Playing with Lanterns by Yage Wang

Zhao Di and her friends are excited to go out at night with their paper lanterns and celebrate Chinese New Year. Each holding a unique colorful lantern with a lit candle inside, they admire the breathtaking colors while doing their best to avoid the wind and the sneaky boys in the village. Every night, until the fifteenth day of New Year, Zhao Di and her friends take part in this fun tradition, experiencing the thrill of nighttime in their village. And then, it’s time to smash the lanterns!

A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling

Little Ren looks forward to the preparation for and festivities of Lunar New Year, but she is always too little to help make the delicious pineapple cakes that are her favorite. She watches family members rolling out the dough and loves the mouth-watering smell. Watching and waiting, when will Ren be old enough?

Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin

This exuberant story follows a Chinese American family as they prepare for the Lunar New Year. Each member of the family lends a hand as they sweep out the dust of the old year, hang decorations, and make dumplings. Then it’s time to put on new clothes and celebrate with family and friends. There will be fireworks and lion dancers, shining lanterns, and a great, long dragon parade to help bring in the Lunar New Year.

PoPo’s Lucky Chinese New Year by Virginia Loh-Hagan

Join one little Chinese-American girl (and her baby brother) as her grandmother teaches her all the do’s and don’ts of celebrating the Chinese New Year. From making sure the windows are super clean (do!) to not using the unlucky number four (don’t!), there is a lot to be done in preparation for the celebration. It’s “hard work” but worth it in the end with the delicious food, fun parades and fireworks, and gifts of lai see (lucky red envelopes with money inside) from relatives!

We Always Had Wings by Jess X Snow

A stunning, mythology-inspired ode to the places and people who came before us as a girl embarks on her first visit to her mother’s hometown in China for Lunar New Year. Little Snow can’t remember the last time she was on an airplane, and is afraid of the long journey from her big city to the vast Chinese countryside Mama comes from. To soothe her nerves, Mama tells Little Snow the story of how their ancestors traveled before borders and countries existed–flying through the skies as cranes. What follows is a tender story of reconnecting with family during the holidays and remembering the magic of who you are.

The Night Before Lunar New Year by Natasha Wing

Told in the style of Clement C. Moore’s classic tale, this is the story of the night before Lunar New Year, wherein a little girl is excited for all the celebrations to come, but is a bit nervous about all of the loud noises at the upcoming Lunar New Year Parade.

Grumpy New Year by Katrina Moore

Daisy, a young Chinese American girl, is excited to be celebrating the Lunar New Year with her Yeh-Yeh in China, but at first she is too grumpy from lack of sleep to enjoy the activities he has planned. Includes recipes for fried Jiao Zi (dumplings) and Eight Treasure Rice.

I Love Lunar New Year by Eva Wong Nava

Lunar New Year is right around the corner and Mai-Anne is so excited! She helps her parents decorate the house and plan their traditional meal filled with fish, noodles, dumplings and chicken. But Mai-Anne can’t wait until after dinner, when she gets to cuddle up with Nai Nai and learn the story of the Great Race.