Here are a couple books that make a great excuse for red-letter snuggles with small people, whether they’re in Holiday Celebration Bonanza mode or you just want to mark the event yourself. (Updated Feb. 1, 2019!)
Lunar New Year celebrations culminate on Feb. 5 this year, and there are a couple of really nice new releases since last year!
Our longstanding favorite is Bringing in the New Year (Amazon | Indiebound), featuring a Chinese-American girl protagonist and her family (MC seems to be 4-6 or so). Features lots of lovely preparations, traditions, and subtle explications of symbolism with a minimum of text and plenty to observe in the detailed illustrations.
Twelve Lucky Animals (Amazon | Indiebound) is a beautifully illustrated introduction to the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, with some quick characteristics and names in English and Chinese. It focuses more on the animals than the celebration, so will also appeal to kids too young to understand much about holidays, and I’d be happy to look at these cute critters all year round.
The Lunar New Year (Amazon | Indiebound) installment from the Celebrate the World series has funny, vivacious illustrations that seem ready to jump off the page as it peeks in on a variety of families preparing and celebrating. It also takes a “we” perspective, unlike some of their other offerings that seem to discuss holidays from the outside in.
And My Lucky Little Dragon (Amazon | Indiebound) is a cutesy board book intro to the animals of the Chinese zodiac, with sparkles and a mirror at the end for the littlest.
Happy new year, everyone!
On to the Valentine’s Day heart-spam for our tiny people:
Bunny Roo, I Love You (Amazon | Indiebound) is about a new parent’s somewhat confused response to her child’s different needs as they get to know each other—I find it sweet and relatable for those first weeks and months where having a baby can be so shocking and strange.
I carry your heart with me (Amazon | Indiebound): which is e.e. cummings' "[i carry your heart (i carry it in]" interpreted through some soft, lovely illustrations as a celebration of the love between a mother and child.
Snuggle Puppy (Amazon | Indiebound). This is one of my favorites because it’s such a tender, cuddly book but still lighthearted and fun, not cheesy. Since you don’t have to choose any particular tune for the simple little song, it’s easy for anyone to sing. It has the red-and-white hearts motif to cover Valentine’s imagery, but the grownup dog isn’t gendered or even marked as a parent, just someone who really loves what that little puppy does.