My First Book of Chinese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book (My First Words) - Hardcover

Wu, Faye-Lynn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804843678 ISBN 13: 9780804843676

Publisher: Tuttle Publishing, 2013

Synopsis

My First Book of Chinese Words introduces young children to basic words and concepts in the Chinese language through colorful rhymes and beautiful imagery.

It is a book that parents and young children will enjoy reading together. The Chinese words in the book are all common, everyday items, and the rhymes are informative and fun for children.

The goal of My First Book of Chinese Words is to familiarize children with the basic sounds and written characters of Chinese, to introduce core concepts of Chinese culture and to illustrate the ways in which Chinese sounds differ from English ones. Teachers and parents will welcome the cultural notes at the back of the book and appreciate how the book is organized using a familiar ABC structure. Each word is presented in Chinese characters (both Simplified and Traditional) as well as Romanized Pinyin for easy pronunciation.

With the help of this book, we hope more children (and adults) will soon join the more than one billion people worldwide who speak Chinese!

About this title

About the Author

Faye-Lynn Wu was born and raised in Taiwan. Her experiences of teaching her own children in the U.S. and managing language programs for early education have led her to focus on introducing language to kids in the most positive way possible. She is the admissions officer at an independent school in Berkley, California, serves on the board of a Chinese language school, and teaches Mandarin. She is the author of Chinese and English Nursery Rhymes.

Aya Padron is a freelance artist who works in many media, among them painting and photography. She is the illustrator of Korean for Beginners and My First Book of Korean Words.

Reviews

Starting with A, for ai, a word that means love in Chinese, this picture book uses the English alphabet as a framework to learn Chinese words. Each entry includes the word in Pinyin as well as the traditional and simplified Chinese characters, accompanied by a rhyme that incorporates the term. Some topics, such as the moon, dogs, and grandmothers, are universal; others introduce cultural aspects of Chinese life, such as chopsticks, rice, and dragons. A preface for adults offers guidelines for pronunciation, but the publisher’s website, mentioned on the book flap, is more helpful. Colorful illustrations complement the text and clarify a few of the terms. This first book is a good supplement to primary multicultural units, but it does require preliminary practice unless read aloud by someone fluent in Chinese. Grades K-2. --Linda Perkins

Edition details

• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804843678
• ISBN 13: 9780804843676
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Padron Aya
• Number of pages: 96