Lion Dancer: Ernie Wan’s Chinese New Year by Kate Waters and Madeline Slovenz-Low, photographs by Martha Cooper.
Scholastic, New York, 1990.
Nonfiction picture book, 32 pages.
Lexile: 540L .
AR Level: 2.9 (worth 0.5 points) .
The is the story of six-year-old Ernie Wan’s first Lion Dance, which he’s been preparing for since he was three. For the Chinese New Year, he will perform on the streets of New York City.
Ernie is one-fifth of a loving family. His father is, according to the dust jacket text, “a kung fu master” so studying kung fu is very important to his family. (I put that portion in quotes not because I disbelieve his qualifications but because I wasn’t sure if that’s how he would describe himself. Often the jacket text isn’t written by the author so it’s difficult to tell just how accurate this might be.)