Editorial Review

More robust than most introductions to the topic, the Celebrating Holidays series examines an array of religious and secular celebrations in an accessible picture-book format. Comprised of eight or nine chapters (typically two to four pages), each book presents a holiday’s history, associated foods and traditions (including variations around the world), meaningful symbols, and related poems and songs; simple crafts, recipes, and suggestions to help kids get in the holiday spirit follow the main text, as well. Clean, attractive layouts sport colorful headings, short paragraphs of smoothly written text, and inviting illustrations on nearly every page. Frequent fact boxes and bubbles contribute trivia and quotes that further enhance the proceedings. Celebrating Chinese New Year explains the significance of dragons, the color red, firecrackers, and lanterns to this holiday and China’s use of a lunar calendar. Celebrating Christmas touches on the nativity story and Santa Claus, in addition to advent wreaths and the possible origin of Christmas trees. Kids will learn about the Jewish Festival of Lights in Celebrating Hanukkah, which relays the story of the Maccabees and the importance of the menorah, traditional fried foods, and the game dreidel. Celebrating Mother’s Day offers a fun glimpse of how children around the world honor their moms, from baking a special cake in France to gently tying her up in Serbia. A strong, well-rounded series.