The Dragon New Year: A Chinese Legend (Chinese Legends Trilogy)

Rating:
Summary: Least accurate and least enjoyable Ch. New year book!
Review: We have read alot of Chinese New Year's books and found this to be the least enjoyable. We were surprised and disappointed to find a quite scary part in the middle. Not unless you read the afterword will you find out that Bouchard made up the story. (I do not think the subtitle should say it is a Chinese legend.) I would recommend that you stay away from this book, and certainly read it well before you consider reading it to any children. I would not want this to be anyone's first or only introduction to Chinese dragons, Chinese New Year's or the Year of the Dragon! If you use this book, do have others on hand and explain that this is just one person's view. (This is an especially strong reaction from me as we read lots of different versions of almost any story we read.)

Rating:
Summary: May not be a true 'legend', but my daughter love's it!
Review: We received this book as a gift. At first, I was afraid my 2-year-old daughter (adopted from China) might find this story too scary. But once I got her to sit through the rather long story, she absolutely loved it!!! She now takes the book with her everywhere, calling it her 'dragon book'. I'm not sure what exactly it means when Bouchard says he made up the story, but stayed true to Chinese history and folklore - it seems a contradiction to me to say you both made up a story, and stayed true to folklore...But whatever it means, I can't argue with the fact that my daughter just loves the book!