Recommended children's booklists sorted by age or topic

Home

Topic: Chinese New Year

Best children’s books about festivals and celebrations

Let’s celebrate! Featuring fun picturebooks and fascinating non-fiction texts, this collection of the best children’s books about festivals and celebrations offers a colourful and insightful global journey. Learn about festivals from a range of cultures and traditions and extend your children’s understanding of important religious celebrations with this list of books for Early Years and Key Stage One classrooms, designed to bring the topic of festivals and celebrations to life.

Picturebook

Maisy is celebrating one of the world’s biggest festivals: Chinese New Year! From hanging up lanterns to receiving lucky red packets and joining in the dragon dance at the parade, this bright and colourful storybook is a perfect introduction to the many joys of Chinese New Year.

Maisy’s friend Tiger is coming home especially for Chinese New Year! Once the house is tidy and the decorations are up, Maisy changes into her lovely red dress and throws a big party for all her friends. They have a delicious feast, tell stories, see the fireworks together and, on new year’s day, watch a spectacular parade – with an amazing dragon dance! Richly illustrated in Lucy Cousins’ vibrant and colourful style, this exciting and gently informative story from the multi-award-winning creator of Maisy is ideal for sharing the excitement of Chinese New Year with little ones.

Non-fiction

An ideal introduction to the celebration of Chinese New Year for children aged 4-7 in Foundation Stage and KS1 classes. This book describes how Chinese people prepare for New Year by cleaning their house and having their hair cut. It shows how people around the world scare the monster Nian away with fireworks and watch the dragon dance in the street.

Attractively designed, its simple text and wonderful full-colour photos make this an essential resource in every Early Years setting. ‘Did You Know?’ boxes highlight interesting and unusual facts about Chinese New Year to give further points for children and adults to discuss. And a chart enables them to work out what Chinese year they were born in.

Picturebook

Find out all about Lunar New Year and how it is celebrated in different communities across the world!

This stunning picture book is the perfect introduction for little ones to Lunar New Year celebrations. The most colourful time of the year is celebrated in communities around the world and you can now discover how it’s celebrated through the eyes of the children who live there.

Meet families in China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as in bustling cities like San Francisco, London, Sydney and Toronto and join them in their celebrations at home and on the streets in parades, lantern festivals and in temples. Packed with fascinating facts, young readers will love finding out all about different Lunar New Year traditions in this gorgeously illustrated picture book.

Picturebook

A beautifully illustrated introduction to the true meaning of Chinese New Year and family traditions for little ones.

Chinese New Year is right around the corner and Mai-Anne is so excited! As her family start decorating the house, there’s a knock on the door… her grandmother, Nai Nai, has arrived!

They start their celebrations with a traditional meal filled with fish for good luck, noodles for long life, dumplings for blessings and a whole chicken. Then after dinner, Nai Nai tells the story of how Chinese New year began, with the Great Race!

Join Mai-Anne as she learns about twelve animals and their special powers in the story of how Chinese New Year began.

Picturebook

When Winnie and Wilbur decide to celebrate Chinese New Year, the party is going with a swing. Family? Check! Friends? Check! Food? Check! Fun? Check! But just when Winnie waves her wand to make parade costumes for everyone, Wilbur goes missing. Oh no! Will Winnie find him before the first firework lights up the sky? The best-selling Winnie and Wilbur series has been delighting readers both young and old since 1987 and Winnie and Wilbur have become favourite characters in homes and schools all over the world.

Non-fiction

Chinese New Year is a time for new beginnings. Some people clean their homes from top to bottom or share meals with friends. Others pray, light fireworks or give each other gifts. Readers will discover how a shared holiday can have multiple traditions and be celebrated in all sorts of ways.

Picturebook

Which animal will win the race and get the first year of the Chinese calendar named after them? Race along with Rat, Monkey, Dragon, and their companions while discovering the origin of the Chinese Zodiac. This bright and colourful book includes intriguing notes about the Chinese calendar, the festivals, and the animal that rules each year.

Best Chinese New Year Books for Children

Whether you are joining the celebrations or exploring the customs and traditions of the Lunar New Year festival, we’ve got the best books to help. From firecrackers and fortune cookies to stories of the great animal race, browse our list of recommended children’s books about Chinese New Year to help you to bring the festival to life in the classroom…

Picturebook

When a boy goes to the market to buy food and comes home with an old wok instead, his parents wonder what they’ll eat for dinner. But then the wok rolls out of the poor family’s house with a skippity-hoppity-ho! and returns from the rich man’s home with a feast in tow!
With spirited text and lively illustrations, this story reminds readers about the importance of generosity.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Your Review

Stone Girl Bone Girl

review

Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:

Year group(s) the book is most suitable for:

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?

Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?

yes

Curriculum links (if relevant)

Curriculum links (if relevant)

Any other comments

Any other comments