Ryan and Robbie's Bike Ride Adventure and Lao Lao's Chinese Secrets (Englilsh and Chinese Edition) (English and Chinese Edition) - Hardcover

Roger Hackett

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0982025467 ISBN 13: 9780982025468

Publisher: Ryan and Robbie, 2008

Synopsis

When your heart is beating fast with fun, then your adventure has just begun... Ryan and his younger brother, Robbie, love pot stickers, sweet rice cakes, and riding their bikes. But during their latest neighborhood adventure, they face a number of challenges, from a big pile, of leaves that need raking to a soccer ball that's stuck in a tree. Luckily, Ryan and Robbie each have a special necklace-and their Chinese grandmother's secrets-to help them tackle any problem!

About this title

About the Author

Roger Hackett was born and raised in culturally diverse San Antonio, Texas, and comes from a multicultural background. He attended Boston University, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering and met his future wife, a native of Beijing, China. Following graduation, he worked for several technology companies, including Microsoft and Apple. Multiple business trips to China provided him the perfect opportunity to practice his Mandarin Chinese. Roger's two sons--and his passion for Chinese culture, language and food--inspired him to write his first book. He lives with his family in Washington State, where he's hard at work on the next Ryan and Robbie adventure.

Reviews

Kindergarten-Grade 2—Roger Hackett's passion for Chinese culture, language, and food, as well as his two sons, inspired him to write his first book. His effort at presenting a multicultural family of three generations succeeds in its attempt to show strong family values, teamwork, and Chinese cultural traditions, but it falters in its literary merit. The story relates how the boys' Lao Lao (grandmother) gave their mother a pendant that held a secret. Upon touching it, she would "know time that [she] did not have before." The necklace's secret is not further developed in the story, but later, Ryan and Robbie's mother makes similar pendants for them and imparts "secrets," which are more like motivational guidance, to help them tackle challenges. During a bike ride through their neighborhood, the boys recall their mother's advice to help them deal with the situations they encounter. The story would have benefited from judicious editing. Jared Beckstrand's work as an animator at Disney Studios is evident in his bright, cartoon-like illustrations. The CD uses the sound of a gong as the page-turn signal and features soft Asian-inspired instrumental music. Liu Quinjia, the book's Chinese cultural advisor, narrates the tale in a somewhat flat voice; intermittent laughter and the voices of Hackett's sons who echo the narrator in some places are a bit confusing. A second audio track includes the pronunciation of the book's Mandarin Chinese phrases and their translations.—Ruth Lorbert, East Woods School, Oyster Bay, NY
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Edition details

• Publisher: Ryan and Robbie
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0982025467
• ISBN 13: 9780982025468
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Jared Beckstrand
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64
• Editor: Keri Clark