I picked this up from my school library’s weeding pile, thinking it might be good for a Lunar New Year lesson. Given the title, I assumed it would be a story about the traditional dragon dance performed during Chinese New Year celebrations. Unfortunately, the book didn’t mention China or Chinese New Year at all, nor did it contain any information about traditional celebrations.
The actual story is…fine. A group of kids are creating decorations for their friend Mei Lin’s birthday (am I imagining things or is Mei Lin the go-to “Chinese” name in kids media written by white people?). After their teacher reads them a book about dragons, the kids decide to make a “Birthday Dragon.” With their paper dragon, they go dancing through the playground, imagining mountains, and ocean, a swamp, and a bamboo forest. The illustrations are cute and colorful, and the text is fun to read aloud, with plenty of alliteration and onomatopoeias (truly the best standard by which to judge a read-aloud). But overall, the book felt kind of empty. It nodded to Chinese culture with the illustration style (and Mei Lin’s name), but lacked any grounding in the 
actual culture and traditions. It seemed like the author wanted to write a “Chinese New Year” book, but didn’t want to actually do any research. I made it work for my Lunar New Year lesson by pairing it with a Youtube video of actual dragon dancers and a quick discussion of authentic traditions. I’ve learned my lesson though, and next year will be looking for a read-aloud created by someone actually immersed in the culture.