The Runaway Wok: A Chinese New Year Tale

My toddlers and I love this book! It’s funny, unique, and has great illustrations. This one is on repeat for bedtime story time. Highly recommend!

We used this book with den den drums and gong, singing the repeated sections within a pentatonic scale. What a great way to add a story that includes culture and fun!

My students loved this book. We read it durning read aloud. The kids enjoyed it so much.

My third graders had really ejnoyed a cross-curricular unit on Gingerbread Men stories, so I was tickled to find a "runaway wok" story. I almost didn't purchase this book, however, because of two strongly negative reviews that complained of a class-war message. I thought that this, in fact, might lend itself to a good class discussion of values. My students immediately picked up on the familiar Gingerbread Man elements, enjoying the fact that this story was related to what they'd been learning about in our unit on China. Yes, the poor family is aided by a wok that steals from a stingy wealthy family, and brings the booty back to a kind poor family. Is this not the stuff of many children's fairy tales, folklore, and legends? Third graders, at least, are able to make judgements about the moral merits of the actions, and did so in my classroom. Some compared it to Robin Hood as well as the Gingerbread Man. The Runaway Wok was a big hit with my students. I'm glad I added it to my collection!

Kids seem to take this. My wife did reading at our local elementary school and this book was a hit. It's fun. When kids want it a 3rd, 4th or nth time you know it's worth a shot.

Very cute story.

Cute book. My daughter borrowed a copy from one of her teachers, and we both loved it so much we had to buy our own for our library. Good illustrations, easy concepts for a young child to understand, with a singing theme so kids love to sing along, etc. One of our favorites. Perfect!

After getting this book at a local library my son loved it so much that we picked it up for him to own. We brought it to his third grade class during Chinese New Year they all love to the story. The other teachers asked to borrow the book as well to read to their classes

My children enjoyed this story about a magic wok which punishes a selfish family for their greed and helps a poor family to have good fortune, which they generously share with their neighbours. The story is followed by a page of information about Chinese New Year and the odds traditionally eaten then, woks and what inspired the story. Their is also a recipe for Festive Stir-Fried Rice.

I bought this book as I am teaching about China. The illustrations are beautiful in the text. The text is about a poor chinese family who are struggling to celebrate Chinese new year. The young boy instead of trading eggs at the market for food, he trades them for a magic wok. Very similar to Jack and the Beanstalk. Lovely book with a fatastic ending.

Bought this one as a recommendation to read from school. My son loves it, we read it every night before bed.

Really funny story and lovely pictures!

I loved both the story and the drawings. It talks about tradition and has a good moral, with a funny story telling.