Every Month Is a New Year: Celebrations Around the World

What a wonderful way to learn about different cultures and faraway places. Children always associate New Year’s with festivities and fireworks–that is the American way. But the New Year is celebrated differently in other places. In Russia, there are two New Year’s celebrations. Imagine that, while in Jordan, the mosque is the place for prayer for the new moon in May. Following the lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year can fall in January or even February. For every calendar month, there is a different country that welcomes the incoming year. Ruth Lee, the author, writes a lyrical description of the event and sets these festive words within an eye-catching calendar patchwork. The illustrator, Susan L. Roth, assembles an amazing graphic representation of the traditional holiday decorations using collage with mixed media, an assemblage that dazzles the eye. In addition to the sixteen colorfully illustrated national New Year’s festivals, there is an addendum further detailing the celebrations such as Enkutatash in Ethiopia or Hogmanay in Scotland. And the reader can learn how to say “Happy New Year” in more than a dozen different languages. This is an international treasure to be valued by schools and youngsters.