10 Best Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival Books for Kids
Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture. The good news is that reading Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival books at home or school is an easy way to celebrate! The best children’s books about the Mid-Autumn Festival feature interesting Chinese traditions like lanterns, foods like mooncakes, and legends like the Jade Rabbit.
Since we’re raising bilingual children, we’re reading the best Mid-Autumn Festival books in Chinese and English. As your child learns about Chinese customs, consider what similarities you find with American Thanksgiving, Korean Chuseok books, and harvest moon in other cultures!
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What is Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival 中秋节 / 中秋節?
In Chinese language, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival translates to 中秋节 / 中秋節 (zhōng qiū jié ). Sometimes, it’s also called the Mooncake Festival or Chinese Moon Festival.
中秋节 /中秋節 is a centuries-old Chinese celebration about the full moon and coming harvest. Families reunite and enjoy spherical fruits, devour mooncakes, and decorate the home with Chinese paper lanterns.
During this time of year, people share popular folktales about 嫦娥奔月 (Cháng’é ascending to the moon) and 玉兔捣药 / 玉兔搗藥 (Jade Rabbit making the elixir of immortality).
Since the Mid-Autumn Festival is based on the lunar calendar, it’s also a great time to learn about moon phases!
In 2024, Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sunday, September 17th.
Best Mid-Autumn Moon Festival books in English
Check out the best Chinese Moon Festival books for English language learners!
Best Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival book for big kids
Celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival
This fantastic book gives a kid-friendly overview of Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival history, folklore, and popular traditions.
The book includes a yummy mooncake recipe, lantern riddles, and a dice game for hands-on fun. Plus, it features a glossary of translations so kids can learn a few Chinese phrases about the Mid-Autumn Festival!
Best Mid-Autumn Festival book about moon phases
A Big Mooncake for Little Star
This adorable book is wonderful for children to learn about the Chinese festival and the Lunar moon phases. Our favorite page is when Little Star eats the big mooncake bite by bite, leaving shapes of different moon phases!
Best Mooncake Festival book for toddlers
This adorable picture book focuses on shapes that you can find during the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. The rhyming text is great for toddlers and preschoolers.
Best Moon Festival picture book for little kids
This is a wonderful picture book for little kids with bright illustrations and simple language! It gives a simple overview of Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival traditions.
Best Mid-Autumn Festival story with a boy protagonist
Lin Yi’s Lantern- A Moon Festival Tale
This beautiful picture book follows a little boy who desperately wants a red rabbit lantern. However, he first has to learn how to take care of responsibilities. While prioritizing his mother’s request to get important things from the market, he learns about Chinese culture and the legend of the Moon Festival.
Best Mid-Autumn Moon Festival story with a girl protagonist
This wonderful story highlights loving parents who share the history of the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival with their children.
Best Mid-Autumn Moon Festival books in Chinese
Here are the best Moon Festival books in simplified and/or traditional Chinese.
Best Mid-Autumn Festival story about moon phases
Grace Lin’s bestselling Mid-Autumn Moon Festival book has been translated into Chinese! Little Star makes a big, delicious mooncake with her mother, but can she resist the temptation of eating it? The simplified edition is compatible with the Luka Reading Robot.
Simplified Chinese:
Traditional Chinese with Zhuyin:
Recommended: Chinese Moon Songs and Mid-Autumn Festival Poems
Best Mid-Autumn Festival book about folklore
中秋节之嫦娥奔月 The Mid-Autumn Festival Moon Goddess Chang’e
If you’re learning how to read Chinese, 中秋节之嫦娥奔月 is a great book for beginner readers! Learn about the poignant legend of Hou Yi and Chang’e, and how their love endured even when she was far away on the moon.
The book is available in simplified Chinese with Pinyin. The back of the book has keywords translated into English.
Best interactive book about Mooncake Festival
This fun, hands-on book shows how the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated! Peek behind flaps and play while reading. Listen to Chinese teacher Peggy Lin narrate the book on YouTube here.
Simplified Chinese:
Traditional Chinese:
Best Mid-Autumn Moon Festival book about adoption
This poignant story is about a girl named 满月 (Full Moon) who loses her parents to illness. When her mother dies, she promises to reunite when the moon becomes full again, giving 满月 great hope.
满月 is cared for by the village grandfather until new parents adopt her. When the moon is full, 满月’s adoptive parents bring her to their new home and show her love that reminds her of her birth parents—full review of the 满月 book here.
Best Chinese book about family traditions
This wonderful book features a devoted dad who cooks and prepares for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. Each page shows the steps involved in making mooncakes. This sweet book is available in simplified Chinese with Pinyin.
Best children’s stories about the moon
For those curious about the big bright spot in the sky, check out the best moon stories for kids.
What are your favorite Chinese Moon Festival books?
We hope you can enjoy some of these Mid-Autumn Moon festival books! If you have other favorite books, please share in the comments below. We’d love to check them out.
Thanks so much for recommending CELEBRATING MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL! What an honor to be included with all these wonderful books! 中秋节快乐!
This book is good too. “The Shadow In The Moon: A Tale of the Mid-Autumn Festival“. by Christina Matula. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.
Thank you for the recommendation! 🙂
Our Chinese is nowhere good enough to read the Chinese books yet.
But we do love Lin Yi’s Lantern (an english book).
Hi! Thank you so much for recommending Lin Yi’s Lantern book in English! Looks like a great book; I have just ordered it and am excited to read it with my children!