About the Author:

Zhang Qiusheng is a renowned children’sliterature writer and poet, a member of the China Writers Association. He haswritten and edited papers, magazines and books for youngsters for 40 years andpublished more than 70 fairytales, poetries and prose collections. His workshave won many awards.

About the Illustrator:

In more than 30 years Zhu Chengliangdedicated his career to children’s books and picture books illustration. He hasearned many international awards. The picture book Reunion won the Top 10Excellent Picture Books by New York Times in 2011 and was selected by the NewWork Public Library as one of 100 Children’s Books in 2011. Shining RabbitLantern won the Best Illustration Award of the Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrationsorganized by the Asian Cultural Center of UNESCO (ACCU).

Introduction:

This is a story about traditional Chinesecustoms in Spring Festival, the Lunar New Year. According to the customs, Yan’er’sfamily cooks Laba congee on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Yan’erhelped Grandma to prepare for the cooking materials and helped Mom to addfirewood to the stove. When the congee was ready, the family first worshippedthe ancestors and deities then sent congee to the eldest people in the village.They left a bowl for Dad, who was working and couldn’t be with the famoily; andUncle, who was in a university. The family called for a reunion at the ChineseNew Year. Later, Yan’er smeared half a bowl of congee to the persimmon tree inthe yard, which, according to the local legend, would help the tree to growbetter and produce more fruit.