Cemetery Game

A poetic and playful picture book about a family celebrating the Chinese spring festival Ching Ming.

A young boy and his family arrive at the cemetery to celebrate Ching Ming, the day they and many other families remember and honor their ancestors. For the boy, the rituals of the day feel like a game – the Cemetery Game. The family members bring flowers and special foods to the gravesites of their relatives. They light incense, burn play money and bow together. The boy and his sister even find time for a laugh, imagining themselves at a tea party for ghosts! But as their older brother reminds them, this day is important and they need to pay attention. After all, one day this will all be their responsibility.

In this sensitively told picture book about a family tradition, award-winning author Alan Woo’s spare text perfectly captures the way a young child recognizes the reverence being called for in honoring ancestors while also indulging his natural inclination to find fun in it. Award-winning illustrator Rachel Wada uses sweeping images of incense smoke and shadows to evoke the emotional resonance of the cemetery setting. This accessible introduction to Ching Ming – also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day – aligns with elementary social studies lessons on celebrations. It also offers a child-friendly perspective on death and visiting the cemetery, providing an excellent opportunity to have conversations with young children about meaningful family rituals and how we pay tribute to those who came before us. Inspired by the author’s childhood experiences, the book contains a personal note from him at the end.