20 Best Chinese New Year Books for Kids
I’m excited to share our favorite Chinese Lunar New Year books with you! In 2026, the Lunar New Year will fall on Tuesday, February 17th. To prepare for the most important Chinese holiday, my kids and I read Chinese New Year books and have fun with hands-on Chinese New Year activities!
The growing number of Chinese New Year books is overwhelming in the most wonderful way! In the past decade, my children and I have read over 50 Chinese New Year books. I’ve narrowed down this list to the top 20 favorites that highlight long-standing traditions:
- Books about Chinese New Year festivities
- Poignant stories about friends/family
- Picture books about Chinese lanterns and red envelopes
- Folktales about Chinese zodiac animals
- Legend of the Nian monster
- Board books for toddlers
- Chapter books for middle-grade readers
Chalk Academy is reader-supported. Some of the links are affiliate links. When you buy something through an affiliate link, we may earn a very small commission at no cost to you. Details here.
Chinese New Year picture books about culture and festivities
The following books offer an engaging introduction to a variety of timeless Chinese Lunar New Year traditions.
Lunar New Year: A Peek Into Traditions Around the World
If you’re looking for one comprehensive book for your home or classroom, this is it! Lunar New Year is the most important holiday in many Asian countries. In addition to China and Taiwan, it’s also celebrated in Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In modern times, Lunar New Year is celebrated around the globe, including here in the United States. My ebook, LUNAR NEW YEAR: A Peek Into Traditions From Around The World, is the perfect way to learn about diversity in food, dress, and decorations in various cultures.
What’s the difference between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year? Lunar New Year is considered the more inclusive term. However, I’ll use the terms ‘Chinese New Year’ or ‘Chinese Lunar New Year’ for the following books in this article, which focus on specific Chinese cultural traditions.
Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Chinese New Year with Fireworks, Dragons, and Lanterns
English edition:
This National Geographic book has photographs of Chinese New Year celebrations! The vibrant images accompany details about how families celebrate their ancestors, gift red envelopes, have fun at the Festival of Lanterns, and enjoy the annual Dragon Dance. Full-color photographs offer an authentic peek at various festivities.
欢乐中国年 / 歡樂過新年 Chinese New Year pop-up book
English edition:
Simplified Chinese edition:
Traditional Chinese edition:
Reading to be impressed? This gorgeous pop-up book is the biggest hit when I teach about Lunar New Year at schools! Chinese New Year traditions come to life through 3D illustrations, such as cleaning the house, making food like rice cakes and tofu, the lion dance, and fireworks. The Chinese edition of 欢乐中国年 / 歡樂過新年 Chinese New Year Pop-up book is written for fluent families, but thankfully, there’s also an English translation.
Wondering how Lunar New Year is celebrated in Korean culture? Check out these 10 Great Korean Lunar New Year Books for Kids.
Wondering how Lunar New Year is celebrated in Vietnamese culture? Check out Tết Together and This is Tết: Rhyming story about Lunar New Year in Vietnam.
Chinese New Year books about family and friends
These picture books invite you to experience the best part of Lunar New Year: spending time with people you love.
A New Year’s Reunion / 团圆 / 團圓
English edition:
Simplified Chinese edition:
Traditional Chinese Edition:
Mandarin audio narration: Ximalaya; compatible with Luka Reading Robot
Get your tissues ready! New Year’s Reunion 团圆 / 團圓 (tuányuán) is a poignant story about a little girl whose father works far from home. When the father returns home for the New Year, he makes sweet dumplings called 汤圆 / 湯圓 (tāngyuán) with his child, a special Chinese dish that represents togetherness. Before the father returns to work, he puts coins in the 汤圆 / 湯圓 for good luck so his child can treasure their memories.
Home for Chinese New Year 回家
English/Simplified Chinese edition:
Mandarin audio narration: Ximalaya
The bilingual book, Home for Chinese New Year 回家 (Huí Jiā), is very similar to 团圆 / 團圓. If you’re debating between these two Lunar New Year stories, the narrative about the father’s journey is longer, and the child is a boy. The Mandarin narration on Ximalaya is captivating. Another benefit is the bilingual simplified Chinese/English text.
A Sweet New Year for Ren
English edition:
Watching, waiting, wondering — this Lunar New Year story is heartwarming and relatable! Despite Ren’s eagerness to help, she’s constantly told she’s too little. The family’s in a hurry, racing to prepare for the Lunar New Year. Ren is persistent, and she wants to join the fun, especially in making her favorite delicious pineapple cakes! Then, her big brother comes home, giving her a chance to shine.
Follow Ren’s story as she learns how to prepare for the Lunar New Year with her family. Learn how to make pineapple cakes with the recipe in the back of the book!
Friends are Friends, Forever
English edition:
The emotions are palpable in this book about a child, Dandan, who immigrates from China to the United States.
The story opens and closes with the Lunar New Year, and in that year, Dandan says goodbye to her grandma (Nainai), her dumplings, her best friend, Yueyue, and their hand-cut snowflakes. Yueyue reminds her that she can share these traditions with new friends in her new country, but it takes a little while for Dandan to settle and learn to speak a new language. Then Dandan meets a kind friend, Christina, whom she invites to share her first Lunar New Year in her new home.
Chinese New Year books about lanterns and red envelopes
The following picture books pair perfectly with popular Chinese crafts, like paper lanterns and red envelopes!
Playing With Lanterns / 打灯笼
English edition:
Simplified Chinese edition:
Mandarin audio narration: Tencent Video (Chinese video streaming channel); compatible with Luka Reading Robot
A little girl, 招娣(Zhāo dì), can’t wait for her new Chinese lantern for Spring Festival. Upholding tradition, Uncle brings her a beautiful lantern, and 招娣(Zhāo dì) carefully treks through the snow to meet her friends and their vibrant rainbow of lanterns. This holiday is about playing and admiring the beautiful lanterns, but fifteen days pass quickly…
招娣(Zhāo dì) mourns the end of this Lunar New Year and reluctantly lets go of her beloved lantern. As the festivities wind down, the kids smash and burn their lanterns, a special tradition in Shaanxi province. When the lanterns incinerate, the family knows they will have good luck throughout the new year.
Cultural note: In Chinese history, sons were generally preferred over daughters. Sometimes, Chinese daughters were named “招娣 (Zhāo dì),” which translates to “beckoning a younger brother.” Unfortunately, the child’s name is realistic to the setting, but this can lead to a meaningful discussion with your family and class.
Take a look at one of our favorite pages in both language editions below.
Sam and the Lucky Money / 小善的壓歲錢
English edition:
Traditional Chinese Edition:
Mandarin audio narration: Ximalaya; compatible with Luka Reading Robot
In this heartwarming story, Sam (小善) receives a red envelope with a few dollars from his grandparents. During his exciting shopping trip with his mother, sweets and toys catch his eye. However, he remembers an elderly homeless man on the street with no shoes or socks on that wintry day. Will he use his red envelope for himself or the man on the street?
Chinese New Year picture books about the Zodiac animals
The story of the Zodiac animals is always a big hit with children of all ages! Choose your preferred language: English, simplified Chinese, or traditional Chinese.
The Great Race: Story of the Chinese Zodiac bilingual Chinese New Year book / 动物渡河比赛 / 動物渡河比賽
English/Simplified Chinese/Pinyin edition:
English/Traditional Chinese/Pinyin edition:
Mandarin audio narration: YouTube
Time for a race! The Jade Emperor wants all of the animals to compete for a spot in the Zodiac calendar. Which animal will win? Will the rat help his friend, the cat? Or will the rat only care about winning? This rendition of the Chinese Zodiac story is accessible to bilingual families, including those who are not fluent. Here’s a look inside the edition with English, Simplified Chinese, and Pinyin.
十二生肖的故事 Story of the Zodiac with Mandarin CD
Traditional Chinese/Zhuyin edition:
Mandarin audio narration: Audio CD included; Compatible with Luka Reading Robot
Taiwanese author 賴馬 (Lài mǎ) is famous for his engaging children’s books, and his rendition of the Chinese Zodiac story 十二生肖的故事 (shí’èr shēngxiào de gùshì) is extra fun and dynamic! With all the interesting details about each competing animal, this is our favorite version of the Chinese Zodiac story. The text is in traditional Chinese with Zhuyin.
十二生肖 Chinese Zodiac
English/Simplified Chinese/Pinyin edition:
This Lunar New Year folktale is about the origin of the Chinese zodiac. This basic rendition focuses on the cat and the mouse.
The simplified Chinese, pinyin, and English words make this the perfect choice for beginner Chinese learners. It was one of the first books that my daughter and I learned to read in Chinese a few years ago. The story concludes with short exercises and a passage for extended reading.
Chinese New Year stories about the Nian Monster
The legend of the Nian Monster is also fascinating to readers who aren’t afraid of monsters!
Nian Monster with CD
English/Simplified Chinese/Pinyin edition:
This bilingual Chinese book is about the fictional Nian monster that visits during the New Year. The main character, Xinling, outsmarts the monster to save Shanghai. The tactics result in the classic Chinese New Year traditions that have endured centuries.
This pre-intermediate (~900 words) book is part of the Chinese Library Series, written in simplified Chinese with pinyin. The story concludes with short exercises and a passage for extended reading.
The Nian Monster
English edition:
This fictional tale takes place in Shanghai, where a little girl, Xingling, comes face-to-face with the legendary Nian Monster, who threatens to devour everything in sight. What can she do to scare Nian away?
As Xingling feeds Nian to placate his voracious appetite, we learn the importance of traditional Chinese New Year dishes: long noodles, whole fish, and sticky rice cakes. Eventually, she saves the city by convincing Nian to watch the beautiful fireworks shows.
Chinese New Year board books for toddlers
These sturdy Lunar New Year books have thick pages for curious toddlers and preschoolers.
Tastes of Lunar New Year Bilingual Board Book / 農曆新年的美味
English or bilingual Chinese edition:
Mandarin and Cantonese audio narration: Author’s website
This anthropomorphic book features 12 signature dishes from China, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Korea! This refreshingly inclusive book shows the beautiful diversity of the Lunar New Year worldwide with cute illustrations accompanying a simple line of text on each page.
Bringing in the New Year
Written and illustrated by Grace Lin, Bringing in the New Year was one of the first published American books about the Lunar New Year. Geared toward younger children, the book gives a straightforward overview of Chinese New Year traditions. Each page has a simple line of text – the right length for short attention spans. The sturdy board book is durable for little hands, too.
English edition:
It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George!
English edition:
This is such a cute addition to the popular Curious George series! Each page has four short lines of rhyming text, which is great for little kids to listen to and read along. Chinese customs, like red envelopes and lantern festivals, are explained with a catchy cadence. The bright, colorful illustrations and the board book pages are durable for busy toddler hands.
As a Chinese American mom, I appreciate seeing my culture celebrated by a popular, timeless children’s book character. If your child is a fan of Curious George, this would be a fun way to introduce Chinese traditions for the Lunar New Year.
Chinese New Year middle-grade books for tweens
Lunar New Year books for big kids are currently pretty limited, but hopefully the following options will inspire more authors to write chapter books.
Celebrating Chinese New Year History, Traditions, and Activities – A Holiday Book for Kids
English edition:
For kids ready for more details, this book delves into the plethora of Chinese New Year decorations, legends, foods, and festivities. The large font and colorful pictures make this book approachable for budding and fluent readers. Important words are translated into Chinese characters and pinyin, gently introducing readers to the language.
Lastly, I appreciate that the book distinguishes Chinese-specific traditions from Lunar New Year customs in other countries.
Year of the Dog book series
Year of the Dog:
Year of the Rat:
Dumpling Days:
Based on the true story of the author, Pacy Lin is the heroine of The Year of the Dog, The Year of the Rat, and Dumpling Days. In each novel, Pacy is on a mission to understand herself. Is she Chinese American? Taiwanese American? Or just American? Her family’s culture differs from that of her classmates, yet she can’t speak Chinese or Taiwanese.
Through her adventures, she discovers true friendship but also experiences loss when her best friend moves away. She is learning to follow her dreams of becoming a writer and illustrator.
What are your favorite Chinese New Year books for kids?
We’d love to know which books your kids loved the most! Please comment with your review and recommendations so we can learn from you.
Hey, Betty! Great reading list! Thanks for sharing! Did a quick search, and our library had almost everything. Yay! (I realize I’m late to this party, but we’re celebrating for a couple of weeks, so…) 😁 One of our favorite lunar new year stories is Runaway Wok. We get it from the library for LNY every year. 😁🧧🥳 Looking forward to seeing you next weekend if not sooner! ❤️ (And sorry we missed your book reading! We had our mother-daughter book group!)
Love this list of recommended Chinese New Year Books! Definitely want my kids to read more about it. Our favorite book this year is written by a dear friend Maria Wen Adcock – It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George! It’s such a great addition to the series and fun to read! Wish everyone a happy Chinese new year!!
Thanks for sharing, Kelly! Agree with you – I was excited to read It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George with my kids!
Hi Betty, thank you so much for sharing your list of favourites. These Chinese New Year books are amazing, I’m checkingthem out already!
The one about Sam and the money is the most beautiful, as for me.. 😍
Ni hao 😊
Hello Betty 😊 Nice to meet you. I’m Hande. I’m an industrial engineer and a mom of 6-year-old bilingual daughter from Turkey. We love your Instagram posts, your blog posts. They are so useful for us. Thank you for sharing all these resources and ideas. We would love to win the “Lunar New Year pop-up book” to encourage my bilingual daughter 💕🎉 Thank you for sharing these books with us and thank you for sharing your homeschooling and multilingual journey 💕
My best compliments 🌸
We would love to win the pop up book. It looks so cool and my little bookworm will definitely enjoy it. We love Gordon and Lili Chinese New Year book. My 2.5yo wants me to read him every day. The book introduces new year vocabularies and things that we need to do for new year. It is such a great book. We love “Bring in the New Year” book as well.
Hi Betty, thanks so much for your list of Chinese New Year books! I will check them out and show them to my son. I love looking at your ideas for teaching bilingual and thank you sharing!
Ni hao! Hello, Better. Thank you for the wealth of information and resources you provide parents, teachers, and parents! I would love the pop-up book. It would be a great book to teach my ESL students while learning to read. I also love your blog! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your bilingual journey! I think my favorite from the list would be Maggie’s Chopsticks! Since it’s my first born’s nickname, she’ll be thrilled to read about it! Hopefully I’ll be able to source one here in the Philippines 🙂
Hi, Betty, thank you for the book recommendation. Your posts and blogs always keep me inspired and learn a lot. I am Selvy from Indonesia. I feel like I have a lot in common with you, because at first I didn’t speak Chinese at all, but decided to learn so that my daughter could learn too. hope we can win this giveaway 😆
Such great guide! We haven’t got much mandarin books so this is a nice list for us to check it out. Thank you, Betty!
I wish I could win this.
Me and my husband are Chinese Indonesian. My family are speaking Mandarin and Hokkien at home. My children learn Mandarin as their second language at school, so I wish I could win this book to encourage my 3 children to learn more. Please let us be the winner. Thank you!! Xoxo
We love reading 团圆 too! My daughter loves it so much she had insisted I make some and I must put in a lucky coin in one of them!
Thanks for sharing these books with us. 🙂
Love all your recommendations! It’s always great ❤️👍🏻 No favorite lunar books yet, would try to check out some of your suggestions! Thank you so much! God bless you and your family!
I definitely love this book! Really hope to get this, it is simply wonderful! 😍
Thank you so much for this! I just found your account and amazing resources when my friend tagged me in your giveaway. I’m excited to get into all of your resources! My favourite Chinese New Year book so far is bringing in the new year!
@dariasanchez
Oh! And I forgot to mention, we bought the 过年啦 Celebrating Chinese New Year in traditional format with zhuyin. My daughter has so much fun with it, super interactive! Even my in laws are impressed! Whilst I can read it out loud with the help of the zhuyin, my Chinese vocabulary isn’t too deep yet so I couldn’t really fully explain what was written and just rely on the pictures to tell the story. 😅
First of all, thank you so much for publishing such an exhaustive list! Truly appreciate it. While there are sooo many titles I’d personally like to purchase from your list, the bilingual Chinese-English version of 農曆新年的美味 Tastes of Lunar New Year is my favorite. Main reason is because even though my husband and I are both of Chinese descent, he much prefers reading in English, while I still wish to instill the love for our mother tongue into our child, plus the illustrations are eye catching! Too cute to resist!
Hi Betty! I wish we had a favorite Lunar New Year books! I haven’t come across any so far, but would love to start introducing them to my son! Happy Year of the Ox!!
My child loves the bright and vibrant colours of the 过年啦 book, and I was so glad I got it for him. I was worried initially he would not be able to fully appreciate the interactive elements of the book (which seemed difficult, because it allowed the child to “decorate” the doors with loose paper 春联 and dress up the character with new clothes; of course as parents the first thing I wondered was how quickly we would lose these items…), but he loves it so much we are reading parts of it every day! Love the realistic depictions and beautiful illustrations. Personally I like this other book titled 好忙的除夕, which has rhyming texts (rare in Chinese books I have seen!), which also depicts the festive mood in a very realistic manner that allows the child to have the language to describe what they are actually seeing at home and on the streets!
十二生肖的故事! Love the animals and the story behind it
过年啦 It’s Chinese New Year! Pop-up Book
We haven’t started learning Chinese yet but love The Great Race and the Mr Men’s Chinese New Year book. Some great recommendations here ❤️
Thank you so much for the great recommendations! Our favorite is Dumpling Dreams by Carrie Clickard.
As a pregnant mom-to-be, I’m just starting out my bilingual children’s book collection to celebrate our heritage and pass on our culture to my future happa baby. Love the suggestions you have! I recently bought Chinese New Year Colors for my nephew, and looking to really kickstart our collection. Would be so grateful to win this contest!
I’ve only just started teaching my little one Chinese so we don’t have any new year books just yet so this is a great post for me to find suggestions!
Love the stuff you’ve done too!
My favorite lunar Chinese new year book would be 回家 Home for Chinese New Year cos of the heartwarming message that at the end of the day, it’s really about being together with your loved ones!!!
My little guy loves to read Samantha Chan’s Lucky Red Mittens 幸運紅手套.
十二生肖的故事! Perfect with the zodiac wheel!
We have have BUSY Chinese New Year the toddler on but we would also love to have a copy of this to add to our collection. I love these suggestions…. how many books is too many!?!
Our favourite is Lucky Red Mittens by Samantha Chan. I’m still learning to read Chinese myself so the simple sentence structure and Jyutping come in handy. My son likes to read the English and it’s helping us both learn about our heritage and culture.
We love the 12 Lucky Animals by Vickie Lee. Thank you for sharing your family favorites!
My favorite book is 歡樂過新年 (beautiful interactive, pop-up book with its new edition in 2021). There are other good books, but this one is just so special!!!!! While it is almost impossible for us to visit an Asian region to feel an authentic Lunar New Year, this book provides interesting interactive activities for children to experience Lunar New Year on paper. Just learned that they have an English version too!
My current favourite Lunar New Year book is called Noodle Magic. It can also be read as part of the Moon Festival. Noodles represent longevity and this book encourages us to believe in ourselves and our potential.
Favourite book is 十二生肖 Chinese Zodiac – love to read about the story – so fascinating 🙂
Bilingual book: We like the great race by Ling Lee.
English book: We like Nian the CNY Dragon by Virginia Loh-Hagan, Pope’s Lucky Chinese New Year by Virginia Loh-Hagan.
Chinese: We just got spring festival one you mentioned and we love it.
歡樂過新年 is our favorite! Very interactive with lots of fun illustrations and our kids love it!
Hi, Betty, thank you so much for this list of books for Lunar New Year! This year my son and I made Lion Head and Chinese Firecracker. He loves it. I also bought him a set of Traditional Chinese outfit. He learns to sing and dance to a Chinese song to celebrate the Lunar New Year too. Happy Lunar New Year to your beautiful family too!
Hi Viv! Happy Lunar New Year! It’s so awesome to hear about how you celebrated with your son and learned a new song! Thank you so much for taking the time to share!
I love this list! For me, it’s a toss-up between Home for Chinese New Year and A New Year Reunion. I love both. My kids prefer The Nian Monster. I love the illustrations, but no legend can beat a story that encapsulates the absolute joy and love of a family reunited for New Year. 💗
鬥年獸 is a classic lunar Chinese new year book!! Used to hate the 鞭炮 firecrackers at all the businesses during Chinese new year but after reading the story, definitely appreciate it more hahha
This Next New Year by Janet S. Wong
Which of these chinese new year book are with luka ?
Hi Kimberly! Please check the description under each book. I list the audio narration (Ximalaya versus Luka) for each book if available.
Hi Betty!! Love this list of Lunar New Year Books. We checked out “Home for Chinese New Year” from our library and liked it so much. I like that you included a few Korean books too, I’ll refer them to my Korean friends. =)
And this is random but the image you have above the book link for “Maggie’s Chopsticks” is actually an image from a different book, “Dim Sum For Everyone!” by Grace Lin (we own that book so I recognized the image instantly… because my daughter loves cha siu bao so we read that book constantly.^_^)
Thanks so much for taking the time to write! And thanks for pointing out the incorrect image so that I could fix it. I really appreciate your feedback!