Why We Eat Fried Peanuts by Zed Zha is an insightful look into the Chinese New Year, with main character Mèng being taught about the family's history and their tradition of making fried peanuts, learning exactly why they eat them every year. Her father's story about one of their ancestors is touching and age appropriate, handling serious matters with care.

The end of the novel features a Q&A filled with interesting facts about Chinese history and culture, as well a recipe for your very own fried peanuts!

These stories are needed to add to the lush diversity of our world. I’ve been gifted fried peanuts for years and never questioned where the history came from. This is a nice take on tradition.

Why We Eat Fried Peanuts is a cute and informative picture book about one of the traditions of Lunar New Year. Mèng learns about her family history as we follow her great-grandmother in China. The text is interspersed with Chinese with a helpful pronunciation guide on each page. The illustrations are lively and engaging. This is a great book to introduce children to different aspects of the holiday. Thanks to Quatro Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a very educational book and the illustrations were beautiful. However, I feel like the title was misleading. I thought this would be about why it's common to eat peanuts in chinese culture but instead we learned about one specific reason and you find out why in the glossary.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an electronic copy in exchange for an honest review.

I adore this book. The illustrations are so beautiful and colourful. The story is sweet and important. I appreciate how we are given information about some of the Chinese words and their origin. I can't wait to share this with my own children and the children in my classroom.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – becker&mayer! kids for the e-ARC to read and review. This is a lovely story about family, heritage, tradition, culture, and food, all in one! The illustrations are gorgeous, and the personal family story about a broader Chinese tradition is a great way to showcase the importance of Lunar New Year. Lots of informative back matter, bilingual definitions, and a fried peanut recipe to really round out the experience.

Such an engaging and informative picture book, to learn more about Lunar New Year. This book has prompted many learning opportunities for my children about Chinese food, customs, history and culture. We also greatly appreciate the addition of the language prompts on each spread and learning how to pronounce various words in Mandarin. Such vibrant and delightful illustrations add to the beauty of this book. This book would be a great addition in any classroom, or family bookshelf to prompt learning more about Lunar New Year.

With thanks to Quarto Publishing Group for the digital review copy, via NetGalley. This review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own.

This is such a lovely little book. I don't normally read young children's books for myself but this one caught my attention due to our multi cultural family - my son is half Chinese but growing up outside of China and thus it's always nice if we can add books like this one to our family library.

The story is quite simple and short, but it's told lovingly and I appreciate how Mandarin was sprinkled into the dialogue as well as having footnotes with explanations. It doesn't focus so much on common Lunar New year themes such as red envelopes but instead has a strong focus on familial elements as well as the Qingming [grave sweeping] festival.

What I loved the most were the beautiful illustrations - they're colourful and feel cheerful which just matches the story perfectly. There are also a few nice discussion questions added at the end as well as a recipe for fried peanuts.

A charming, informative kids picture book which shares insights into Chinese culture through a sweet family story.

Why We Eat Fried Peanuts is a great story that shows a little girl learning about her family's customs during Lunar New Year. I loved the detailed illustrations and felt them to be very warm and comforting. The Chinese words and definitions were a nice touch and teach the reader a few words in a language that may be new to them.

Thank you to NetGalley, Zed Zha, and Quarto Publishing for the chance to read and review.

I really enjoyed reading this book to my children. The format of using Mandarin words throughout the story added to the dimension.

I thought that this book was really good.

It is well written, easy to follow and understand and it has some lovely illustrations.

I loved the addition of the different Mandarin words through the book which was a nice touch as well as learning the origins of why Fried Peanuts are chosen to be eaten during the festivities and why they are so significant, the book has a great insight in to the culture and traditions.

This would be a great addition to the libraries at Primary School. In the UK they learn about Chinese New Year and those celebrations so this would be a great follow on for that.

It is 5 stars from me for this one - very highly recommended!

Beautifully illustrated, this picture book shows Northern Chinese traditions, history and words (in Mandarin - with spelling) to the reader, raising importance of tradition and reverence for your ancestors no matter where you are now. The story focuses on the protagonist's now deceased grand-grandmother who was helping people in her town during pre WW2 times.

This picture book serves the role of introducing various cultural concepts to Chinese diaspora children and anyone who wants to learn about these traditions and values.

The illustrations are full of warmth and emotion, and do a great job easing the reader into some of the more serious subjects raised in the book (like poverty and war, or the role of women in the society).

The language feels complex enough I would recommend it to pre-school and early elementary school children who are of Chinese descent or interested in Chinese culture.

Thank you NetGalley, Becker&Mayer and Quarto Publishing Group for the arc.

I absolutely adore this book from the illustrations to the story. I love how readers are immersed in Chinese culture by learning words, traditions, and more. This would be an excellent resource in a classroom and a great way to introduce young readers to culture studies. Teachers can use this book as an anchor text for students to start their own research projects as well. I enjoyed the recipe tie-in as well as the important moments page.

The artwork in this book is phenomenal and the story is incredibly touching. I loved the bits of Chinese interspersed within the sentences. I'm ABC (American Born Chinese), and while I am conversational in Chinese, this book taught me a couple of new words! :)
Highly recommend this book for any Chinese diaspora babies, and also for anyone who loves to have a library of diverse "Own Voices" books available for their kids (teachers or parents!) Additionally, the book has a few pages at the back that provides more context and information that might be helpful for curious kids or for parents who want to learn more.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this picture book.

An interesting and personal history. I felt that the Chinese-to-English was helpful though I think a different layout would have been more pleasing to the eye.

I was given Why We Eat Fried Peanuts by Zed Zha by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Having recently been gifted fried peanuts from China, this book fell neatly into my virtual lap. A slip of a book, its message is to explain, through some carefully chosen scenarios, some Chinese words that convey the cultural pull of the country's north. A girl is intrigued by why they eat peanuts in the new year, to which her dad explains (no spoilers) that they've seen as a symbol of prosperity and that they neatly tie up with an element of their family history.

It takes minutes to go through the book, but there's a warm, rosy glow that remains, as well as a little fact sheet to round off your knowledge and a recipe for fried peanuts, which I shall try. Alternating between lengthy novels and true crime, I found this book to be the perfect palate cleanser and I wish Zha great luck with this work.

I really enjoyed this book! I art was very pretty, and the story is definitely heartwarming. I really like the addition of Chinese words, a recipe at the end, and facts about Chinese New Year. A great children's book!!

Rich in Chinese History, family history and connections that transcend generations, this is a stunning book that is rich in culture. Based around a discussion between father and child this explores elements of the celebration that I've not read in other childrens books on LNY. The Lunar New Year element is minimal, however this doesn't detract from what is a heartfelt story on shared histories, valuing the verbal passing down of knowledge between generations.

I loved the inclusion of Mandarin throughout, although at times, as a person who has no Mandarin knowledge I did find this a little overwhelming, however I can see with repetitive reading or someone fluent/learning the language, this wouldn't be such an issue. I predict this being a beloved book read multiple times by families and in classrooms, which would build familiarity with Mandarin.

A fascinating story about family traditions, kindness, and remembrance. Mèng and her family are celebrating Lunar New Year, and her father is especially excited about the fried peanuts they've prepared. When Mèng asks why they eat fried peanuts, she is told a beautiful story of her great-grandmother, whose kindness, courage, and sweetness of spirit lived on in her children's memories.

With engaging illustrations and informative back pages (along with a yummy recipe for fried peanuts!), this is sure to be a hit.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.