The Chinese New Year Helper
A young girl finds an exciting role for herself at the Chinese New Year celebration in her family’s restaurant. At last, she isn’t being told that she’s too young to help!

Jia’s family is busy preparing for the Chinese New Year feast at their restaurant in Chinatown, and Jia wants to take part. But each time she tries to help she’s told that she’s too young: too young to be in the kitchen, too young to light the lanterns, too young to carry the plates. And then the feast begins, and something wonderful happens. When Jia is scolded for getting too close to the exciting lion dance, one of the dancers swoops her up and into the costume, and suddenly she’s a part of the performance—a crucial part that saves the show. Never again does her family tell her that she’s too young to help!
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Book Trailer

Audio Book Sample

Praise for Chinese New Year Helper


"...Celebratory and Inspiring."
—  Kirkus
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"Culturally specific details will be recognizable to families...and Jia's emotional journey will make this doubly useful for SEL collections."
— Booklist

"Against the backdrop of Hsu’s gouache and digital art, which depicts myriad cultural details, Compestine uses easy, descriptive prose to detail a series of traditions while affirming the power of involving children at any age."
— Publishers Weekly

"An author’s note on Chinese New Year and playful end pages completes the book. A solid Chinese New Year tale with delightful illustrations."
— School Library Journal
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Stage your own play!

Students can produce their own play with this Reader's Theater script from CYRM.
revolution_readers_theater.pdf
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Resource Guide

Teachers can use this resource guide from California Young Reader's Medal to help teach Revolution.
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File Size: 425 kb
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Teacher Notes from Amnesty International

Teachers can use this guide from Amnesty International UK to help classrooms learns about human rights.
Revolution Amnesty International
File Size: 576 kb
File Type: pdf
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A Conversation with Ying

This book is based on your childhood in Wuhan, China, during the 1960s and 70s. Is Ling in many ways a fair representation of you growing up? What are some of the similarities and differences?

Ling’s childhood experiences are similar to my own. I was about Ling’s age when my family got caught up in the events of the Cultural Revolution. Ling’s personality is a lot like mine. Many of her emotions and reactions to events draw on my own experiences during the Cultural Revolution, and her way of thinking reflects the way I saw the world as a child. For this reason, developing Ling’s character was the easiest part of writing this book. I was a little spoiled, but I also had a fighting spirit. And like Ling, I yearned for freedom and dreamed about going to America.

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