This book is about a boy named Long-Long, who goes to the market with his grandfather to sell fresh cabbage. Their cart gets a flat tire, but a repairman pumps the tire for them. Long-Long decides to stay and help the repairman pump other tires, and the repairman gives him some money for helping. They later make it to the market. However, there is another lady selling cabbages that aren't as fresh. She manages to intercept all of the customers, and Long-Long's grandfather cannot sell the cabbages for money to buy supplies for the New Year celebration. As Long-Long is walking around, he runs into a cook, who asks him to sell her cabbages for her soup and buns. She sees the lady selling bad cabbage and yells at her to leave. Long-Long's grandfather is able to sell all of his cabbage and buy supplies. Long-Long decides to use his money to buy gifts for his family. I enjoyed this picture book because it is not only about Chinese New Year, but it is set in China and is from that perspective. The illustrations also add to the book because they are done to look like traditional Chinese art, which I think helps bring the reader into Long-Long's life in China. I also like the book because it includes a glossary for the terms that might not be familiar to all readers. ( )

Seems to be quite an accurate depiction of Chinese New Year as celebrated in mainland China during the last decade of the 20th century. ("Seems" because I have only secondhand knowledge of life across the Taiwan Strait!) Worthy of comparison with Thomas Handforth's Caldecott award-winning Mei Li which depicts Chinese New Year in the 1930s. ( )

This book is about a boy that helps his family prepare for Spring Festival. he and his grandfather go to the market to sell fresh cabbage, because they need money for the festival. They get a flat tire on the bike they are riding and the boy has to take it to the repair shop. While there, he helps the repair man pump up other tires and the man pays the little boy. When he gets back to his grandfather, he sees that they have barely sold an cabbage because another lady is selling cabbage and is making it look fresh. The young boy convinces a cook to buy cabbage from his grandfather. When the boy and the cook go to grandfather, the cook sees the lady is tricking people and he throws her out of market. Everyone then buy cabbage from the young boy and his grandfather, which gives them the money they need for festival.

This is a great story to use when discussing family values, culture, and history. I would use this story for all elementary grade levels. I'd incorporate a project where each student gets a culture and has to put together a holiday display. I think students would enjoy learning about other cultures and having mini holiday parties. ( )

Review: This book is about a boy named Long-Long who helps his family get ready for the Spring Festival. Long-Long goes with his grandpa to the market to sell fresh cabbage so that they will have money for the Spring Festival. As they are just getting to the market the bike that they traveled on got a flat tire, so Long-Long took the bike to a repair shop to get it fixed. While Long-Long is at the shop he helps pump up others tires and he gets a silver yuan coin for helping. Long-Long returns to his grandpa, but he has hardly sold anything because an old lady is spraying old cabbage with water to make it look fresh and everyone is buying from her. Long-Long got an idea. He went to a street restaurant and told the cook that his grandpa was selling fresh cabbage. The cook goes to buy cabbage from the grandpa and sees the old lady selling bad cabbage. The cook tells the lady to leave and everyone starts buying cabbage from Long-Long and his grandpa. The sell all of their cabbage and they buy everything they need to get ready for the Spring Festival. Now Long-Long and his family will have happiness and good luck just in time for Spring Festival.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Genre Critique: This book is a good example of a realistic fiction book because it is a story of a boy and his family and how they get ready for the Spring Festival. The events that take place in this book are true to how they would take place in China. Children who celebrate this holiday in their home would be able to relate to this book because it is a holiday still celebrated today. The way the family gets ready for the holiday is typical to how other family prepare for the holiday. ( )

I chose the picture book because the Chinese New Year is coming and the book reminds me of the time I celebrated the New Year with my parents and friends.

The story is about a little Chinese boy named Long-Long goes with his grandfather into the town to sell cabbages in order to buy food and decorations for the New Year. Long-Long is a nice boy, he helps a lady pick up all fallen oranges on the ground and gets an orange as an reward, then he helps grandpa repair cart’s tire and helps the repairman pump some tires, at last, the repairman gives him a coin. He is so proud, but his grandpa doesn’t sell any cabbage because an old woman next to them cheats the townsfolk to sell her cabbages. Long-Long wanders off and tries to think what to do, he comes to a street restaurant, and good smell appeals him. But he thinks of his mom and his little cousin, he decides to save the one dollar coin. Luckily, the owner of the street restaurant reveals the cheating of the old women. So people came to buy Long-Long and his grandpa’s cabbages. They sell all the cabbages and buy spices, rice, flour and cooking oil, firecrackers, and lucky words like Fu…the story is charming.

Meanwhile, the illustrations are Chinese traditional paintings and pay more attention to details to help introduce Chinese culture. It presents the scenes of New Year markets and New Year activities such as dragon dancing and setting off firecreackers. Even when Long-Long and his grandpa came back to the village, we can see each house has red flashes, some houses decorate red lanterns. New Year is in the air.