In celebration of Chinese New Year, I have the perfect picture book, hot off the presses from Natasha Yim. She will be doing an interview here soon, which may supply even more resources for this book, so keep an eye out for that. Meanwhile, here's the book (which is also perfect in view of Multicultural Children's Book Day which was Monday :)):
Written By: Natasha Yim
Illustrated By: Grce Zong
Charlesbridge, January 2014, Fiction
Suitable For Ages: 4-8
Themes/Topics: retelling of classic tale, holidays (Chinese New Year), taking responsibility
Opening: "When Goldy Luck was born her mother said, "Year of the Golden Dragon - very lucky year. This child will have good luck."
"She has a face as round as a gold coin," said her father. "This child will bring great wealth."
But Goldy had neither great wealth or good luck. In fact, she could never seem to keep money in her piggy bank, and she had a habit of breaking things."
Brief Synopsis: Goldy Luck is sent to deliver turnip cakes to the Chan family for Chinese New Year in spite of the fact that she's sleepy and hasn't had breakfast yet. When she arrives, the Chans are not home, so she samples their congee, tries out their chairs, and naps in Little Chan's bed, leaving chaos in her wake.
Links To Resources: the back of the book includes an author's note about traditions of Chinese New Year, a diagram and explanation of the Chinese zodiac, and a recipe for turnip cakes.
Why I Like This Book: I love retellings of classic tales, and this is a fun one. It takes Goldilocks and the Three Bears to China to celebrate Chinese New Year :) Although the story follows the basic format of the original, it departs after the Chans (panda bears in this version :)) come home. Goldy initially runs away (as she does in the original story) but her conscience gets the better of her and she decides to take responsibility for her actions and returns to the Chans's home to help tidy up. The ending makes for a big improvement over the original :) And I love that so much back matter is included, making it so easy to expand on the use of the book. The art is bright and engaging, ending with a sweet picture of Goldy and Little Chan sharing turnip cake, the rug underneath them a depiction of the Chinese zodiac :)
For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.
Before we all take our leave for the weekend, let me take a moment to remind you of the ongoing high jinx and shenanigans around here: Phyllis's Fun Fashion Show! There are already a number of FANTASTIC Phyllis's up: Steampunk Phyllis, Divergent Phyllis, Opera Phyllis, Done With Glum Phyllis, Olympic Phyllis, Punxsutawney Elvis, Glow-In-The-Dark Phyllis, Mardi Gras Phyllis, and Rock Star Phyllis ready to sing with Bruno Mars at the Super Bowl! Don't miss all the great entries (link list HERE) And there's still time to enter YOUR Fashion Phyllis! (Contest guidelines also HERE).
Sunday (GROUNDHOG DAY!) we will have a special post with a line up of all the Fashion Show Phyllises so you can see them all and vote for your favorite... and also find out what Phyllis's prediction will be: 6 more weeks of winter or early spring?
PPBF bloggers, please be sure to leave your post-specific links in the list below so we can all come see what you picked this week!
Looking forward to seeing everyone Sunday!!! Happy Weekend, y'all! :)
