CHECK IT OUT:

The Newport Beach Public Library’s Children’s Department shelves thousands of books for you to explore.

You can discover all corners of the globe without even leaving your chair — all with the help of great books!

This month is the special celebration of the Chinese New Year so it is the perfect chance to explore Asian culture at your library.

The Newport library has many children’s books filled with exciting information on Asian culture to share with your friends and family.

We have books on all of the countries of Asia, culinary cookbooks of Asian delicacies, stories of Asian fairy tales and folklore and fully illustrated books on fun-filled crafts.

Here are a few of the Asian inspired books by the Chinese New Year you can find at any of our four locations:

“China in Pictures” by Alison Behnke features text and illustrations that present detailed information on the geography, history and government, economy, people, cultural life and society of traditional and modern China, home to more than one-fifth of the earth’s population;

“The Chinese Empire” by Marinella Terzi discusses the culture of China over a period of 4,000 years and examines some of the structures and artwork that remain from that civilization;

“Cooking the Chinese Way: Revised and Expanded to Include New Low-fat and Vegetarian Recipes” by Lorraine Ling introduces the fundamentals of Chinese cooking, including special ingredients and cooking utensils for such dishes as watercress soup, stir-fried beef with sugar peas, bean sprouts with scallions, and fortune cookies;

“The Young Chef’s Chinese Cookbook” has step-by-step fun recipes for young chefs to make delicious Chinese dishes and special Asian delicacies;

“The Seven Chinese Brothers” by Margaret Mahy is one of the most popular stories in the Chinese folk telling tradition and is based on translations of stories from Chung-Kuo Min Chien Ku Shih. Carefully researched details in the watercolor painting illustrations recreate the period in which the infamous first emperor of all China, Ch’in Shih Huang lived and began building the Great Wall;

“Demi’s Reflective Fables” retells 13 of the author’s favorite traditional Chinese fables for young readers including The Bat and the Weasels, The Phoenix and the Singing Master, and A Butterfly’s Dream;

“Chinese New Year Crafts” by Karen E. Bledsoe provides information about the origins and customs of the Chinese New Year, ideas for celebrating this holiday, and instructions for making holiday banners, a dragon streamer puppet, and a ribbon lantern;

“Paper crafts for Chinese New Year” by Randall McGee explains the significance of Chinese New Year and how to make cool crafts out of just simple paper.

Have fun exploring the shelves of books about a variety of world cultures at the Newport Beach Public Library at any of its locations; Central, Mariners, Balboa, and Corona Del Mar. Check out these and many other wonderful books on the Asian tradition.

Make sure to join us for our special program, Asian Craft Day from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Central Library.

We will celebrate the Chinese New Year by making dragon puppets, origami, and feature a fortune teller craft!

Asian Craft Day is a free and fun program that just requires online registration via our kids’ website www.newportkids.org.

Celebrate the New Year and all year at your Newport Beach Public Library!

CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public Library. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by accessing the catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org. For more information on the Central Library or any of the branches, please contact the Newport Beach Public Library at (949) 717-3800, option 2.