The largest collection of Chinese New Year Books for Kids to welcome the new year with your child. We’ve selected 30+ books that highlight various traditions of the Chinese New Year.
Take a peek into these books to encourage your child to learn about this colorful event also known as the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival.
- What are some of the Chinese New year Traditions?
- Books About Chinese Zodiac Animals
- Chinese New Year Books About Traditional Foods
- Chinese New Year Books About Dragons
- Chinese New Yew Board Books for Toddlers and Babies
- Books about Chinese Lanterns
- Lunar New Year Books for Preschoolers
- Chinese New Year Activity Books for Kids
- What is the Chinese New Year
- Decorations for Chinese New Year
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Chinese New Year Books
This collection of Chinese New Year Books was created to expand our Multicultural Books Library for Kids. It’s so beneficial for your child to have a collection of diverse books for your home library or school library to learn about our world with the kids.
Click here for more Multicultural Books for Kids
Bringing In the New Year bu Grace Lin
Happy New Year! Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts’Ai by Demi
Chelsea’s Chinese New Year by Lisa Ballord
Happy Chinese New Year, Elena! by Dingli Stevens
A New Year’s Reunion: A Chinese Story by Yu Li-O Ong
This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong
Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas by Natasha Yim
Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn
Mulan’s Lunar New Year by Natasha Yim
Peppa’s Chinese New Year by Scholastic
Timmy & Tammy At Chinatown by Ruth Wan-Lau
Celebrate Chinese New Year: With Fireworks, Dragons, and Lanterns by Carolyn Otto
What are some of the Chinese New year Traditions?
This one of a kind Chinese New Year Book List highlights some of these cultural traditions as your child explores and learns about this holiday.
Here are some Chinese New Year Traditions that families to do celebrate:
- putting up decorations
- eating reunion dinner with family on New Year’s Eve
- firecrackers and fireworks
- giving red envelopes and other gifts
This is the perfect list of Chinese New Year Books for Preschoolers and Kindergarten aged kids. Plus we included a few for toddlers too with board books.
Click here for more Activities for Raising Global Kids
Books About Chinese Zodiac Animals
There are 12 Chinese zodiac animals used to represent years. There are many books that describe The Great Race that tells the story of how these Chinese Zodiac Signs came to be.
This zodiac system has existed in Chinese culture since the Qin dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.
The books share about the different meanings and characteristics assigned to each animal with your child.
What is your Chinese Zodiac Sign?
The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Emily Miles
What the Rat Told Me by Marie Sellier
The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Christopher Corr
Great Race by Dawn Casey
Ruby’s Chinese New Year by Vickie Lee
Chinese Zodiac Animals by Sanmu Tang
Set of 12 Resin Chinese Zodiac Animal Figurines
Chinese New Year Books About Traditional Foods
There are some foods that are traditional dishes when celebrating the Chinese New year. This is a collection of books that highlight these delicious traditions.
Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale by Ying Chang Compestine
Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin
Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan
Home for Chinese New Year: A Story Told in English and Chinese by Wei Jie
Asian Adventures A-Z Foods by Yobe Qiu
Chinese New Year Books About Dragons
Children are naturally drawn to books and images of dragons. The dragon dance is often performed during the Chinese New Year. Chinese dragons are a symbol of China’s culture, and they are believed to bring good luck to people.
This is a collection of these Chinese New Year Books that feature Dragons.
The Nian Monster by Adrea Wang
Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats by Nina Simonds and Leslie Swartz
Red Is a Dragon: A Book of Colors by Roseanne Thong
Dragon Dance: A Chinese New Year Lift-the-Flap Book by Joan Holub
The Dancing Dragon by Marcia K. Vaughan
Ten Mice for Tet! by Pegi Deitz Shea
Curious George Dragon Dance by H. A. Rey
How to Catch a Dragon by Adam Wallace
PoPo’s Lucky Chinese New Year by Virginia Loh-Hagan
Nian, The Chinese New Year Dragon by Virginia Loh-Hagan
Chinese New Yew Board Books for Toddlers and Babies
Start at an early age learning about the world with these Chinese New Year Board Books. Although these are board books meant for younger kids, they also work for preschoolers wanting to learn about the Chinese New year.
My First Chinese New Year (My First Holiday) by Karen Katz
12 Lucky Animals: A Bilingual Baby Book by Vickie Lee
Busy Chinese New Year by Busy Books
My Lucky Little Dragon by Joyce Wan
Happy Chinese New Year!: A Festive Counting Story by Jannie Ho
Baby Loves Lunar Phases on Chinese New Year! by Ruth Spiro
Books about Chinese Lanterns
In Chinese culture, the red lantern is the symbol of booming life and prosperous business, so they are always hung on important festivals. These books feature stories about Chinese Lanterns for your child to enjoy.
Paper Lanterns by Czernecki, Stefan
The Red Lantern by Irma Grant
Chinese New Year Colors by Rich Lo
Celebrating the Lantern Festival by Sanmu Tang
Playing with Lanterns by Wang Yage
Lanterns and Firecrackers by Jonny Zucker
Lunar New Year Books for Preschoolers
This festival is more commonly know as the Lunar New Year. The observance of the start of a new year in a lunar or lunisolar calendar.
China, Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore and many Asian countries celebrate the Lunar New Year as national holidays. The dates of celebration are similar because many countries in Asia interpret the lunar calendar the same way. Here are some additional books about the Lunar New Year.
New Clothes for New Year’s Day by Hyun-joo Bae
This is Tet: Rhyming story about Lunar New Year in Vietnam by Tam Bui
Lunar New Year (Celebrate the World) by Hannah Eliot
A Sweet New Year for Ren by Michelle Sterling
Tomorrow Is New Year’s Day by Aram Kim
The Night Before Lunar New Year by Natasha Wing
The 12 Days of Lunar New Year by Jenna Lettice
Grumpy New Year by Katrina Moore
Chloe’s Lunar New Year by Lily LaMotte
Chinese New Year Activity Books for Kids
Celebrating Chinese New Year: An Activity Book
Chinese New Year! (Create and Celebrate)
Chinese Origami for Children: Fold Zodiac Animals, Festival Decorations
What is the Chinese New Year
The Chinese New Year is the Chinese festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional Chinese calendar. The festival has a history of over 3,000 years.
The festival is usually referred to as the Spring Festival in mainland China, and is one of several Lunar New Years in Asia. This festival marks a new year on the lunar calendar and represents the desire for a new life.
One sixth of the world’s people celebrate the Chinese New Year.
It is not only celebrated in Mainland China, but also observed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and some other Asian countries as well as Chinatowns around the world.
Decorations for Chinese New Year
Whether you are reading books at home or with a book club group or even at school, it’s always fun to bring a little decoration to the room.
We’ve put together a collection of Chinese New Year Decorations to make one very special book nook in your library.
They’d be perfect for a Chinese New Year PlayDate with friends too with a few of our Chinese New Year Books and Chinese New Year Activities.
Use these books to go along with these Chinese New year Sensory Bin Ideas
Here are some additional ideas you may enjoy for learning about the Chinese New Year with kids.
Does your community have any special events for the Chinese New Year?
We really enjoy the various cultural activities in our community that celebrate festivals. Having books at home to explain the traditions behind them helps us to understand and appreciate the diversity of our world even more.
Check out our recent cultural adventure here for the Chinese New Year.
There are so many great Chinese New Year books available to read and enjoy with your child. Be sure to explore these cultural events for the Chinese New Year in your community too!
What is your favorite Chinese New Year Children’s Book? SHARE!
