We’ve been reading this story all week in preparation for Chinese New Year. At Mulberry Tree we value both diversity the richness of our community and ethnic history. We take time to explore and learn about local traditions and culture, and through such explorations stimulate discussion and ideas for learning themes.

In this book we learned about the “monster” who comes out to eat after 12 full moons but is afraid of the color red. That is the reason why we wear red at Chinese New Year. The children love to role play and enact the story by counting and raising their full moon hands a dozen times and protecting their friends from getting eaten by the monster. Everyone got a turn to play both the monster and the food. What a laugh!