The Nian Monster

By Andrea Wang and Alina Chau

The Original Art 2017 Exhibit
2017-2018 Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Literature Award Picture Book Honor

STARRED REVIEW! "Wang's story thrills but doesn't threaten: Chau's wonderfully vivid watercolors give the monster doe eyes and a round body that make him seem like a cranky, overgrown teddy bear, and Wang shares cultural information about the Chinese New Year with the lightest of touches."—Publishers Weekly starred review

Tong tong! The legendary Nian monster has returned at Chinese New Year. With horns, scales, and wide, wicked jaws, Nian is intent on devouring Shanghai, starting with Xingling! The old tricks to keep him away don't work on Nian anymore, but Xingling is clever. Will her quick thinking be enough to save the city from the Nian Monster?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
• Release date: Dec 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9780807556436

Andrea Wang

Andrea Wang grew up in a small town in Ohio. Now she lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children. She was an environmental scientist before becoming an author.

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Reviews for The Nian Monster

[abigailadams26 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Xingling prepares for Chinese (Lunar) New Year with her grandmother, or Po-Po, in this sweet picture-book from author Andrea Wang and illustrator Alina Chau. When Nian, the monster said in Chinese folklore to appear at New Year's time, materializes on her balcony, determined to eat her and the rest of the people of Shanghai, clever Xingling finds a way to feed him and then neutralize him. At least, until the next New Year celebration comes around...I have encountered the work of Chau before, in her illustrations for Nancy Tupper Ling's Double Happiness, but The Nian Monster is my first book from Wang. It pairs an engaging story of a clever girl who outwits the eponymous monster with adorable artwork, and makes an appealing story for this time of year. I appreciated Wang's afterword here, which gives more information about Nian and various Chinese New Year traditions. The folklore behind this original story - Nian (which means 'year' in Chinese) is indeed said to appear every New Year, and is supposedly frightened away by loud noises, bright lights and the color red - is also explored in Virginia Loh-Hagan's Nian, the Chinese New Year Dragon, which would pair very nicely with this one. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for Chinese New Year stories.