Customer Reviews

Dragon Dance: A Chinese New Year LTF: A Chinese New Year Lift-the-Flap Book (Lift-the-Flap, Puffin)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love the illustrations and narrative of this book. It's a rare find amongst a sea of books attempting, but failing, to capture the spirit of this special, cultural event. Most books on the subject are patronizing, offensive, or downright inaccurate. This one is not. I like details, such as the photo of the ancestors on the table with the fruit and flowers--a tasteful way to display Chinese ancestral worship, not just during the new year celebrations. I like the Chinese astrology wheel at the back of the book and the 'make your own dragon puppet' how-to instructions. Those extra touches were a special bonus.

This book just perfect for introducing your child to the Chinese New Year and a perfect place to start! My daughter loves lifting the flaps on each page and is the begining of her learning all about her Chinese Heritage! I only wish it where a lot in board book form!

I bought this book for a pre-K to K aged storytime I lead, and it was a great way to introduce Chinese New Year to the kids. It was even more fun to read alone with my own preschooler, as she could lift the flaps herself (always a bonus)! The rhyming text makes it fun to read, as the story follows a family getting ready for Chinese new Year. Includes a Chinese Zodiac wheel and instructions for making a dragon puppet.

I am an elementary music teacher, and I used the story/picture book to supplement our music class activity on Chinese New Year and Chinese folk songs. The kids really liked the book in 1st and 2nd grade, and the pop-ups were well done. Since we have a non-Chinese population, but more Vietnamese at our school, the Chinese words didn't make sense to the students, but we figured it out--Happy Chinese New Year.

Read this story to my 2 year old twins this year, we are trying to learn about other cultures holidays, and they liked the story a great deal. We are not very familiar with Chinese culture so I am not sure how accurate it is but my kids loved the story. The pictures were colorful and clear, and information on the traditions was easy to understand. The kids were able to take what they saw in the book and use it in real life, we saw a Chinese dragon in a Thomas the Tank Engine video and they said "Chinese New Year".

My daughter is 2.5 years and loves this book. The text is simple, with flaps, and covers the very basic ideas behind CNY.

This is a very colorful book and great for preschoolers. It was very helpful in teaching about Chinese New Year.

The flaps are very thin and small, and are easily torn off by children younger than 2. A great book for learning about the Chinese New year, geared to an older toddler. I'd recommend ages 2 1/2 up.

Joan Holub's Dragon Dance: A Chinese New Year Lift-the-Flap Book is a popular one. Each page has 4 lines of simple text in a classic ABCB rhyming pattern (hope that's right...trying to remember 7th grade English class) with good sized flaps to open to reveal some part of the New Year celebration, supposedly one in New York City's Chinatown (though it wouldn't have to be). Colorful and bold illustrations include little "extras" you can point out--the significance of the flowers, the oranges, and the super long noodles. Only complaint? The last flap ends with "Gung Hat Fat Choy!" in big ole print which is Cantonese rather than the Mandarin "Xin Nian Kuai Le!" New Year's greeting - something that really bothered my Mandaring-learning 7 year old.

See my reviews for a bunch of CNY kids' books on my blog [....]- look for the post from January 25, 2012

Little kids love dragon dance and this is what's highlighted in the Chinese New Year Celebration as well as the featured fun of this young reader-friendly book, perfect for welcoming 2011, the Year of Rabbit. Written by Joan Holub and illustrated by Benrei Huang, this delightful read shares with children ages 3 to 6 with traditional activities of Chinese New Year celebrations - from shopping, preparing and enjoying the big family reunion feast, to receiving red envelops from grandparents (parents and other adults too!) to dressing up for the exciting parade which consummates in a magically unfolded long pages to symbolize the never-ending dance of lucky royal dragon. I've used this book several times in my pre-K or K classroom visits and it has always been such a great hit that will leave the kids with good cheers of New Year's blessings.

* 2011 marks the Chinese New Year of Rabbit which will fall on Feb 3, 2011. (Kids born on Feb 2, 2011, for instance, will be tigers and kids born on and after Feb 3rd will be rabbits!)