The Tray of Togetherness

Written and illustrated by Flo Leung

Owlkids Books

978-1-77147-462-7

32 pp.

Ages 3-7

November 2022 

While one part of the world has just celebrated the shift of the year from 2022 to 2023, another community will be preparing for the Lunar New Year on January 22. Across Asia and Asian diaspora globally, preparations are being made to ensure an advantageous Chinese New Year. There will be cleaning of households, purchasing of new clothes and fireworks, decorating with red lanterns and more, and, finally, the preparing of food for a multi-generational family dinner. And part of that meal will  be a tray of togetherness, a platter of sweets that carries tradition, good wishes and hospitality. 

From The Tray of Togetherness by  Flo Leung

With the arrival of her grandmother, a child knows it's time to start getting ready for the new year's party to celebrate the "new moon that begins each brand-new year." But first, they must head out to the shops to buy all the goodies to fill their tray of eight sections, a lucky number that "means our happiness will grow and grow." Each purchase is selected with care and meaning. From the candied winter melon for good health, candies for a sweet life and the pistachios for happiness, delectables are procured so that they might be shared along with good wishes.

From The Tray of Togetherness by  Flo Leung

Then the child and her family share those treats and accompanying good wishes with others, including at a red-festooned New Year party that brings family together both in person and virtually to celebrate.

Whether you are a young reader whose family will be celebrating the Lunar New Year or a teacher or parent who wants to use this new year as a teachable moment about heritage and diversity of celebrations, The Tray of Togetherness will foster a fellowship of understanding and appreciation. This may be Toronto illustrator Flo Leung's first picture book, but she knows food, she knows art, and she knows her family's traditions. Together she has created an explosion of brightness and comfort in her words and her illustrations and informs about traditions for the Lunar New Year. There is a warmth in her colours, with red, orange and gold emphasized throughout, and an invitation to share in the family's festivities and good fortune. Flo Leung, who specializes in food and culinary illustration, knows how to create enticing food images, whether in the form of a market stall, a tray of sweets or a bowl of fruit. But it's her people who welcome us into their world to bask in their conviviality and intimacy of familial celebration.

From The Tray of Togetherness by Flo Leung

Whether your family is celebrating the Lunar New Year with family and your own tray of togetherness or with a reading of The Tray of Togetherness, I wish you happiness and bounty for the new year.

Twelve in a Race

Written by Catherine Little

Illustrated by Sae Kimura

Plumleaf Press

978-1-486936687

38 pp.

Ages 3-12

March 2022

 

I know many of us our preparing for our holiday celebrations and that those celebrations will take many forms. One celebration that will be observed very soon will be the Lunar New Year which will take place on January 22, 2023. Twelve in a Race may have come out earlier in 2022 but reviewing it now seems a perfect opportunity to get it some deserved attention before the upcoming Chinese New Year celebrations.

From Twelve in a Race by Catherine Little, illus. by Sae Kimura

The theme of Catherine Little's Twelve in a Race is the origin story of the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac as they participated in a race set by the emperor.

Some started fast,

others were slow.

Courage and wits

were tested from "Go!" 

Along raging rivers,

over mountains and dunes,

The animals ran for

many moons.

From Twelve in a Race by Catherine Little, illus. by Sae Kimura

As the animals race, their attributes–and those we associate with the different years of the Zodiac–impact their standing in the competition. Rat is persuasive and smart, Horse is cheerful, independent, and quick, and Monkey is agile and clever. For each, Catherine Little gives positive attributes and follows the correct order of the Chinese Zodiac as the myth prescribes. It's charming and informative and I suspect every child will be looking up their sign. (A zodiac appends the story with years from 1996 through 2031 so children and young adults and even future kids are covered. Oldies such as myself probably already know our signs–I was born in Year of the Pig–or can look them up online.)

 

Toronto's Sae Kimura gives us illustrations that take us to a Chinese countryside of luscious, stylized plants and water. The landscape components are shaped with softness and give further movement to the racers. Even the clouds float with purpose and delicacy in the bright sky. Though I don't know why, I think Sae Kimura's Japanese heritage–she was born in Odawara, Japan–contributes to the tradition of the story of Twelve in a Race. She instills a traditional majesty to her characters and an art deco essence to her borders of meandering geometric shapes.

From Twelve in a Race by Catherine Little, illus. by Sae Kimura

Toronto author Catherine Little tells me that she wrote Twelve in a Race to help her biracial son learn about the Chinese side of his heritage that didn’t portray Chinese culture as “foreign” and I believe that she has succeeded in doing so. The story honours the myth of the zodiac and makes it accessible for all children to learn a traditional story while finding themselves in it. Knowing your zodiac sign is just the beginning.