Book Review: Mulan’s Lunar New Year by Natasha Yim
It is the Lunar New Year, which happens to be Mulan’s favorite festival! There is so much to do to prepare for this important celebration. For the first time, Mulan is now old enough to help out. However, everything Mulan does seems to turn out wrong.
Daughter’s Reaction
My daughter is about to turn 7 years old, which just happens to be the same age Mulan is in this book. She was absolutely thrilled to read this book when I handed it to her. She immediately loved all the illustrations and that drew her into the book. She read the book herself and said she liked the story and all the pictures in it. After she read the story, she had some questions about the cultural things mentioned in the book and we talked about them.
Overview
The first thing that pops out to me in this book are the incredibly beautiful illustrations by Sophie Li and all the feelings and emotions the artwork conveys. The book jacket has a lovey image of Mulan and her family which gives me a feeling of love and comfort. If you remove the book jacket, the book cover has a gorgeous illustration of Mulan sitting on a dragon that gives me a feeling a sense of adventure.
This special Lunar New Year story really captures the unique sense of magic, imagination, and possibility that surrounds the holiday! I enjoy all the cultural elements in the story and how the family explains each one to Mulan in a way she (and the reader) can understand. As a young child, my mother would tell me things I should and should not do during the New Year, but did not explain why. After reading this book, a lot of my questions have been answered.
I enjoyed the story and beautiful illustrations of “Mulan’s Lunar New Year” and would recommend adding this to your personal collection.
