Chinese New Year's Dragon

This is Chinese New Year as I know it. This book is 15 years old, so I was prepared to find it dated in both art and flow. Instead I found myself utterly drawn in, instantly comfortable with the way the people and their home and environments were rendered. Clothing and hair styles, home furnishings, food drawings--everything is spot on, plus, there's this education flavor to the drawings that makes me nostalgic for . . . my old Saturday morning Chinese school books? The text works great for me, too. The device of sharing so much information about usual Chinese New Year traditions via the opener "Just like any other year . . ." on every page, while we wait to hear what was different about THIS year, really drew me in. The moment of dragon-riding fantasy is breathtaking. So why am I giving this only 4 stars instead of 5? Well, it's crazy, but as much as I love this book and am getting it for myself, I'm still not sure this would be the first Chinese New Year book I'd give my FRIENDS' kids, these days, and that's my test for what gets 5 stars. I'm almost suspicious this book is TOO perfect for me, and that my friends' kids (the ones being born now) wouldn't relate the same way. I could be wrong. I'm going to show it around and see what others think. I could just be in denial my friends and I have become our parents. This book is wonderful.