Sick of not being able to distinguish the years from each other, the Jade Emperor decides to hold a race with whichever animals would like to participate. The order that they finish would distinguish the calendar order. Many animals show up for the race, including cat and rat who are best friends. Realizing they can not swim against the river's current, cat and rat ask ox if they can ride on his back which ox allows. Cat is so comfortable that he decides to take a nap. As the near the finish line, rat doesn't want cat to finish before him so he pushes cat into the river and jumps off ox's back finishing in first. This is why rat is the first year of the Chinese calendar and why cats and rats are enemies now. All the other animals finish, other than cat, which is why there is no cat in the Chinese calendar. They all have a party to celebrate the end of the race.

The colorful, collage art of the illustrations in neat. There are great descriptions of the Chinese Calendar and important dates of the Chinese calendar in the back of the book. There is also a chart in the back of the book that tells you what birth year is associated with which animal and then a description of that animal sign. This book is a great way for kids to learn about the Chinese Zodiac and perhaps spark some interest in examining Chinese culture and traditions further.

This is a kid friendly retelling of how the Chinese Zodiac is said to have started. The illustrations are done in pastel colors in a somewhat Chinese style. The language is easy to follow, although the story itself is a little confusing despite being paired down for children. We read this book as a class for Chinese New Year, and it was so much fun to interact with the kids during and ask them questions about their understanding of the legend. They had a lot of their own questions and opinions about the animals competing in the race to make it to the finish line, and they were super engaged with learning about another culture's legend. ( )

This bright and engaging book tells the story of how the animals in the Chinese zodiac were chosen, and how a tiny animal (the rat) came to be the very first animal in the race.

The Chinese Emperor gathers 13 animals for a great race! The results of the race will determine the order in which the animals appear in the Chinese Calendar