Nina SimondsMoonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats: A Treasury of Chinese Holiday Tales, Activities & Recipes

This book has fun, vibrant illustrations. The information and stories about each holiday are rich and interesting. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot!

This book is a great intro to Chinese festivals and cultural mythology. Our five year old loves when we read it to her, though it's still a little over the head of my three year old. I think 5-8 is probably the right age for this book, though younger kids will still enjoy bits and parts of it.In this book there are stories, crafts and recipes. For the story of Chang'e, this book features the version where she steals her husbands immortality potion because she is jealous. We also have books in which she drinks it to protect the potion from a greedy warrior. It's an old legend told different ways. But, my kids like the other version better because they hate thinking the Moon Goddess is a thief.Overall, the legends are well written and easy to understand for the young elementary crowd. The watercolor illustrations are simple, but beautiful.We'd recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about Chinese culture or looking for more ways to share family traditions with their kids. Also perfect for adoptive families looking for ways to learn about and share their child's birth culture with them.

The above rating system is difficult to apply because this is primarily an informational book about Chinese culture relating to festivals and celebrations. I have used it for years with my class of elementary school age children and it remains one of my favorite resources during Lunar New Year.

A nice book that provides recipes and activities, as well as the history. I wanted it for the dragon boat information. There was not as much information as I wanted, but the book in general is very fun and informative.

My granddaughter is a little Chinese girl who was adopted from China when she was an infant. Her parents want her to "know" about the people and the culture that she was born into. Through this book she is learning about Chinese holidays and the fun activities and food that accompany them. I think she will find this book very special with the interesting activities and yummy treats.

Having lived in Asia and being an art teacher and museum educator, I can't help but feel that the art/ crafts projects and some of the information are over-simplified and dumbed-down a bit. The illustrations are lovely and the folk stories are quite a nice addition, however.

This is a delight of a read...beautiful illustrations pave the way for great recipes and all kinds of info and story...I highly recommend this book!

Well researched and written and beautifully illustrated. A nice mix of stories, craft project ideas and recipes. A complete package for learning about Chinese culture.

Meilo So is one of the best Illustrators！

A rather boring book, not happy with the illustrations. Not very attractive to children at all. Too much texts and not enough pictures. It gives you a glimpse of every festival but not memorable after reading it.