My First Chinese New Year

Description: Chinese New Year is a time of new beginnings. Follow one little girl as she learns how to welcome the coming year and experience all the festivities surrounding it. Full color.

Brief description: Karen Katz has written and illustrated many books for children, including The Colors of Us, Can You Say Peace, My First Ramadan, Counting Kisses and Where is Baby's Belly Button. Long inspired by folk art from around the world, she was inspired to write her first book, Over the Moon, when she and her husband adopted their daughter from Guatemala, and she wanted to tell the story of welcoming Lena into their lives. Katz loves to paint and experiment with texture, color, collage and pattern. Besides an author and illustrator, she has been a costume designer, quilt maker, fabric artist and graphic designer. Katz and her family live in New York.

Review Quotes:

"The tale radiates warmth and quietly builds up to the dramatic dragon dance and the traditional greeting of 'Gung Hay Fat Choy!' The collage illustrations, cut from paper with colorful Asian designs, also include paint and other media to capture the joyful celebrants. This is a clear introduction to the holiday that young children will enjoy in one-on-one or group read-alouds." --School Library Journal

"This one's a winner." --Kirkus Reviews

"The simple text and colorful folkloric illustrations with vivid patterns make this a good book to share with young children." --School Library Journal on My First Kwanzaa

"An ebullient tribute for families whose members may have come from a faraway place." --Publishers Weekly on Over the Moon

"Katz's pencil-and-gouache pictures joyously convey the range of human pigmentation. Positive and useful." --School Library Journal on The Colors of Us

"Bold illustrations celebrate diversity with a child's open-hearted sensibility and a mother's love." --Kirkus Reviews on The Colors of Us