We recently watched Over The Moon– a Netflix film about a girl who processes the loss of her mother by building a rocket to go to the moon and meet the moon goddess Chang-O. This film is stunning in its visuals and its cast is full of talent: Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, Sandra Oh, Kimiko Glenn, John Cho, and Margaret Cho! Obviously we think you should watch it. The movie made us want to learn more about the Chinese Moon Festival, so we checked out a few books from our library, and the ones we loved most are below.
Ching Yeung Russel and Christopher Zhong-Yuan Zhang created this beautiful book, Moon Festival, detailing a kid’s experience of the Moon Festival. Yeung Russel describes the preparations days before the festival itself, including the delicious aromas and colorful decorations that adorn nearby shops, and the lanterns that the family makes. The story centers on one child who wishes to Chang O, the moon goddess, to be reunited with her parents. The oil paintings in this book bring the beautiful story to life.
Brenda Williams and Benjamin Lacombe’s Lin Yi’s Lantern describes a young boy who goes to market for his mother to bargain for food for the Moon Festival. On the way he sees his uncle, who asks him to buy him some peanuts. Lin Yi’s mother has said that if he bargains well he’ll have enough money to buy the red rabbit lantern he so badly wants. In the end, he must choose between the peanuts and the rabbit. He chooses his uncle’s peanuts and tries to conceal the sadness he feels in not getting the lantern when his uncle surprises him with one! The story also includes The Legend of the Moon Fairy at the end, so readers can learn about the reason for the festival. The images here are vivid and rich, and the story so relatable, even in a context much different than the character’s.
Round is a Mooncake by Roseanne Thong and illustrated by Grace Lin was perfect for my 3 year old to start to learn about the traditions of the Moon Festival. She loved finding the many shapes on the pages and learning through the simple text how they connect to the festival. Lin’s bright and beautiful images kept her engaged the whole time (no easy feat, I can tell you).
Grace Lin (same one as above!) wrote and illustrated Thanking the Moon: Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. This is told from first-person perspective, bringing our family along for the adventure of preparing for and celebrating the Moon Festival with the family who is centered in the book. We love the way the yellows pop off the page, as though the moon really is lighting the whole story.
Ssanmu Tang’s Celebrating Chinese Festivals: A Collection of Holiday Tales, Poems, and Activities is a winner in our house! My 7 year old is really enjoying learning about the many different holidays in Chinese culture, and is eager to do allllll of the activities suggested in the book. The illustrations are lovely and the stories and poems that accompany the descriptions of the festivals helped my kids to make meaning of them.
If you’d like to purchase any of the books in this post, I hope you choose to do so from my Bookshop page. I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I’ll earn a small commission from any purchases made from my shop.