Tet: Vietnamese New Year (Best Holiday Books)

Rating:
Summary: Teaching young readers all about the Vietnamese New Year
Review: As someone who still associates "Tet" with the "Tet Offensive" rather than the Vietnamese New Year, I found this book by Dianne M. MacMillan to be quite interesting. MacMillan explains that Tet is like a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's celebration all combined into one gigantic three-day holiday. Now, what young reader is not going to be impressed with that little bit of information? MacMillan focuses on the many ways in which Tet is celebrated by Vietnamese Americans in the United States and Canada. After explaining how the Tet holiday began and how it falls on the same time each year with the Chinese New Year (the first day of the new lunar year). Young readers will learn how to prepare for the Tet holiday by cleaning your house so the "Ong Tao" (kitchen gods) will give a good report on your behalf to the Jade Emperor. They will also learn why the color red is used everywhere, the symbolism of peach blossoms, the religious beliefs involved, and a fortune telling game that predicts your fortune for the new year. Young students researching Tet for class will find this book very informative and will also discover some suggestions for celebrating Tet in the classroom. I would think this book would be very useful for schools that have Vietnamese American students in attendance, as a way of teaching other students about the cultural heritage of their classmates. In addition to the glossary in the back of the book there is a note to parents, teachers and librarians about the proper spelling of Vietnamese words, which are written without the appropriate diacritical marks to accommodate younger readers. This book is part of the Best Holiday Books series, which explains the history of various holidays and how they are celebrated.

Rating:
Summary: Teaching young readers all about the Vietnamese New Year
Review: As someone who still associates "Tet" with the "Tet Offensive" rather than the Vietnamese New Year, I found this book by Dianne M. MacMillan to be quite interesting. MacMillan explains that Tet is like a birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's celebration all combined into one gigantic three-day holiday. Now, what young reader is not going to be impressed with that little bit of information? MacMillan focuses on the many ways in which Tet is celebrated by Vietnamese Americans in the United States and Canada. After explaining how the Tet holiday began and how it falls on the same time each year with the Chinese New Year (the first day of the new lunar year). Young readers will learn how to prepare for the Tet holiday by cleaning your house so the "Ong Tao" (kitchen gods) will give a good report on your behalf to the Jade Emperor. They will also learn why the color red is used everywhere, the symbolism of peach blossoms, the religious beliefs involved, and a fortune telling game that predicts your fortune for the new year. Young students researching Tet for class will find this book very informative and will also discover some suggestions for celebrating Tet in the classroom. I would think this book would be very useful for schools that have Vietnamese American students in attendance, as a way of teaching other students about the cultural heritage of their classmates. In addition to the glossary in the back of the book there is a note to parents, teachers and librarians about the proper spelling of Vietnamese words, which are written without the appropriate diacritical marks to accommodate younger readers. This book is part of the Best Holiday Books series, which explains the history of various holidays and how they are celebrated.