Welcome year of the Goat!

Today marks the first day of the Chinese New Year!  Goodbye year of the horse, hello year of the goat!  (or sheep?)

China has used the Gregorian calendar (same one as us) since 1912 but the Chinese New Year is based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.  The date (which you probably noticed changes from year to year) is based on the 2nd new moon after the Winter Solstice.

Roughly 1/6 of the world celebrates this holiday, and not just in China.  There are also celebrations in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, and any other place with a significant population of people with Chinese ancestry. In the USA the biggest celebration is in San Fransisco.

If you want to wish someone a happy new year in Mandarin Chinese (the language spoken by about 70% of the country) you can say to them: "Xin Nian Kuai Le!"  (pronounced "zeen neean kwai luh")

Want to celebrate?  Here are some ideas how you can too!

• Eat Chinese food!  Order it, buy it at the store, or best yet, make your own!  Stop in the library and check out the cookbooks we have:
• Chinese Cooking for Beginners by Su-Huei Huang
• The Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom
• Every Grain of Rice: Simple Chinese Home Cooking by Fuchsia Dunlop
• Flavors of China by Clare Ferguson
• Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking by Eileen Yin Fei Lo
• The Shun Lee Cookbook by Michael Tong
• Clean your house, get a haircut, or buy new clothes.  Or do all three!  These are traditional ways the Chinese celebrate the New Year that are easy for anyone
• Find a video of a Chinese New Year parade online to watch 
• Try making a dragon mask or a Chinese lantern
• Since its the year of the sheep/goat, why not make some cute sheep cupcakes?
• A traditional gift to give is a red envelope with either cash or chocolate coins inside.  These are usually just given to children.
• Spend time with your family and friends.  A good tip for any holiday, or any day of the year!
• Safely set off some fireworks

One last idea for celebrating the Chinese New Year...read!

• YA GN YAN – American Born Chinese – Gene Luen Yang - Alternates three interrelated stories about the problems of young Chinese Americans trying to participate in the popular culture. Presented in comic book format.

• YA GN YAN – Boxers & Saints – Gene Luen Yang - In China in 1898 bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough: harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers--commoners trained in kung fu--who fight to free China from "foreign devils."

• YA GN YAN – Level Up – Gene Luen Yang - Dennis, the son of Chinese immigrants, yearns to play video games like his friends and, upon his strict father's death, becomes obsessed with them but later, realizing how his father sacrificed for him, he chooses a nobler path.

• YA SFF WIL – Dragon Keeper – Carole Wilkinson - An orphan slave girl becomes a Dragon Keeper when she heroically comes to the aid of an aging dragon and both go on a dangerous journey across China to protect a mysterious stone vital to the dragon's legacy.

Teen Book Club ~ January ~ Steampunk!

The Teen Book Club met last night to discuss a short story collection, Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories by various authors.

Here are the discussion questions we used:

1.  How many of the stories did you read, and which ones?
2.  Which was your favorite?
3.  Least favorite?
5.  What about the graphic novel type stories?  Did you enjoy these?
6.  What common elements tie all of these stories together and make them "steampunk?"  Do you have a better understanding of what steampunk is now?
7.  We have novels by many of the authors who wrote the stories for this collection.  Did reading these stories make you more likely to check out novels by these authors?
8.  Did all of the stories have similar settings?
9.  What did you think of reading a short story collection instead of a novel?
10.  Ratings and final thoughts!


Melanie gave it an 8/10 and said ~ It was really cool that all these authors wrote stories to make a good steampunk book!
Catherine gave it an 8/10 and said ~ I had never read steampunk before, but now I know that I love it!
MissG gave it a 9/10 and said ~ A varied and imaginative collection of stories all with a really neat steampunk twist.  Makes me want to read more steampunk!

Our book for February is a biography/memoir...

Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

The daughter of a wealthy Hong Kong businessman describes her very difficult childhood and the psychological abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepmother.

Copies of the book are available at the front desk.  Our discussion will be Wednesday, February 26th 6:00-7:00pm.

Fabulous February New Books ~ Part 2

Pirouette by Robyn Bavati

YA FIC BAV

When Simone and Hannah, fifteen-year-old identical twins, meet for the first time at dance camp, they switch places in order to change the role that dance plays in their lives.

 

Vitro by Jessica Khoury

YA SFF KHO

On a remote island in the Pacific, Corpus scientists have taken test tube embryos and given them life. These beings--the Vitros--have knowledge and abilities most humans can only dream of. But they also have one enormous flaw.  Sophie Crue is determined to get to Skin Island and find her mother, a scientist who left Sophie behind years ago. She enlists hunky charter pilot Jim Julien to take her there. But once on the island, Sophie and Jim encounter more than they bargained for, including a charming, brilliant Vitro named Nicholas and an innocent, newly awoken one named Lux.  In a race for their lives, Sophie and Jim are about to discover what happens when science stretches too far beyond its reach.

 

 Thrice Told Tales: Three Mice Full of Writing Advice by Catherine Lewis

YA 803 LEW

Can one nursery rhyme explain the secrets of the universe? Well, not exactly--but it can help you understand the difference between bildungsroman, epigram, and epistolary.

 

 Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

YA GN YAN

In China in 1898 bands of foreign missionaries and soldiers roam the countryside, bullying and robbing Chinese peasants. Little Bao has had enough: harnessing the powers of ancient Chinese gods, he recruits an army of Boxers--commoners trained in kung fu--who fight to free China from "foreign devils."

 

Saints by Gene Luen Yang

YA GN YAN

China, 1898. An unwanted and unwelcome fourth daughter, Four-Girl isn't even given a proper name by her family when she's born. She finally finds friendship-- and a name, Vibiana -- in the most unlikely of places: Christianity. But China is a dangerous place for Christians. The Boxer Rebellion is in full swing, and bands of young men roam the countryside, murdering Westerners and Chinese Christians alike. Torn between her nation and her Christian friends, Vibiana will have to decide where her true loyalties lie-- and whether she is willing to die for her faith.

 

 Unbreakable by Kami Garcia

YA PAR GAR

Seventeen-year-old Kennedy Waters discovers she is a member of an ancient secret society formed to protect the world from a powerful demon determined to find a way out of his dimension and into ours. She joins the Legion on a mission to find a weapon that can defeat the demon.