to Serbia, then this is a must-have book for you. It has something for all ages, and is particularly suitable for EYFS and KS1, with its accessible text and beautiful illustrations.

Traditions are shared with the reader from thirteen countries and my class was surprised by the differences and similarities to their own familiar celebrations, which led to insightful discussions. The countries selected each had an interesting fact and a child-friendly pronunciation guide to new words. This book is very appealing and I believe that all would learn something new about how some countries around the world celebrate Christmas.