Celebrating the Chinese New Year A young boy looks forward to Chinese New Year - also known as the Lunar New Year, the day of the first new moon. It is a time of hope, and you don't have to be Chinese to celebrate it! His best friend, Glenn, who is French and German, and his cousin Evelyn, part Hopi and part Mexican, like the food and the envelopes of money, while he celebrates the fresh start the day offers. He cleans the house to make room for luck, and is glad the palms of his hands itch - that means he is coming into money. Most of all, he vows not to say things such as "can't do / don't have / why me" because he has dreams he is ready to make come true. Janet S. Wong's spare, lyrical couplets voice a child's determination to face the new year with courage and optimism. Yangsook Choi captures the spirit of celebration in her vibrant, energetic pictures. A spunky young boy makes plans for "this next new year" in Janet S. Wong's festive, truly engaging story of the Chinese Lunar New Year, celebrated annually in late January or early February. "And all day tomorrow, Lunar New Year's Day, I will not say one awful thing, none of that can't do/don't have/why me because this is it, a fresh start, my second chance, and I have so many dreams I'm ready now to make come true." So he flosses his teeth and helps his mom scrub the house "rough and raw so it can soak up good luck like an empty sponge," and plans to be brave when his family sets off firecrackers at midnight. The Chinese Korean boy tells us, in a funny, fresh, first-person voice, how his best friends, a German French boy and a Hopi Mexican girl, like to celebrate the Chinese New Year, too. Yangsook Choi's artfully composed, action-packed paintings add uplifting color to the happy spirit of the holiday, and an author's note provides more details about the Chinese New Year and Wong's childhood memories of the celebration. This delightful picture book makes a fine addition to the small collection of Chinese New Year books, distinguishing itself with the narrator's endearingly persistent quest for luck: "They say you are coming into money / when your palms itch, / and my palms have been itching for days. / My brother thinks it's warts, / but I know luck is coming." (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter PreSchool-Grade 2-A Chinese-Korean boy relates how he and his friends celebrate the "lunar new year, the day of the first new moon." One child celebrates the holiday with "Thai food to go," while a non-Asian child likes to get "-red envelopes stuffed with money from her neighbor who came from Singapore." The narrator's mother cooks a special Korean soup, and his family observes the traditions of house cleaning, lighting firecrackers, and being extra good to ensure a lucky new year. Wong carefully and clearly presents the reasons behind the rituals in a manner understandable to young children. She explains in an appended note about her own confusion as a child about the timing and meaning of the holiday. Choi's vibrant, somewhat primitive paintings realistically capture the details of and preparations for this hopeful time of year. Youngsters will enjoy the bright colors and the sense of motion and activity conveyed as the boy helps his mother clean, flosses his teeth, and cringes from the noise of the firecrackers. A good choice for anyone getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year. Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. Ages 4-8. A young boy prepares for Chinese New Year with rituals and wide hopes, in this illustrated, free verse poem. The narrator, who is half Korean, describes how he and his friends, like so many people in a multicultural society, celebrate the holiday with a modern blend of adopted and inherited traditions: the boy's mother makes traditional Korean new year soup; Evelyn, part Hopi and Mexican, loves the money-stuffed red envelopes from her Singaporean neighbor; and Glenn, part French and German, "calls it Chinese New Year, too, even though he celebrates it at his house by eating Thai food to go." At home, the boy cleans the house, "so it can soak up good luck like an empty sponge," grooms himself, and pledges to be brave and positive--"none of that can't do, don't have, why me." Choi's smooth, brightly colored paintings--filled with firecrackers, dragons, and other cultural symbols--ably illustrate the optimistic activity and the yearning in the accessible, rhythmic text. Children of diverse backgrounds will connect with the boy's earnest desire to help change the family's luck and realize his own potential. Gillian Engberg Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved "In a spare, lyrical narrative a Chinese-Korean boy reflects on what the luner new year, otherwise known as Chinese New Year, means to him . . . The concepts of renewal, starting over, and luck, which inform many of the rituals, will resonate with young readers." - The Horn Book Janet S. Wong lives