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40 pp.
| Holt/Godwin
| January, 2022
|
TradeISBN 978-1-250-77818-5$18.99
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
Lynn Scurfield.
Before moving to America, Dandan and her family celebrate Lunar New Year in China with her best friend Yueyue and her family. They eat egg-and-chive filled dumplings dipped in black vinegar and soy sauce; later, the girls make celebratory red paper snowflakes, and Yueyue gives Dandan paper supplies to bring to America. The move proves lonely and difficult for Dandan, until she makes a friend whose favorite color is also red. With bright, warm colors and curved shapes, Scurfield enhances the tender story's hopeful tone. An author's note provides more details about Chinese New Year; instructions for making cut-paper snowflakes are also appended.
(3)
K-3
Holiday House Readers series.
A few days before December thirty-first, cat siblings Harry and Emily begin to practice staying up late--without much success. Nevertheless, midnight on New Year's Eve finds them wide awake, though it happens in a way neither one expects. The expressive illustrations, with their sturdy, childlike cat figures, will continue to provide chuckles for readers of this enjoyable series of holiday books.
32 pp.
| Atheneum/Schwartz
| October, 2003
|
TradeISBN 0-689-85029-8$$16.95
(4)
K-3
Illustrated by
Lisa Desimini
&
Lisa Desimini.
Inviting cut-paper illustrations depict the winter holiday adventures of twin snowflake sisters, Crystal and Ivory, who, among other things, hitch a ride on Santa's sleigh and watch the ball drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve. The breathless rhyming text is lively and unpredictable but forced in spots (e.g., "What is that tin bell I hear / Jingling...like a chandelier?").
241 pp.
| Knopf
| May, 2000
|
TradeISBN 0-375-80265-7$$14.95
|
LibraryISBN 0-375-90265-1$$16.99
(3)
4-6
Mystery-solving heroine Sammy Keyes finds the hidden gold of Moustache Mary, the ancestor of a neighbor whose land is in danger of being sold to a feuding clan. The writing starts unevenly but soon picks up with engaging plot twists and characterizations. The novel nicely intertwines historical mystery with everyday issues faced by kids.
32 pp.
| Putnam
| October, 1999
|
TradeISBN 0-399-23120-X$$15.99
(3)
K-3
Illustrated by
S. D. Schindler.
Like Kay Thompson's Eloise, Amanda Dade is a girl of justified self-importance: through humorous rhyming verse, we're informed that, while various townsfolk participate in the New Year's revelry, it's Amanda Dade who "led the parade"--en point and sporting a tutu, at that. The pastel-on-black illustrations capture perfectly the solidarity known among even the coldest of New Year's Eve celebrants.
24 pp.
| Blackbirch
| September, 1998
|
LibraryISBN 1-56711-249-8$$14.95
(4)
4-6
World Celebrations and Ceremonies series.
Four volumes featuring the same ten countries (Brazil, India, the United States, and others) describe how each celebrates the harvest, the new year, a baby's birth, and a child's coming of age. Clear (if rather brief) texts, maps, and full-color photographs give readers a mere taste of the similarities and differences between ceremonies marking the cycles of life. Bib., glos., ind.