The ball has already dropped at Times Square to usher in 2025 on the Gregorian calendar. But new year celebrations are not over. Still to come are East Asian, Persian, Hindu, Islamic and Jewish observances, offering occasions for reflection, resolutions, merriment and hope.

Next up, and perhaps most important locally, is the East Asian Lunar New Year, which runs from Wednesday, Jan. 29, through Feb. 15, with a grand parade planned in San Francisco. Five recent picture books focus on colorful holiday customs as practiced in the United States. With the focus on food, fashion, festivity and family, they are light-hearted and full of heart. 

The other five are stories about Asian American immigration, civil rights history and culinary history. So beyond lucky money envelopes and lion dancing, there is context to consider. With many Bay Area connections, they give insight into the experiences of Asian Americans past and present, documenting both challenge and progress, hardship and success.

The Chinese New Year Helper
By Ying Chang Compestine; illustrated by Ginnie Hsu
(Rocky Pond Books; 40 pages; $18.99; ages 3-7)

“Can I help?” a little girl asks her father, mother, aunty and brother at the family restaurant. (It’s the biggest in a diverse and generic Chinatown.) The answer is always the same: Jia is deemed too young to make steamed buns, carry plates, light the lanterns and move chairs. In this spirited picture book, Lafayette author Ying Chang Compestine creates a character with the determination to overcome disappointment. Buoyed by lucky red illustrations, Compestine also re-creates a joyful celebration, brimming with cultural details—plum blossoms, oranges, banners and the all-important lion dance.

We Are Lion Dancers
By Benson Shum
(Penguin Workshop; 32 pages; $10.99 hardcover/$5.99 paperback; ages 4-7)

At their kung fu class, a brother and sister watch lion dancers practice for the upcoming Lunar New Year parade. Lily and Noah have a question: What does the lion dance mean? Answers one dancer, “It scares away evil spirits…And brings good luck and happiness to everyone for the New Year.” That explanation launches this jaunty intro to a beloved tradition, explaining how and when the dance is done and the different styles too. Bright cartoon-style art captures the excitement of sibs, too small to handle the lion’s head and body themselves but big enough to be part of the fun.

Amy Wu and the Lantern Festival
By Kat Zhang; illustrated by Charlene Chua
(Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; 48 pages; $18.99; ages 4-8)  

“Lunar New Year is Amy’s favorite holiday…and she loves everything about it.” Thus, begins this sweet fifth installment in the popular Amy Wu series. What she loves: the noodles, new clothes, red envelopes and especially the family’s heirloom lantern. Dad brings it down from the attic for the last night of the holiday, and then disaster strikes. How does Amy fix the torn paper and save the treasure? Glue? Tape? Not quite enough, but then she figures out a way to combine old and new just in time for the Lantern Festival. Check out the instructions for a homemade lantern.

Legendary Cakes: A Story of Tết, the Vietnamese New Year
By Kerisa Greene
(Feiwel and Friends; 40 pages; $18.99; ages 4-8)

Find out about Tết in this charming exploration of Vietnamese New Year traditions that begins at the beginning. “It’s the first morning of the first day of the new year…a day filled with good fortune, friends, family, and food. A day to wear my áo dài, receive red envelopes, and honor ancestors.” The focus then turns to how Bà teaches her grandchildren to make special holiday cakes plus the legend behind those bánh chưng too. Hint: It has to do with an emperor, some princes, the throne and a food contest. FYI: Simple wins out. Recipe and section “About Tết” included.

Mai’s Áo Dài
By Thái Nguyễn and Monique Truong; illustrated by Dung Ho   
(Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/Atheneum Books for Young Readers; 40 pages; $18.99; ages 4-8)

A Vietnamese-American girl dreams of being a red-carpet star for Tết. That means wearing a flouncy Cinderella-style gown. Turns out her dad has other ideas about traditional clothing, family history and a beloved grandmother. How Mai reconciles her own starry-eyed expectations with the clarion call of custom makes for a mini-drama about what it means to truly shine. The celebrity culture of celebrity fashion designer and debut author Thái Nguyễn is evident. Mai is twice asked, “Who are you wearing?” Start ‘em young with luxury brand consciousness? Questionable! Still, Mai’s story does honor her heritage and the fusion of East and West.

Soy Sauce
By Laura G. Lee
(Algonquin Young Readers/Workman Publishing; 40 pages; $18.99; ages 4-8)

“What does it take to make life… delicious?” That is the leading question in this enthusiastic ode to a most popular condiment, invented in China over two thousand years ago and today truly global. But how is soy sauce made? Three kids demonstrate different methods. Luan shows the age-old Chinese way; Haru adds Japanese flavors; Yoo-mi makes the spicey, sweet Korean version. Lively art follows the basic step-by-step process, further explained in lightly rhyming verse. It takes years, according to this charmer that touch on culinary history and an attribute, is often in short supply. Patience! 

A Banquet for Cecilia: How Cecilia Chiang Revolutionized Chinese Food in America
By Julie Leung; illustrated by Melissa Iwai
(Little, Brown and Co.; 40 pages; $18.99; ages 4-8)

“Chinese food is not just chop suey,” complained Cecilia Chiang upon arriving in America from China via Japan. The seventh daughter of a wealthy Beijing family, she went on to correct that misconception, according to this mouth-watering picture biography. It is filled with luscious descriptions of traditional dishes from her childhood and her famous Mandarin Restaurant, founded in San Francisco in the early Sixties. Immensely influential, Chiang introduced the diverse and authentic cuisine of her homeland to her new land. Here she is enthusiastically introduced to kids whose grandparents might fondly remember her now shuttered restaurant. (Publication date: April 29, 2025.)

Mamie Tape Fights to Go to School: Based on a True Story
By Traci Huahn; illustrated by Michelle Jing Chan
(Crown Books for Young Readers; 40 pages; $19.99; ages 4-8)

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This Chinese proverb provides a through-line in the humbling history of one assimilated Chinese family’s fight for equal access to education in not-so-tolerant San Francisco. In 1884, 8-year-old daughter Mamie Tape was denied entry to school. Legal battles ensued, finally resulting in a disappointing outcome. “I’d won the right to go to school,” explains Mamie, but it would be separate for Chinese children. East Bay author Traci Huahn poignantly places Mamie’s case in the long legal journey to end racial segregation and the “separate but equal” doctrine in American public education.

Girls to the Front: 40 Asian American Women Who Blazed a Trail
By Niña Mata
(Harper/Harper Collins; 96 pages; $19.99; ages 8-12)

Vicki Manolo Draves (Olympic diver), Amy Tan (author), Kazue Togasaki (doctor) and Kamala Harris (vice president of the United States). These are among the Bay Area women represented in this high-spirited collection, focused on American trailblazers with roots throughout Asia. Thumbnail bios can be formulaic. Not these. Each profile is unique and paired with a stylish portrait. The choices are sometimes curious. Sculptor Ruth Asawa is absent. Ali Wong is not—an X-rated comedian for a G-rated audience? In her foreword, author-illustrator Niña Mata writes to readers, “I hope these women’s stories give you the same feeling of empowerment as I have felt.” Mission accomplished!

Bridge Across the Sky
By Freeman Ng
(Atheneum; 368 pages; $19.99; ages 14-up)

It’s 1924, and a teenage boy is using a false identity to gain entrance into the United States from China. In this powerful novel, set in free verse, Lee Yip Jing becomes a “paper son.” His fictional story is inspired by real characters, events and poems carved into the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay by those awaiting high-stakes interviews to determine their fate. Will they be “landed” or “rejected?” Vividly described are the miseries of detention life as drama deftly swirls around romance, resistance, race, betrayal, leadership, friendship, family loyalty, despair and hope for “a future full of promise.” 

Susan Faust is a freelance writer.