Lily's Hong Kong Honey Cake

STARRED REVIEW: "A first purchase for libraries building collections around Jewish history, refugee experiences, and stories of resilience for young readers."—School Library Journal

"Highly recommended" —The Jewish Book Council

"An enjoyable, inspiring story"—The Historical Novel Society

"A worthwhile addition to all children’s library collections...a glimmer of optimism in painful times." —Association of Jewish Libraries

Based on the history of Jewish refugees in Asia and spanning multiple years during World War II, this picture book shows how some creativity, adaptability, and a lot of love can make the new year sweet no matter where you are.

Lily's family ran a pastry shop in Vienna. Every Rosh Hashanah, they baked honey cakes for their customers. But when war comes, they must leave everything behind. They first travel to Shanghai, where they are able to open a new bakery. Each year, Lily learned more about baking. She helped to mix and pour the batter, measure the ingredients, and passed out the wrapped up treats. But each year, there are changes. When the flour runs out, they have to use rice instead. There were fewer customers, and the newspaper wrappings were showing bad news.

Soon, Lily's family has to move again, to Hong Kong. With rations there was even less than usual. There would be no honey cake this year. But Lily had been watching how her parents had made do in the years before, and she had some ideas of her own. Because despite all the changes, everyone deserves to have a sweet new year.

"Lily’s Hong Kong Honey Cake is a captivating tale weaving together resilience, community, and the power of tradition. It offers young readers a valuable lesson in Jewish history that should never be forgotten."

—Abby Lester, Director of the Global Archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

"When Lily is three, she and her family leave Austria and their bakery because of harassment against Jews. They eat their honey cakes on a ship. In 1940, when she is four, and for several more years, Lily celebrates Rosh Hashanah at their new bakery in Shanghai with honey cakes. At age eight, there is little food and no cake. When Lily is nine, the family leaves Shanghai for Hong Kong, where they live in a crowded hotel as refugees. At ten, on Rosh Hashanah, Lily helps the hotel chef make honey cakes, even without honey.

Full-page spreads show each year of Lily’s early life, on Rosh Hashanah. The language and content are repetitive in word or concept—cleverly done, showing that even when things change, some things remain the same. The war and deprivation are hinted at, but the bright colors show the hope and love of Lily’s family. End pages include a map of the fictional Lily’s journey, and detailed information about the Jewish diaspora to Asia. An enjoyable, inspiring story. Ages 3-8."

—The Historical Novel Society

"Set amidst the lesser-known history of Jewish refugees’ experiences in Shanghai and Hong Kong during and after the Second World War, Lily’s Hong Kong Honey Cake is a sweet illustration of Jewish tradition, community spirit and human resilience during difficult times, gently inspiring hope and strength. A cozy and heartwarming read."

—Fanny Lu, Executive Director of The Hong Kong Heritage Project

"In 1937 Vienna, Lily’s family runs a bakery, filling pink-ribboned boxes with honey cakes for Rosh Hashanah. As war spreads across Europe, they are forced to close their shop and flee, setting sail for Shanghai, a haven for Jewish refugees. There, the family rebuilds their traditions in a new neighborhood, learning Chinese phrases, sharing food, and celebrating holidays with neighbors despite hardship. Bakery boxes once tied with satin ribbons become twine-wrapped brown paper, then goods wrapped in newspapers filled with images of war, reflecting their changing circumstances. In 1946, the family temporarily relocates to Hong Kong, where food shortages mean no honey cake for Rosh Hashanah. Longing for the taste of home, Lily finds the courage to ask the help of a hotel chef, and together they bake a makeshift honey cake to share with other refugees. “The honey cake tasted like home because they were together.” Themes of displacement, cultural integration, and the power of tradition are seamlessly woven throughout this moving, accessible narrative, offering young readers a gentle entry point into refugee experiences. Comic-style illustrations feature soft textures and layered shadows, centering characters while signaling shifts in setting through clothing and details. A muted palette mirrors themes of resilience and adaptation, with warm tones highlighting moments of community and hope. Back matter features a historical note, photographs, a map, and a glossary, enriching the title’s usefulness for classrooms and family discussions. VERDICT A first purchase for libraries building collections around Jewish history, refugee experiences, and stories of resilience for young readers."

—School Library Journal Starred Review

"Eri­ca Lyons and Bon­nie Pang’s new pic­ture book presents young read­ers with a lit­tle-known part of Jew­ish his­to­ry. When Nazi oppres­sion descend­ed on Europe’s Jews, some found a tem­po­rary refuge in Shang­hai. Lily’s Hong Kong Hon­ey Cake includes infor­ma­tion about this process in an after­word. The sto­ry itself focus­es on one fic­tion­al child and her fam­i­ly, who aban­don their home and bak­ery in Vien­na, trav­el­ing far away to an unfa­mil­iar land and cul­ture. As con­di­tions in Chi­na wors­en, their Rosh Hashanah cel­e­bra­tions become more dimin­ished by pover­ty. Yet, with each year of their exile, Lily’s moth­er rein­forces the sweet­ness of their tra­di­tions. Warm images of fam­i­ly life empha­size how Jew­ish cul­ture was able to take root under the most adverse circumstances.

The book opens with Lily’s moth­er man­ag­ing her busi­ness while keep­ing her baby girl at her side in a bassinet. Com­bin­ing the ele­gance of pas­tries ​“wrapped in pink paper, del­i­cate like a butterfly’s wings,” with the sup­port of their whole com­mu­ni­ty, the bak­ery embod­ies an idyl­lic atmos­phere before every­thing changes. Lily’s excite­ment about the upcom­ing move con­trasts with the despair of adults, which is ini­tial­ly hid­den. Her moth­er feeds her hon­ey cake onboard the ship for Chi­na, repeat­ing her reas­sur­ing phrase, ​“For a sweet year, my sweet one.” Pang’s illus­tra­tions evoke the family’s enthu­si­asm about offer­ing their prod­ucts to wel­com­ing neigh­bors. Store signs in Chi­nese and the noo­dle shop next door may seem exot­ic, but the cus­tomers who line up for hon­ey cake aren’t very dif­fer­ent from those they knew in Vien­na. The cake’s sweet­ness melds with ​“smoke from the neighbor’s incense,” as they gath­er togeth­er, lis­ten­ing to Papa’s nos­tal­gic stories.

An ugly real­i­ty encroach­es on each ensu­ing New Year in Shang­hai. Lyons’s sub­tle selec­tion of details allows young read­ers to glimpse a world at war. Rice sub­sti­tutes for flour and the news­pa­pers wrap­ping their cakes are ​“filled with pic­tures of war.” By Lily’s eighth cel­e­bra­tion of Rosh Hashanah, the hon­ey cake has dis­ap­peared entire­ly. But the war ends, and a two-page spread depict­ing the family’s voy­age by ship to Hong Kong is an icon­ic image of emi­gra­tion and hope. Observ­ing the hol­i­day in a for­mer­ly grand hotel, the Jew­ish refugees have access to a Torah and prayer books. What more would they need? Lily’s now engrained habit of adap­tive­ness leads her to take a bold step. She approach­es the hotel’s kitchen staff, and, with the essen­tial ingre­di­ents of their kind­ness and empa­thy, the hon­ey cake returns.

Lily’s Hong Kong Hon­ey Cake is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed and includes an after­word, a glos­sary, and a map."

—Jewish Book Council

"From Vienna to Hong Kong, readers will glimpse into the life of a little girl, Lily, and her family before World War II to their lives as refugees in Hong Kong. Honey cake is a connector, symbolizing a sweet New Year, even when they must go without. Highly recommend this poignant, beautifully written and illustrated book filled with many opportunities for discussion."

—Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle

"Throughout, we sense the security Lily feels with her parents. The repeated refrain of, “For a sweet year, my sweet one,” the constancy of the pink ribbon her mother ties in her hair, the ability of her parents to always provide for her needs as well as create honey cake from resources at hand, this is a story of a child who lives through traumatic events but whose family center holds strong.

Full-page spreads with digital art mirror the pacing of this story well. Detailed endpapers with icons of elements of the story add to the quality of this book. Copyright page notes tell us the Chinese lettering on storefronts shown in Shanghai are correct translations. Extensive backmatter includes a map of the family’s journey, a glossary, the history of the Jews of Shanghai and background on this true incident of the Jews of Shanghai being sheltered in the Peninsula hotel in Hong Kong when caught in the crosshairs of the world. While all the Jewish characters in this book are fair-skinned, backmatter tells us the earliest Jewish immigrants to China were from Baghdad and Mumbai. But this is a tale of the Jews from Europe, making the skin tones appropriate to this story. Some of the Jewish men wear hats, a few wear kippot, the women are bareheaded unless they are in a religious setting, giving this a flavor of Jews who were generally assimilated into their European homes.

This is a worthwhile addition to all children’s library collections as it shares a story of a child living amidst challenging times, secure in her parents’ love, their power to 'make do' and bring them all to safety, a glimmer of optimism in painful times."

—Association of Jewish Libraries