David Bouchard, Illustrated by Zhong-Yang Huang
Peachtree Publishers, 1999
Pages: 32
Reading Level: 9-12
Genre: Picture Book
A young girl in China is frightened by all the noise and lights outside on New Year's, so her grandmother tells her the story of how the lights and noise of New Years keep her safe. She told the story of how long ago there was a dragon who lived in the sea named New Year. And once a year he came ashore to the village and would eat the people until he was full, and so the people learned to run into the hills until he was done feasting. One year there was a young man coming in from fishing, but because of the weather he could not make it to shore in time, and New Year ate him. His mother, who saw it all from where she was hiding on a cliff, was devastated. The next year, she did not go hide in the hills, because she had nothing left to live for. While she was home, Buddha came to her door and asked for some food. She said alright, but asked him why he wasn't hiding at this dangerous time. He told her that it was alright, that he would teach her a way to frighten New Year away. He told her that New Year had never seen fire or hear sound, since he lived under the ocean. So Buddha built a large bonfire, and he had mother chop meat and fish as hard and loud as she could. When New Year came to shore, he covered his ears because the sound was too much for him, and shrank away from the fire. Just then, they fire took the shape of the young man New Year had eaten the year before, and he took out a fishing net of fire and threw it over New Year. New Year struggled and was able to get free, but he dropped into the ocean and was gone. That, explained grandmother to her granddaughter, is why there is always lots of light and sound at New Year's.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about Chinese culture, or anyone wanting to know more about New Year's.
Problems: Children frequently believe in monsters in their rooms at night. If they read this book, they might try to get rid of it by creating a terrible ruckus, thus waking everyone in the house. Or worse, they might try to start a fire.
My reaction: I think this book is interesting. The paintings are beautiful, and have so much detail. They are very fun to look at.
My rating: ****
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