Chinese New Year

School Library Journal

Gr 3-4A look at red-letter days from around the world as they are observed by U.S. residents. Chinese New Year presents the history and customs associated with the holiday, concluding with the Golden Dragon Parade. Jewish Holidays describes Passover, the Seder, and lesser feasts such as Purim, Yom Ha-Atsma'ut, Lag B'Omer, and Shavuot. Ramadan and Id al-Fitr looks at the Islamic cultureMohammed, mosques, minarets, and the Koran. Tet focuses on how the Vietnamese-Americans mark the beginning of their new year. Although the writing is choppy, the texts are well researched and have a great deal of information. A glossary and index as well as notes for parents, teachers, and librarians round out each title. Unfortunately, the photos, many in black and white, are poorly placed. Dull, dark, and often hard to see, they suffer from confusing captions as well. In Tet, the caption reads, ``...children are enjoying traditional food,'' yet the table is laden with Pepsi-Cola. Other choices for cultural celebrations might be Mike Rosen's Spring Festivals (Bookwright, 1991) for Passover, Purim, and Chinese New Year, or Louisa Campbell's A World of Holidays (Silver Moon, 1993) for the Islamic celebrations, but neither has as much information. If you are willing to overlook the technical problems with the illustrations, these books are adequate choices.Dot Minzer, North Barrington School, Barrington, IL