Top apps, books, blogs and learning tools for a child learning Chinese

You might have discovered this post by googling “Top app for child learning Chinese”. This is a post is a post not just about Chinese apps, but a bunch of great books, tools, robots on more to help you and your child on the journey.  It’s a post for anyone about to embark on the journey of raising a bilingual child…. If you have a child and are thinking about whether it’s possible to teach them a language which you don’t speak (or don’t speak fluently), then I am writing this post for YOU.

This post lists out my top three recommendations for books, apps and learning resources to help you and your child on the journey of learning Chinese together (ideally led by your child being in a Chinese learning environment in school, but I know full well this isn’t possbile for most families, including ours).   It’s a post I wish I’d read when we started out on the journey of sending our children to local school in Singapore. 

This was planned to be a short post.

It was going to be a post simply listing my top recommended resources for non-Chinese speaking parents who are raising Chinese-speaking children.  If you want the short version, see immediately below. If you want the longer story, keep on reading:

Best Books for early literacy and Character learning

  1. Habbi Habbi
  2. Sage Books
  3. Le Le Chinese
  4. Odonata Readers
  5. Little Sheep Goes Up the Mountain

Best Apps for a Child Learning Chinese

  1. Wukong Literacy
  2. iHuman Shizi
  3. Maomi Stars
  4. Dim Sum Warriors
  5. Skritter

Best Supporting Materials for a language-rich home environment

  1. Luka Reading Companion
  2. Chinese language default on your television 
  3. Non-academic class using Chinese
  4. Join a great FB group to connect with parents in the same situation

Best Bloggers for non-Chinese speaking parents to follow

  1. Guavarama
  2. Mama Baby Mandarin
  3. Chinese Speaking Kids
  4. Spot of Sunshine
  5. Ms Claudia Lee Kimura

The more I reflected on this post, the longer it became – I felt my recommendations needed some explanations.  If I could have seen today, back in 2014, our bilingual journey would have been a very different one.   I love sharing the resources that have helped our family to learn Chinese, despite neither parent knowing the language; I sincerely hope this might help you too. 

I want you to know that even if you’re a monolingual parent/family, you play an important role in enabling a prepared, bilingual/multilingual learning environment for your children.  And, it shouldn’t break the budget or your child’s spirit!

Looking back, with my first child, I wish I’d read a success story of another monolingual English-speaking family who had successfully reared bilingual children.  And, I wish someone had pointed out that I could make a big difference, and that there were tools out there which can help lighten the load.

Some people consciously start journeys and can remember when it happened – like when you depart on an aeroplane, with a ticket in hand and destination known, after careful planning and thought.  Others unconsciously start journeys, sitting on a passenger train, crossing many country borders without knowing, and ending up in some place far from where they started.   The latter was us with our Mandarin journey.  I don’t quite know where it all started; we didn’t have big goals in mind; and we didn’t have any guide-book to help us on the adventure.

I vividly remember the first time I bought a Chinese book for my first daughter.  She’d been attending a bilingual preschool in Singapore for a few months, when the laoshi suggested that I should buy some reading books.  Next day, I walked into a Chinese bookstore and as inconspicuously as possible purchased what looked like a simple picture book about dogs.  A year later, I bought a set of popular Chinese graded readers from the same shop – unsurprisingly, she couldn’t read any of them, and neither could I.  And then I decided not to waste more money.   I reasoned that I didn’t speak Chinese, and therefore couldn’t help out.  It took another four years before I intentionally thought about my role in her Chinese learning again.

Fast forward.  With my third child now, it’s a totally different story.  She’s had constant exposure to Chinese language in the house since birth, plenty of age-appropriate literature, and without wanting to brag to everyone under the sun, at age two she could read short Chinese books all by herself.  When she started Nursery school, her teachers were most surprised to learn that no-one in the house spoke Mandarin.  I gave a wry smile to them – oh, did robots or slightly older siblings count?. 

So, after a few years of doing it wrongly, and a couple of now doing it much better, here is my hitlist of what I’d recommend for consciously beginning the Mandarin journey, with my “best three” in each category.

Best books for early Chinese literacy

Habbi Habbi
Le Le Chinese
Sage Books
Best books for early Chinese literacy

I believe that one of the best ways for kids to learn anything is to model the behaviour you expect from them.  I read a lot.  We read a lot.  It had been primarily English books with my first daughter – but I’ve learnt now how to bring Chinese into the mix, and found several great book sets / graded readers for introducing a love of Chinese literacy to young children,

1. Habbi Habbi Chinese Reading Wand

For a total beginner / baby, learning to speak

Habbi Habbi:  There’s very few highly durable toddler-proof bilingual materials.  These hardcover, board books with a well designed audio pen clearly designed to be durable for heavy use and play.  It’s great for young children to great exposure to simple Chinese and English, without any screen time.   The books are highly interactive, and the illustrations show diverse characters, with very intentionally chosen content.  There are books about working mothers with breast pumps, and blended families – all phrases are positive and inclusive. My toddler sometimes sleeps with her Habbi Habbi reading wand (she just loves it), so I’m glad it’s such a fun way to expose her to bilingual learning and early literacy. These make great gifts too!

2. Sage 500 Chinese Books

For a preschool bilingual speaking child learning to read – character by character

Sage Books:  This is a great set for a bilingual child learning to read, but it does require to be taught initially by someone who can speak a little Chinese or read pinyin (5 minutes a day…..).  Perhaps an elder sibling, neighbour or a tutor could do this, so that the child gets the right pronunciation.  Alternatively, the book also have an audio file which can be used.  The books are carefully written with spaced repetition and consistency, to teach 500 characters, by a Montessori teacher.  It’s worth the high price tag, if you can find a way to teach it.  The books have pinyin and English translation, so reasonably approachable for a non-Chinese speaking parent.  I credit this series for how my two youngest daughters became Chinese literate before they become English literate.

3. Le Le Chinese Books

For a kinergarten / school-age bilingual speaking child learning to read through stories

Lele Chinese: This is a highly approachable set of beginning reading materials for families where parents don’t speak Chinese.  It’s a set of 300 graded readers, which have been cleverly researched and put together, to focus on the most common 1300 characters in Chinese literature.  The set comes with a reading pen to recognise individual characters, so it’s not necessary for the adult to be able to speak/read the language at all.  There’s no pinyin or English in the books themselves – this is deliberate, so as to get the child focussed on reading Chinese characters without the distraction or reliance on prompts.  However, for parents, there is a separate English translation of all the stories.  I credit this series for how my elder daughter learnt 1300+ characters within a space of 12 months.

4. Odonata Levelled Readers

For a kinergarten / school-age bilingual speaking child learning to read through stories

Odonata: Odonata Graded readers are a well written series for learning 1200 Chinese characters.  The books are a nice quality, with clear layout, large font, and no HYPY. This is a set of books which progressively go from 100 words to 1200 characters, and builds vocabulary through stories.  The first 24 books in the series revolve around two children –  Ming Ming and Li Li -and their adventures, which each book containing a small set of Simplified Chinese characters, used in various contexts.   It’s equivalent to something like the English Peter & Jane series to start out with in Sets 1 & 2, but then becomes rapidly more complex, into more like an “I Can Read” or “Read It Yourself” simple story for Sets 3 and beyond. Importantly, these books will not break the bank (unlike some other famous levelled readers, which are quite an investment).

Side note on costs:

I’ll use another tangential parenting analogy here – don’t dismiss the Bugaboo because of the pricetag.  I don’t quite know what happens to the female brain before we have kids. I should speak for myself, maybe I am the only one (?), but as soon as the motherhood adventure began, so did the research.  I knew we needed a pram for walking, ideally with a capsule that could connect to a carseat, and something which could fold up small and fast, yet also something which might extend if our family were to grow.   

Everyone told me as a new mum just to bite the bullet, spend the money, and get the Bugaboo (a ridiculously expensive pram) as it would fulfil every need I’d ever want.  Me –  trying to be responsible and not spend that much money on a stroller  – didn’t buy it, and researched heaps of other options.  Eventually we ended up with four different sub-optimal strollers/prams (one for bus travel, one for taxi travel, one for park runs, and one for two kids).  The Bugaboo would have been a better first choice!  Likewise, with these Mandarin recommendations above, don’t be put off by the initial hefty price tag of Sage and Le Le.   There’s a good reason for that – they are great investments (and they’ll be cheaper than tutors, and probably retain a resale value too). But if cost is an issue, then Odonata is a better choice 🙂

Best Apps for Learning Chinese characters

Wukong Literacy
iHuman Shizi
Skritter
Best apps for children learning Chinese characters

A quick google search of “Best Free Chinese Apps for Kids” or something similar will give you lots of choices.  Some might be good; some might install random things on your phone; some will partially work and then ask you for money.  We’ve been there, done that.  I realise that the best ones do cost money.   It’s not a lot, but you’ll see the difference.  

Here are my top five app recommendations – and yes, they still are incredibly cheap given their scope and breadth.

1. Wukong Literacy

Wukong Literacy (悟空数学):  a Chinese literacy app, advertised for children from 3-8 years old.  It really brings characters and words to life.  The course covers 1300 words, focusing on character recognition through game play, and it includes test reading, writing and comprehension activities.  The animation is most impressive, and kids won’t know they’re learning as they go on a quest with the Monkey King. 

2. iHuman Shizi & iHuman Pinyin

iHuman Shizi 洪恩识字, by Hong En Literacy:  This app is also well designed, focussing on teaching 1300 Chinese characters level-by-level.  It too is gamified learning at its best, in a highly polished format, which including reading, writing and listening.  Each level is divided into 4 units, covering each of these topics, with lots of repetition.  The app is a bit simpler to follow than Wukong Literacy, which could be a pro or con, depending on how you child likes to learn and their language competency.

3. Skritter

Skritter:  This isn’t a “fun” app.  It’s not a game.  It’s a necessity for formal learning.  Skritter app has been a great revelation on how we practice tingxie 听写 (Chinese spelling) each week to support her formal studies.  It’s truly enabled my daughter to practice character writing and recognition by herself and develop confidence in character learning, when previously there was none.

4. Maomi Stars

Maomi Stars: This app is very similar to iHuman in its layout, but a little less gamey. It’s still incredibly cute. The great think about Maomi Stars is that it has pre-existing word lists from many of the levelled readers that I mentioned above, such as Odonata and Sage, which is a nice way to reinforce the book learning.

5. Dim Sum Warriors

Dim Sum Warriors: This is more about loving languages than learning literacy. That’s the key difference from the previous 4 apps. It’s a cleverly designed Singapoean app integrating ebooks, games, and abelites to record your own stories into one app. It’s hilarious, and bilingual in both English and Chinese (SC and TC). They’re providing six months FREE access, no strings attached which is exciting too. I interviewed the Dim Sum Warriors founder here to understand more about what drives them.

Best supporting materials for language-rich home learning

Luka Reading Companion plus lots of books!
Chinese language audio option on TV, Netflix, etc
Non-academic classes taught in Chinese – like painting!
Best tips for increasing Chinese exposure around your home – especially audio

I’m going to be honest here, and say that your child does need to learn from a native speaker, for at least a little bit of regular, formal exposure.   Without a native speaker (or language teacher) somewhere in the mix, you’re kidding yourself. That could be through school, or it could be a relative or personal tutor.  But beyond that, you (as a non-Chinese speaker) can reinforce it at home with some simple tools.

Learning a second language can be expensive enough. So the supporting things you do at home don’t have to be costly.  Make it real.  Make it practical. Think about how to make learning at home as fun as possible – not a chore – to complement their formal language learning  Perhaps consider things like a simple excursion to Chinatown or an Asian wet market.  Or do some craft together using recycled objects, or things you already have in the house like lego, magnetic blocks, etc.  Some of the best things we have done are:

  1. Lots and lots of reading, with Luka – this AI robot will read 70,000+ picture books page-by-page in Chinese (and also translate many into English).  Get to a library, borrow some books, and Luka will read them to your children.  Countless research shows the importance of reading with your child everyday – so if you’re unable to read in the desired language, let Luka help you. Remember to choose books on topics and themes which interest your child. If you’re unsure, I’d recommend a bookstore like My Story Treasury who can curate a booklist for your child.
  2. Chinese language default on your television (be it Starhub / Netflix / Unblock Tech TV box):  screen time is a reality in today’s world.  A lot can be learnt from television, so magnify the learning and put it into a language which you want your child to learn. 
  3. Do a non-academic class using Chinese: this could be a fun language class or a non-academic class in Chinese.  There are lots of highly immersive and well-structured curriculum available online, if the local options for your are unattractive or unaffordable.   There are plenty of extra curricular activities taught online in Chinese like piano, Chinese calligraphy, water painting, dance, etc. Whatever it is that your child likes doing, try to integrate it with a language element.
  4. Join an FB Group with parents in the same situation: there are so many groups, and it really depends on where you live, the age of your children, and also your own level of Chinese as a parent. For someone like me, with no spoken Chinese, some of the groups I would recommend are:

    Ni Hao SG Primary School Learning and Used Chinese books

    SG Preschool Chinese Learning

    Chinese for Everyone

    Motherly Notes

Side note on costs of tuition and enrichment:

At least in the country where we live, exorbitantly priced “tutors” and enrichment centres have proliferated, and terrified parents – even those who do speak Mandarin fluently, and whose kids are in full day Chinese-based daycare centres – are still waiting to sign-up their diaper wearing babies into classes on weekends to teach them more Chinese.   Many parents eagerly open their ears and wallets to find a solution, any solution! And by the time they reach primary school, with countless hours of tuition and additional Chinese homework, the kids and parents are frustrated of the drudgery.  I’ve not bought into this. 

Here is one lie:  A Chinese tutor will cost upwards of $70/hour, and a good one upward of $100/hour.  (Okay, it’s actually true, that’s the tuition market in Singapore, but it shouldn’t be your only option ….  the secret here would be to choose someone else to teach the language who is not in the tuition industry – be it an online tutor from China, or perhaps a local university student looking for pocket money, or a Chinese-speaking babysitter).

And another lie:  Doing hours of homework creates a better result in Chinese (…. This might be true for primary school exams.  But, I’ve seen first hand that a child can become bilingual and develop a love of the language, without the baggage or boredom of rote learning.  There’s better ways to exposure your child to language than assessment books, at least in the beginning).   Make it fun, please! Don’t turn learning Chinese into a chore. See my selection of DIY recycled craft activities for children, related to Chinese literacy.

Best bloggers to support non-Chinese speaking parents

It’s helpful to connect with others on the same shared journey – whether it’s in person, or through one of the excellent online communities.  Be sure to share your successes and burdens, and the load will become lighter.

As a starting point, some bloggers I really respect and have learnt a lot from are:

  1. Motherly Notes – plenty of great book and toy reviews on here, with emphasis on Chinese learning, including lots of detail and pictures
  2. Guavarama – again, plenty of great book reviews along with helpful free printables (like flash cards, games, etc) which match many book sets, all mixed with a good ounce of humour.
  3. Mama Baby Mandarin – tonnes of free fun activities, worksheets and resources designed to help kids learn to read, write and enjoy Chinese language
  4. Chinese Speaking Kids – this one is a new blog in 2020, but oh it’s looking so promising (I wish he’s post more, but I understand he’s a busy single dad of three kiddos)! The content isn’t too extensive at the moment, but the blog posts are insanely helpful and jam packed with detailed. There’s a really great post on “Daily 3-hour Chinese learning schedule”.
  5. Mandarin Home School – this is another newish blog, by a multilingual homeschooling mum in Australia. She has a great teaching philosophy, and also does really in depth reviews on products they enjoy (many of which we also have enjoyed, so I like Jean’s suggestions!). Best bit is that there are amazing resources (flash cards, posters, etc) to download to help out your own home learning!
  6. Spot of Sunshine – a mum of two in the US, sharing very personal tid-bits of what she’s learnt and created while teaching her children Mandarin Chinese.
  7. Ms Claudia Lee Kimura – one very cool mother of 5 boys in Singapore who homeschools here children trilingually! We blog has nuggets of practical help for reading, writing and speaking Chinese with your little ones.

Final note – you can do it!

Do you want to give your child the gift of being bilingual?   Go for it – teach your child a new language, and you’ll be gifting yourselves, the kids, and the world.

Yes, you can help teach your child a language, even if you don’t speak it, but it needs to be a conscious decision, and the more you’re involved, the more likely your child will make a success of it.  Make it fun and interactive – build family memories over the shared language learning experience.

I’ve only suggested three or four items in each category.  This is just a starting place to show you what exists out there, and how you can use it.    I’m sure you’ve also got other great suggestions, afterall, Singapore is blessed with many amazing choices. There is no one magic set of expensive tools which you can buy and it will teach everything, completely, and painlessly.  I think multiple overlapping systems of learning can help – and every child is different. 

Flash cards
Using Luka to revise flash cards
Making sentences!

It’s possible.  This is your glimpse.  I am doing it with my three kids.  And you will, too. You can, too.

I’d love to hear how you’re doing it, or what you’re struggling with too.  Please add your comments below to keep the conversation going, or message me.  Truly it’s only through support and sharing with other wonderful parents, that our family has been able to succeed and find out about many of these excellent “hidden gem” resources available.

Youdao Dictionary Pen Review 有道

Youdao Dictionary Pen: Read Aloud & Translate Chinese to English

This post continues my series of Chinese Reading Pen reviews, and is a detailed review of the NetEase Youdao Dictionary Smart Pen 2.0, which translates printed text effortlessly and fluently from Chinese into English and vice versa. It will read aloud and translate from Chinese to English, including whole paragraphs.

[March 2021 Update: Since writing this review in Spring 2020, there’s now a Youdao Smart Pen with English interface, and a Youdao 3.0 version. I have written an updated comparison post of different Youdao Pen model.]

For the past 5 years, I’ve been on an epic search to find ways in which I can immerse my children in Chinese literacy and audio exposure, despite not being able to understand the language myself.  I think I may have just found the holy grail gadget for translating Chinese-English text!

Our family knows a lot about Chinese reading pens and optical reading translation tools.  Heck, our list of gadgets includes Le Le Chinese Reading Pen, Luka Hero and Habbi Habbi, just to name a couple of the more popular technologies which have.  I’ve written about the ways we use are many child-centric Chinese reading pens and devices on an earlier blog post.  However, as a mother, I’ve always wondered “Why isn’t there a simple handheld device which can read any Chinese text, just like Google translate?”.  Well, I’ve found it, and it’s miles better than Google Translate.  

Does that sound too good to be true?

This post covers:

1. Features of Youdao Dictionary Pen
2. Pros of Youdao Pen
3. Cons of Youdao Pen
4. FAQ & Comparison with other Chinese pens

What is the Netease Youdao Dictionary Pen 2.0?

Introducing the Netease Youdao Pen 2.0 (also retailing as the Youdao Dictionary Pen II).  It’s an optical scanning and reading device, with a very clever translation algorithm. 

This clever pen will can scan any Chinese written text (from an individual character to a full paragraph), and then it will:

  1. read it out in Chinese
  2. read it out in English (in a very fluent and sensible translation)
  3. show the pinyin
  4. provide dictionary definition of individual words in the sentence/paragraph. 
Netease Youdao Dictionary Pen

The Netease Youdao Dictionary Pen is something we stumbled upon accidentally whilst visiting a centre to learn about Chinese enrichment classes.  The centre director – whilst explaining their curriculum –  also happened to bring out this device and highlight it could be helpful for our family situation.  He was totally right. It makes me wonder why I’ve never heard about this product reviewed ever before?

Youdao is a New-York Stock Exchange listed company, which brands itself as the “leading intelligent learning company in China.”  The company’s elevator pitch, according to its IPO filing from 2019 is “Starting from online dictionary and translation tools, we offer a comprehensive suite of learning products and services catering to people’s learning needs throughout their lives. Today, for tens of millions of people, Youdao is their go-to destination for looking up a word, translating a foreign language, preparing for an exam, and picking up a new skill.”.  One of these tools is an optical reading pen.

From our experience, the Youdao Dictionary Pen truly is a powerful tool to translate between English and Chinese, and vice versa.  It’s primarily been made for Chinese speakers to read English, but it works perfectly well in the reverse direction too. Youdao’s main function is similar to Google Translate, allowing the user to look up Chinese/English phrases and their meanings in English/Chinese.  This can be typed directly into the pen, voice command into the pen, or optical scanning of printed text.   For example, it’s possible to scan an English phrase and find the meaning in Chinese.

Previously, we’ve used other devices which claim to ‘translate’ text between languages.  In the cases of say Google Translate or Pleco or even C-Pen, it *sort of works* to get the context, but not well enough to enjoy the reading experience or be certain 100% of the nitty-gritty details.  The Youdao is much much better than I expected – it uses a proprietary self-developed neural network translation engine (有道词典), which would appear tonnes more accurate than other sources we’ve tried.

How does our family use the Youdao Dictionary Pen?

As some family background, my three daughters each study Mandarin at school as their “mother tongue”, ironically, since no parents or grandparents can speak Chinese. My children are essentially bilingual, as in their schooling, but for me as their monolingual mother, this means I cannot understand the homework, or help with weekly tingxie (Chinese spelling) revision, or even bedtime fun reading.

Primarily, it’s a device for my sanity.  In the past, I’ve had whole pages of Chinese text which I’ve needed to help my daughter with, and it’s not a good feeling doing this manually through Google Translate or Pleco.  It’s tiresome, time-consuming, and still produces a sub optimal result.    We’ve also had experiences where my daughter is reading a book by herself, but then doesn’t know a particular character or phrase, and I’m madly trying to look it up for her on Pleco.    Believe it or not, it is now possible to do both this instantly and painlessly with the help of Youdao.

So far, we’ve been able to effortlessly read Chinese picture books and pages from encyclopaedias using this technology.

Scannins text
Scannins text
Translating - on screen and with audio overlay
Translating – on screen and with audio overlay
The Yaodao translations are generally accurate and easy to understand


Pros of Youdao Reading Pen

  1. User friendly:  clear voice that is easy to understand, with adjustable volume, comfortable to hold, multidirectional scanning for left or right handers, and very portable.
  2. One-click translation: recognizing words and sentence automatically.
  3. Fast translation:  by scanning the text, it instantly translates (they claim it translates 15 characters per second, which is 5 times faster than an electronic dictionary……)
  4. High quality translation:  the translation is miles better than Google Translate.  This as the first thing I noticed, and also the first thing which two of my Chinese speaking friends commented on when I showed them.  It’s based on massive contents of millions of Chinese phrases, vocabulary, idioms, etc to make it as fluent as possible in a variety of contexts.
  5. Many options on touch screen:  provides Chinese audio, English audio, written English, and Pinyin translations
  6. Works on nearly all written text:  Support standard fonts in textbooks, children’s Chinese picture books, newspapers and magazines, restaurant menus, etc.
  7. Works without WiFi: although it will need a WiFi connection for any system updates / upgrades.
  8. Translates spoken voice inputs too – helpful added feature, especially for when my daughter is doing her homework (like story composition) and stuck on a word.
  9. Works for very neat handwriting – now there’s an incentive for a child to write neatly!
Youdao Dictionary Pen Review
Whilst the Youdao operating system is fully in Chinese, it’s fairly intuitive to a non-Chinese literate user too

Cons of Youdao Reading Pen

  1. The operating system language is Chinese:  Instructions and set up are fully in Chinese, as are all menus on the pen itself (it’s reasonably intuitive if you play around for a bit)
  2. It’s quite fragile: certainly not to be left in the playroom, and wouldn’t be appropriate for <7 years old to attempt to us
  3. It will read only printed text which is less than 1.5 cm wide: this rules out some popular Children’s books, like Sage 500 Books or Elephant & Piggie which have oversized fonts in them.  (In comparison, Luka Hero can read large size text, and also handwritten words). 
  4. It doesn’t work very well on screens: to get it to work best, the screen needs to be set on a VERY bright level. It apparently works best for iPads and iPhone.
Youdao Dictionary Pen Review
Yaodao instructions are written fully in Chinese!

Technical Specifications

Battery: 1000mAh; USB rechargable; : 8 hours of continuous offline use; 5 hours of continuous online use

Weight: 0.13lbs

Screen: 1.9-inch color RGB LCD screen

Voice Mode: Real voice (English or American options)

Youdao Dictionary Pen Review
Youdau pen is USB rechargeable and comes in a study box for storage

Would Youdao replace every other Chinese reading pen on the market?

No, not really.  If we are talking about children’s education, then any device itself needs a good curriculum to go with it.  Youdao has no accompanying materials – it’s literally just for translating.  So, we can use our Youdao pen to read a Chinese newsletter which comes home from school; we can use the pen to read a menu in a Chinese restaurant; we can use it to read Chinese books borrowed from the library together (with an adult’s help).  As an adult, living in Asia, the pen is totally amazing for me.  For my elder daughter, I can see the pen becoming a more and more useful learning aid as she gets older and reads more widely (like newspapers, school text books, etc).

For young children learning the Chinese language and gaining good exposure in a fun literary context, all of our other reading pens would be more relevant than Youdao Dictionary pen.  Aside from it not being ‘fun’, I fear my Youdao pen would be destroyed if left alone with a young child. It’s not a durable play pen like our Habbi Habbi Reading pen, nor a slow pronunciation reading aid like our Le Le Chinese Reading pen.

Where is comes into its own is for translating Chinese words and phrases. Compared to using other optical translation devices (eg Google Translate, Pleco with OCR function, Hanping app etc), yes, I think a dictionary pen is hands down the best and simplest option.  It’s also the “Merriam-Webster” of Chinese dictionaries – with a choice of multiple different dictionary options to look up individual words and definitions.    This could be a helpful tool for Chinese learners seeking to expand their vocabulary with more advanced phrases. 

While it may be hard for young children to use the Yaodao device, and for sure it’s unnecessary for beginners,  it’s just perfect for advanced Chinese learners (or their illiterate parents!). You’ll never need a physical Chinese dictionary again.

Youdao Dictionary Pen Review
Youdao Pen lets me effortlessly read the “Notes to Parents” in the front pages of our Chinese textbooks, including Sage 500, as shown above.

FAQs on 有道 Youdao Chinese Dictionary Pen

Which option do we prefer?
For the price point, I’m quite happy with our Model 2.0. We wouldn’t use any of the advanced features on the Pro or Version 3.0 (see comparison review here). Having the English Instructions and English Operating system in the new International Version would be a huge plus (but we’re are very used to using the pen without it by now).

Will the software / dictionaries become outdated?
No, the pen connects to wifi to ensure latest system software updates, including new wods, voices, etc are included.  It’s as simple as clicking “Settings-Upgrade” and keeping the pen connected to the wifi during the upgrade (usually it doesn’t need wifi to function)

How long does battery last?  How long does it take to charge fully?
For our Youdao 2.0 version, it lasts for about 8 full hours of continuous use (which is a really really long time, as likely a child will use it intermittently through reading …. for us, it lasts about 4 weeks!).  The battery fully charges in 3 hours.


What are the options for pronunciation?
For English, it’s either British or American in a female voice. For Chinese, it’s mainland Chinese in a female voice.

Will Youdao pen work for our family?
We’re a family where no parents speak any Chinese, and yes we use this pen daily – both my daughter, and myself, for different purposes. We read in Simplified Chinese, and generally have books with no pinyin. For us, it’s been an excellent help. For a family where parents speak fluently, I see it as being a less valuable tool.

Comparison again other Chinese Reading Pens

Different reading pens and curriculums suit different learning stages, ages, family situations, and intended learning outcomes. I’ve tried to summarise this in the below diagram.  As a learning tool, Yaodao Dictionary Pen is definitely for older children and adults, who are already very fluent at both reading and speaking, and wanting to advance their language skills.  (It’s also for English-speaking parents who know nothing of the Chinese language and simply just need ongoing translation to get by!!).

I’ve put together a graphic to summarise how the ‘Chinese reading pen’ landscape (for children’s devices) fits together.  We have a Luka Hero, Le Le Chinese, iHuman, Habbi Habbi, eTutor and Penpal Whizz!

Comparison of Youdao Dictionary Pen with other pens
Comparison of different Chinese readings pens for children (including Luka, Le Le, Habbi Habbi, Youdao)
Comparison of Chinese reading pens
Key details of Chinese-English reading pens.

Do refer to my previous posts for more information about other Chinese reading pens which are more suitable for younger children, especially preschoolers– these include:

Where to buy Youdao Reading Pen in Singapore?

These pens are now plentiful on Carousell, Lazada and Shoppee. Most of these offer a 1 year local warranty – if you buy from @888flypig on Carousell, you can quote “lahlahbanana” for a further discount. There are many many authorised retailers in Singapore – one of which also includes Elite Linguistic Network (note – no affiliation, and my pen didn’t come from there either, but they dropped me a note after I made this blog post, again if you quote “LAHLAHBANANA” they will give you a 5% discount too.).

Find the best price, and go with that. Take note of the specific version you are buying though as some will have only a Chinese user interface, and others will offer English. Then some will come with written instructions in English, and others will not.

The cheapest options to get this pen will likely have all the interface and manual in Chinese, and it’s possible to get it all working as a non-Chinese speaker (because we certainly use ours effortlessly, without asking anyone how to get it working….. setting up the wifi and downloading the latest firmware was the toughest part).

For those OUTSIDE of Singapore, the pen can be bought from:

  • Global: Taobao or Amazon
  • US: Jojo Learning
  • UK & Europe: Deziremi Bookstore, and special note that my blog readers have a £12.00 discount if you use code YOUDAOLAH at checkout

Which Chinese dictionaries and optical readers have you tried?

I would love to hear from you, especially if you have experience with other Chinese reading pens and dictionaries. It’s only through meeting other wonderful parents virtually, that this shared language journey becomes a more valuable one. All comments welcomed!

Books About Mid-Autumn Festival To Read With Your Kids

Mid Autumn Festival (中秋节 Zhōng qiū jié)  is just around the corner, and it’s one of our favourite festivals of the year!

Here’s a review of what’s on our bookshelf this month, including books across a range of reading abilities, for pre-schoolers to read by themselves, through to books which can be enjoyed by reading together with an adult reading. 

We’ve selected a variety of books this year – with the help of Lin Xin at My Story Treasury – which focus on either:
(1) traditions and customs behind the century-old Chinese celebration, or
(2) fun stories about mooncakes, moons and lanterns.

These twelve books can be found in a few different places, but primarily I’ve tried to focus on books which can be borrowed from the local library (in Singapore), or purchased from local online bookstores. Three of the books below are even authored in Singapore, which makes me proud.

Part 1. Kids ‘Reference’ Books about the traditions customs of mid-Autumn Festival

It’s easy to associate this festival with just mooncakes and lanterns. Sure, the iconic parts of the festival are lanterns and mooncakes – but there’s so much more history to this harvest festival.  The festival is thought to have originated about 1000 – 200 BC, when Ancient Chinese emperors worshiped the harvest moon in autumn, in the hope that this would bring them a plentiful harvest the following year. Following the emperors, the people – both rich and poor – prayed to the moon, and often held festivals.  The tradition of eating mooncakes during the festival began in the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368 AD), a dynasty ruled by the Mongols.  Apparently messages to rebel against the Mongols were passed around in mooncakes.

You can enjoy the history together by considering the following books:

《大家来过节 1》 新加坡华族传统节日与习俗 Let’s Celebrate! Singaporean Chinese Festivals and Customs

Title: 《大家来过节 1》 新加坡华族传统节日与习俗 Let’s Celebrate! Singaporean Chinese Festivals and Customs
Author:  Fu Chong (Frank Fu)
Country of original publication:  Singapore
Language: Simplified Chinese
~ Pages in book: 80
~ Lines per page: 7- 21
~Pinyin: No
~ Audio available: No
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: Yes
Target age range: 5 and upwards (even adults will learn something!) although note the Chinese reading level is quite hard.

This book is part of a 3 book set which I’ve reviewed previously  on Singaporean Festivals and Customs.  There’s one book on Malay traditions, one on Indian, and one on local Chinese celebrations.

The hand drawn pictures and matter-of-fact explanations are a special way to dig deeper into the rich cultural heritage in Singapore. The “reference-type” books certainly have a lot of text, but it’s richly peppered with detailed illustrations which are easy to relate to. My children could recognise many of the drawings, and identify them as places we’ve been to or seen before in Singapore, such as Chinatown and Marina Bay.   There are a couple of pages in the book dedicated to mooncakes and lanterns, and describing the local ways which Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated here.

The books are cleverly put together, with quirky aspects that would really appeal to a child who likes their facts and figures. I like that children can learn about these traditions in Chinese format, and pick up new characters along the way.   My children immediately pointed out the ‘pokeball’ lantern and the ‘minions’ lantern.  They also enjoyed trying to decipher what was written on the top of each mooncake.

 

文化都在节日里 Culture Is Found in Our Festivals

Language: Simplified Chinese
~ Pages in book: 16
~ Lines per page:  ~ 20 – 30 facts per double page
~Pinyin: No
~ Audio available: No
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: No (it’s a bit delicate to be a sharing book!)
Target age range: 3 to 12

We don’t have many pop-up books – but this one makes up for all that!  It’s physically huge in size (larger than A3 size when opened), and filled with amazing pop-up pages which illustrate Chinese Festivals. 

There are two pages specifically for Mid-Autumn festival, showcasing the many different ways this festival is celebrated – from foods, to lanterns, sipping tea, reunions and dancing. My children were fascinated by the family making a lantern out of pomelo to float on the river.

The book covers 8 major festivals, and includes legends and tales too. We plan to get this book out at each festival (Chinese New Year, Dragon Boat, etc) as a special treat.  It’s not the type of book you’d read cover-to-cover, but nor does it need to be.  There’s just something magical about having a “special” book which comes out for celebrations.

 

今天我们做月饼 Today we make mooncakes

Author:  Lin Wenpei
Country of original publication:  Singapore
Language: Simplified Chinese
~ Pages per book: 20
~ Lines per page: 5-9
~Pinyin: Yes
~ Audio available: No
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: Yes
Target age range: 4 – 8

There’s a wonderful Singaporean author Lin Wenpei, who has written a series of picture books about food in local celebrations, including Mid Autumn Festival. The main characters of the picture books are a courageous sister and a playful brother, who attempt to help their families to prepare festive foods.

Through cartoon style pictures, each page shows the steps in making moon cakes, traditionally prepared at home. The playful sibling duo learn about the different traditions through preparing ingredients, and make some cute blunders along the way. This book crosses the boundary between being a factual book about the festival traditions and a fictional story.

Being authored in Singapore, the illustrations are equally local, and easy to relate to – kids dressed in simple short sleeve clothes and barefoot, rather than traditional autumn wear for Chinese weather!

The book is part of a set of eight cute picture books about food in local Chinese celebrations, which I’ve reviewed in an earlier post. 

节日Chinese Holidays x 2

 Author:  Cathy Ju Yao
Country of original publication: Taiwan
Language: Simplified Chinese (although Traditional is also available)
~ Pages in book: 8 – 12
~ Lines per page: 1 – 2
~Pinyin: No
~ Audio available: Yes – through Le Le reading pen
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: No
Target age range: 3 – 6

These are two short simple books each containing short sentences about Mooncake festival, from the Le Le Chinese Second Set (Yellow Readers). The great thing about these books is that a kindergarten child can read them by themselves. Children will enjoy seeing the mooncakes, pomelos, lanterns and the simple joy of reading about the festival independently.

Part 2. Stories about mooncakes, moons and lanterns

满月 Mǎnyuè / Full Moon

Author:  保冬妮
Country of original publication: China
Language: Simplified Chinese
Pages: 30
Lines per page:  6
Pinyin: No
Audio available: No
Available in Singapore NLB libraries: Yes

Recommended ages: 5 – 12 with a Chinese speaking adult.  For context, my P2 daughter was unable to read this book independently, and the concepts contained would also benefit from adult guidance.

满月 Mǎnyuè is a poignant picture book for children, touching on AIDS, adoption, death, and being grateful, especially at Mid-Autumn festival.  I have written a detailed review of this beautiful story in an earlier post. It’s our favourite mid Autumn festival book this year. We would highly recommend this.

星星吃月亮 (The Stars Ate the Moon) and 萤火虫 (Firefly) and 星球 (Planets) 

Author:  Cathy Ju Yao
Country of original publication: Taiwan
Language: Simplified Chinese (although Traditional is also available)
~ Pages in book: 8 – 12
~ Lines per page: 1 – 2
~Pinyin: No
~ Audio available: Yes – through Le Le reading pen
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: No
Target age range: 3 – 6

These three short fun ‘moon’ related books are also part of the Le Le Chinese readers set – which I’ve raved about in a separate post.   

Le Le Chinese is a series of highly-engaging picture book graded readers, and it has on optional pen which can read the books.  The intention of the books is to “literacy through literature” – which is to say that by reading lots of books, the child will naturally pick up characters.   The books use common characters from literature, and become progressively harder throughout the 300 books. We enjoyed doing a thematic study on the ‘moon’ related books from this series.

妈姐的金鱼灯笼 Majie and Her Goldfish lantern

Author/Illustrator:  Patrick Yee
Country of original publication:  Singapore
Language: Simplified Chinese
~ Pages per book: 30
~ Lines per page: 2 – 7
~Pinyin: Yes
~ Audio available: No
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: Yes
Target age range: 5 – 12

This tale follows a young Chinese girl who boards a ship bound for Singapore, in the hope of a better life.  She is placed to work at a grand house in Joo Chiat Road, Katong.  One of the opening pages has a lovely colourful scene when she alights from the boat, and her first sight is a group of ethnically diverse people at a market and she comments “So this is Nanyang”.  She looks after a young boy from diapers until he is old enough to go to the UK for further studies – and one of their memorable experience together is her goldfish lantern, and walking along Chinatown during Mid-Autumn festival with the colourful lantern.

This book is part of a set of books called 狮城往事绘本系列 (Lion City Past Story Series) about heritage traditions in Singapore, which I’ve reviewed earlier too!

Author Patrick Yee has written/illustrated more than 100 books!  Gosh I think I’m falling in love with his gorgeous illustrations with rich bright colours and intricate attention to detail.

玛蒂娜参加花车游行 Martine and the Flower Festival

Author:  Gilbert Delahaye
Country of original publication:  France
Language: Simplified Chinese
~ Pages per book: 21
~ Lines per page: 10 – 15
~Pinyin: Yes
~ Audio available: Yes – Luka
~ Available in Singapore NLB libraries: No
Target age range: 5 – 12

This is a French book from the 1960s about a Japanese lantern festival: the original French name translates as “Martine at the Flower Festival”, but the Chinese version is “Martine joins the float parade”. Technically it’s nothing to do with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. However, it highlights that ancient cultures across Asia have been fascinated by the moon, and the changing of seasons, and that they also have a harvest festivals and celebrations with colourful lanterns.

玛蒂娜参加花车游行 is compatible with Luka for audio, which makes it extra fun. If you haven’t discovered the joy of book narrations through Luka yet, please see my earlier post introducing Luka Reading Companion for Chinese storybooks.

Where to buy great Chinese children’s books?

In Singapore: Each of the books reviewed in this post (except for Le Le books) can be bought from Children’s bookstores locally in Singapore. Most of the titles listed in this post are available from My Story Treasury (online) if you’re looking for a one-stop solution. My Story Treasury is a lovingly curated collection of Chinese picture story books for kids.  Remember my blog readers have a 10% discount if you use “LahLahBanana10” at checkout from their store. There are several other fantastic children’s bookstores in Singapore too who stock some of these books, and buying local is totally the best.

On Taobao – if you really must do this option, look at the end of my Taobao post for recommended bookstores through Taobao’s TMall.

I hope you and your family will read and enjoy some Mid-Autumn Festival books in the upcoming weeks.   I’d love to know your favourites too, so we can check them out!

English Guide to Taobao and TMall

Taobao!  It’s the Chinese online shopping platform full of everything you could possibly want, and more.  Except, for having an English version.

Is Taobao really that good for buying Chinese learning resources?

I understand the struggle when it comes to trying to decipher the Chinese and figure out how to buy from there – apparently it’s even a struggle for those who can read Chinese at times.  I used to feel a little left out by this, hearing of the great, cheap purchases that my Mandarin speaking friends had made, and items which seemingly didn’t exist anywhere in the world outside of Taobao. 

So this post is twofold – one, I will compare prices of Children’s Chinese books bought directly on Taobao versus through agents; secondly, I will give a guide to show how to order items from Taobao and tips for those of us that cannot read the language.

In our experience, it’s always better to shop locally and support local businesses – and often the price is cheaper anyhow, especially after shipping.   We’ve not once been disappointed with a book purchased from an online Singapore bookshop.  However, there are sometimes when the books we’re looking for just aren’t available in Singapore, and that’s when we turn to Taobao, or Taobao agents! (and yes, there have been disappointments here, both in terms of the quality of items ordered, or realising the books weren’t as good as we’d hoped).

Price Comparison of Taobao Options for Children’s Chinese Books

I did a comparison for four different Chinese bridging books that I was interested in buying, for my 7 year old daughter. The different options I tried ordering from are below:

Method to BuyWhat this isProsCons
1. Directly on TaobaoUsing Taobao website written fully in ChineseCheapest product prices, and potentially very cheap shipping  Hard to understand; payment and shipping can be difficult.  Refunds difficult.
2. AGENT: EZ Buy (with English Search)Using EZ Buy English website and searching for the book you want in their search engineSimple to search, pay, and ship.  Fairly cheap shipping.Product prices slightly inflated.  Limited product range.
3. AGENT: EZ Buy (with copy & paste of TB URL)Using EZ Buy English website and copying and pasting the URL of product you found on TaobaoSimple to search, pay, and ship. Fairly cheap shipping.Takes extra effort, but will give you better price than searching in English.   Limited product range.
4. AGENT: Taobao Focus (with English Search)Using Taobao Focus English website and searching for the book you want in their search engine.Simple to search, pay, and ship.  Product prices and shipping same as Taobao. Full product range from Taobao.  Great customer service.Uses Taobao’s most expensive shipping option, so likely to cost more than the product itself)
5. AGENT: Taobao Focus (with copy & paste of TB URL)Using Taobao Focus English website and copying and pasting the URL of product you found on Taobao. Simple to search, pay, and ship.  Product prices and shipping same as Taobao.  Full product range from Taobao. Great customer service.Uses Taobao’s most expensive shipping option, so likely to cost more than the product itself)
Comparison of buying options between Taobao directly and using agents

Here are the results after I searched for the 4 different books which I wanted to buy, but which I couldn’t find locally in Singapore:

 Directly on TaobaoEZ Buy (with English Search)EZ Buy (with copy & paste of TB URL)Taobao Focus (with English Search)Taobao Focus (with copy & paste of TB URL)
小狐狸的故事   Little Fox Bridge Books (set of 5)$8.91$15.09$13.00$9.97$8.91
青蛙和蟾蜍 Frog and Toad Chinese (set of 4)  $10.4515.10$12.05$13.06$10.45
加油小米啦 You Can Do It Little Mila! (set of 6)$24.74$22.19$20.19$20.75$24.74
大象小不点 Wilma The Elephant (set of 4)  $9.76n/an/a$10.24$9.05
Cost of Books$55.86$52.38$45.24$61.12$62.25
Agent fee$0.00$0.00$0.00$9.10$9.10
Cost of standard shipping to Singapore$42.00$11.40$11.40$57.00$57.00
Total cost$95.86$63.78$56.64$120.12$119.25
Total Books1915151919
Cost per book including shipping$5.05$4.25$3.78$6.32$6.28
Comparison of costs between Taobo and Taobao agents for Chinese Children’s Books

Prices are written in SGD on a normal day (ie no sale!).

I’m a stickler for a good deal, and I have to say, whilst Taobao direct ordering is not that difficult, the effort needed to shop directly on Taobao probably isn’t worth it given you’ll likely get a comparable price through a good Taobao agent, without the hassle. Hope the above table demonstrates to you that at least for book buying, you don’t need to have any envy of your Chinese-speaking friends ordering directly from Taobao.

English Speakers Guide to getting things from Taobao

Here’s a little guide to show how English-speakers can still easily buy from Taobao, either by using a good Taobao Agent (best method!), or by exercising extreme patience through the direct website (which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend, by the way, proceed at your own risk!).  

There’s a really good graphical English guide on using Taobao, including explanation on how the shipping options work at the following two sites, so I’d recommend having them open when you’re going through the process: https://www.imoney.my/articles/taobao-shopping-guide or https://zula.sg/taobao-english-guide/.

Instructions for ordering directly through Taobao

  1. Don’t attempt it without Google Translate.  Use Google Chrome, and it should automatically give you the option to translate the entire website (if not, add the Google Translate Extension).  It’s not perfect, but it’s a great initial steer.  I don’t recommend trying to do this via the phone app.
  2. Register for a Taobao account (also coincidentally, an Ali Pay account too).  At the top right hand side of the screen, you’ll find the characters “免費註冊” (Register) or in Google Translate view it will say “Free”.  Click this and you’ll be prompted to enter in your details – including email, password, phone number and account name.  Note that at this screen, there is an option to click “English” so you should certainly do that!
    TIP: Before keying in your mobile number, tap on “+86” to change your country code. If you’re hunting for Singapore, it will say “新加坡 +65”, or it’s found under “X”  Xīnjiāpō   You’ll need to key-in a verification code sent to your mobile number too.
  3. Searching for what you want to buy.  You can type English words into the search bar, but you’ll get a better outcome if you paste in a translation in Chinese – again, use Google Translate to do this.  Generally I’m looking for titles of Chinese books, so I just paste them straight in.  If too many results come up, I’ll also add in the author name to narrow it down.
  4. Working out which one to buy.  It’s a gamble.  But the fastest way would be to look at the price, and on the right hand side there is a grey number.  This shows how many paste items have been bought.  Then you can also check the Taobao rating of the seller (which is out of 5, and typically >4.8 is a reliable seller).
  5. Add the items to your basket.  You add a quantity, then click the dark red button with the shopping cart (购物车 – Shopping Cart), which will add it to you cart, and you can continue browsing.
  6. Checking out.  Click on your shopping basket, ensure all the items you want to buy a selected, with expected quantity and price.  Then, checkout by clicking the dark red button right at the bottom (结算 – Payment).   This takes you to a screen where you add your mailing address, name, mobile number (again) etc.   Once done, click on “设置为默认收货地址” (Make Default) if you want to make it your default shipping address so you don’t have to go through this pain again!.
  7. Shipping.  This is where is gets complicated.  There are two options for 跨境配送方式 (Shipping Method) – either “Direct” shipping or “Consolidated”.  Direct will just be sent straight to you; Consolidated is much cheaper but will require a separate Taobao shipping agent or freight forwarder to assist you, and two different payments (because you’ll pay for the products first, and then they’ll be delivered to a domestic warehouse, after which you’ll make a second payment for the international shipping …..  which if it’s sea freight will usually involve a freight forwarder to take delivery of your items in Malaysia and then forward to Singapore on your behalf).  Unless someone has recommended you a good agent for consolidation and delivery, I really wouldn’t be doing this as a non-Chinese speaker, as the opportunities for it to go pear-shape keep magnifying!   Assuming you choose “Direct”, then you just make payment, and the goods will be on their way from the seller to the warehouse in China, and then straight onto Singapore via air.  “Direct” takes 8 to 12 business days.  You’ll have a choice between several international mail carriers, with  EMS as default.
  8. Payment.  This is also not so simple from outside of China.  After confirming your order, you’re directed to an Alipay account.  If it’s your first purchase using Alipay, you need to set up a pin number (6 numerical digits).  Once done, click “确定” (Confirm), and you add your credit card details.   Remember your PIN number!   Also, when adding “cardholder name”, put your Last Name (surname) first, and your First Name in the second space.
  9. Cross your fingers.  If you purchase goes smoothly, you’re a winner!  If not, it’s a pretty big headache to have to chat with the helpline, especially without a Chinese speaking buddy.   It’s not uncommon after you purchase for the seller to text you in Chinese with questions, so you still might need to resort to a Chinese-speaking friend in order to reply.

Tips for first time Taobao buyers:

  • If it’s your first time, just buy from 1-2 sellers, and don’t buy too much, just in case you muck up, the downside is limited!
  • It’s good to scroll through the buyer comments on the products you’re looking at – Google Chrome with Google Translate lets you do this very fast
  • Under some items, you’ll see a red box icon which looks like a small shopping bag with a white string handle – this shows the item is from Tmall, and offshoot of Taobao.  These are larger registered stores, brands or manufacturers.  Think of this as the “Amazon approved sellers” rather than the individual consumer sellers.  So it’s genuine items (yes there are plenty of fakes on Taobao), but probably higher prices too. 
  • Don’t order more than 20kg, or the shipping cost goes up hugely!
  • Prices fluctuate – just like Amazon.  Some days there are big sales, like 11/11.

Instructions for using an agent to order from Taobao website

This would be the stress-free way to do it, and costs are quite similar (at least for book buying!).  There are two agents with full English websites which we’ve used and would recommend.  This is a much easier and less stressful way to get your good delivered!  What’s more, as I found out, sometimes the agents websites will have promotions which are better than Taobao.

Agent 1:  EZ Buy:  In Singapore, a good option is EZ Buy.  They don’t have the full set of items available from Taobao, and items are slightly more expensive (5 – 10% more pricey), but they have a good curated collection with much cheaper shipping into Singapore than doing it direct with Taobao.  And, you’ll have peace of mind that there aren’t fakes in this mix. The costs are pretty similar in the end, assuming EZ Buy stocks the item you want in their collection.

EZ Buy sometimes won’t have the items you are looking for, and shows the error message above.

Agent 2:  Taobao Focus:  Globally, a great option is TaoBao Focus.  TB Focus has the identical prices to Taobao, and identical shipping costs, they just charge a flat agent’s fee (of about USD$10).  They let you pay using Paypal, which is also hassle free.    I became a big fan on the day which I accidentally ordered (and paid for) 10 books which I hadn’t meant to order.  TaoBao Focus agent was able to assist me cancel the order and I got a refund to my Paypal account the next day.  I know as a fact this wouldn’t have happened if I’d bought directly from Taobao.

In some cases, the agents (eg Taobao Focus) even has a discounted price lower than buying directly through Taobao (or TMall).

Tips for using Taobao Agents:

  • Prices will be cheaper if you first find the items you want on Taobao, and then paste them directly into EZ Buy, rather than searching from EZ Buy directly.  It’s the case with most agents – search for the product you want, then paste the link into the agent website.
  • If it’s a special Taobao sale day (like 11/11 Sales), then Taobao Focus is likely to have the sale prices too, and perhaps be cheaper than EZ Buy!

Any good Taobao stores to browse for Children’s Books?

Children’s bookstores in TMall with high ratings include:

But, if you’re based in Singapore, please do consider looking in Singapore local bookstores first, as they may stock the same (or even better!!) titles and be cheaper. Good online options for Chinese Children’s bookstore in Singapore are My Story Treasury, Flip for Joy and Books4Tots. Readers of my blog can get a 10% discount at My Story Treasury at checkout through quoting “LahLahBanana10”. Everything is their collection is quality – which is a statement that cannot be said about Taobao.

Final things to keep in mind

  • Expect to pay more for shipping:  Yes Taobao is cheap (whether you order direct or through agents), but be ready to pay high shipping costs (Taobao is about SG$13/kg, and agents can add a few dollars to this).  Don’t be scared off when the international shipping cost is about the same value (or more) than the books you’re ordering.  Mentally prepare for this, and don’t get cold feet when it comes to the shock at payment time, after you’ve spent hours searching for the perfect books.
  • Buy entire book sets, not individual books:  this is by far the cheapest way.
  • Don’t get addicted! Have fun 😉

Habbi Habbi Reading Wand Review

Habbi Habbi Bilingual Books with their Reading Wand is the fifth Chinese reading pen set to join our house. This is a post I never thought I’d write – because I never imagined there would be a “use case” for five different Chinese Reading Pens. But it turns out there is! 

We use our HabbI Habbi Reading Wand as the go-to, dedicated pen for our youngest (toddler) because of its hardcover, durable design and play-based nature (she can tap anywhere and get feedback). There are surprise musical tunes and hidden content beyond the text that is printed on the page, so it’s fun for her to play and discover. 

We also find it especially great for less-native families, because it is bilingual (with English and pinyin) – so it is more approachable, especially for those who find Chinese-only resources intimidating (I can really empathize with this, as a monolingual-English parent who doesn’t speak Chinese!). 

Also as I will explain more later, the Habbi Habbi book content is distinguishing with themes of empathy, diversity, self reliance, global citizenship, and more. When your kids repeat phrases from these books like “I feel worthy,” “I love my body,” “I admire my mommy. She is capable of anything,” it does tickle your heart. 

Disclaimer: I was very kindly gifted the Habbi Habbi Reading Wand and books but have not received any compensation for this review. All opinions shared here are my own, and I made this clear to Habbi Habbi before accepting their product for review. It was a pleasure to review such a fun product.

Habbi Habbi Reading Wand
Chinese Reading Pens
Habbi Habbi comes ready to use out of the box, and is the brightest of all the pens!

What is Habbi Habbi Reading Wand?

I like reading pens in general because they remove screen time, and inculcate a love of reading Chinese, without the parent needing to read/speak the language.  Habbi Habbi certainly ticks all the boxes on this front too. For our family, we use it for our youngest – more on that later

The Habbi Habbi startup is the brainchild of two working mothers, ex-consultants and long time friends, who loved the Reading Wand technology and wanted to make it contemporary, multilingual, and accessible for a non-native audience. And the thought shows. In much the same way as other reading pens, it will recognise compatible books, and provide an audio overlay saying the word / phrase out loud, or giving other sound effects and cute musical tunes. But, it is really the content of what they write about, the beautiful design, and the fun, play-nature of Habbi Habbi makes it stand out.

Habbi Habbi comes with a set of 20 matching board books (and counting!) – available in Simplified Chinese (within pinyin) or Spanish. The same Wand accesses all their books, regardless of language, so you only need 1 pen to access either language!  Apparently more languages are planned, and this includes possibility of Traditional Chinese Books, French, Korean, and more. They also have Habbi Habbi bilingual puzzles and flashcards, which I’ve reviewed separately.

Habbi Habbi Chinese
Habbi Habbi Bilingual Books
Habbi Habbi Reading Wand books cover diverse topics for children

How do we use Habbi Habbi Reading Wand?

It’s easy to use – just turn on and tap.  I simply gave it to my toddler, and she turned it on by holding down the middle button.  Then, with just a light tap on the books literally anywhere on the page – the book comes alive.

When we first opened the Habbi Habbi box, I told my three children that this pen was special for the youngest one (just turned three).  She was delighted, because ever since she could sit up, she’s always been keen to use our other reading pens.  This has long been a source of arguments with the older kids, and frustration for me because I’m always reminding her to be more gentle with the fragile (expensive!) pens and books.  Well, when she got her hands on it, she knew exactly what to do!  It literally went from the box to being played with, without me even needing to read the instructions.

I like that the book is a fun toddler “toy” – my little one can tap anywhere and get some sort of response – word/phrase/sound/music, with a practical learning outcome (Chinese!) and exposure to highly intentional content (like diversity, inclusiveness and resilience). For a home like ours where the adults aren’t bilingual, a tool like this is perfect to help a very young child pick up Chinese alongside English.

The Wand is rechargeable with a standard-USB cable (comes provided).  When it’s charging, the star at the top will glow red, and the glow disappears when fully charged.    

The volume is adjustable volume – this good, because when three kids are in the same room using three different pens, it’s nice to have it a little quieter. 

There’s also a headphone jack, which could be good for aeroplanes and roadtrips.

Habbi Habbi Chinese books for toddlers
My toddler just loves seeing her Habbi Habbi Wand and Books cleverly illustrated inside the Habbi Habbi books!

How is Habbi Habbi different from other Chinese reading pens?

In my mind Habbi Habbi is great as a first Reading Pen, for those emphasizing speaking and listening (versus reading and character recognition). Note: Context is important; we live in a Singapore – a Chinese speaking country and are aiming to raise fully bilingual children who can read Chinese, so for us – Habbi Habbi is perfect for our littlest one, because it’s fun and play based, so it allows us to start language exposure early. For our older children, we use other tools that have a more full-fledged and formal ‘character learning system.’

Durable, with an emphasis on design and play: We love its toddler-proof design; they are hardcover, board books with easily wipe-down matte coating – clearly designed to be durable for heavy use and play. As mentioned, I love that the emphasis is on the kids having fun – so they learn through play. No matter where they tap, they hear something – whether it’s the phrase printed on the page, an expression from the character on the page, or a delightful musical tune. Also, in comparison to our other pens, the Habbi Habbi Reading Wand is brightly coloured and feels beautiful to hold.  The compatible books are big, board books with vivid colours and large font bilingual English-Chinese text.

Intentional Content: The book content is markedly different from our other Reading Pens. Its illustrations show diverse characters and their content is very intentionally chosen. In their feelings book, they don’t just talk about being ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ but also say ‘I am worthy.’ In their family book, they highlight diverse family structures, including single-dad and adoptive families. In their mum book, they even re-named their ‘stay-at-home mom’ the “Chief Home Officer.”

Bilingual WITH pinyin: Something else very different to our other reading pen books is that each of the Habbi Habbi books are written in English AND Simplified Chinese character AND Pinyin.   For my older children, I try to find monolingual Chinese materials – without English or Pinyin. But, for a young child, who isn’t reading in either language independently, I do like having the English there.  It lets a monolingual parent (like myself) be more engaged in the bilingual language learning.  The pen also speaks in dual languages, which can be a nice aid in letting the child learn the English words too (although there is an option to only make it read it one language).  As for the pinyin, it’s helpful for me because I do know a little pinyin, which gives me some context around the phrases.

Plays Chinese AND English: It’s worth noting too that unlike our other pens, this one speaks both the Chinese first and the English.  This is a deliberate design feature by Habbi Habbi to maximise Chinese exposure first, but also ensure that the books are accessible and understandable to more families. For example, families and children may know that 厨房 chú fáng is ‘kitchen’, but many may not know that 同理心 tóng lǐ xīn is ’empathy’. Having the English enables more new words to be learnt [Update 2021: Habbi Habbi has new functionality enabled by their Mode Cards, so now families can choose either default Bilingual audio, Chinese-only audio or English-only audio. I love this since it allows for more native / heritage families to use Chinese only, while less-native families can use the Bilingual Mode. Interestingly the Habbi Habbi team told me that most families switch, depending on which books they are playing with, or whether a non-native family member might be playing and learning along with the child ….. cool idea!.]

Ultimately though, the beauty of the pen is its simplicity (eg there’s no apps to download, settings to get it working, etc), with a battery life that almost goes forever!

Habbi Habbi bilingual board books
Habbi Habbi Books have English, Simplified Chinese Characters and Pinyin

How does Habbi Habbi compare to other reading pens on the market?

I’ve tried to draw an image of how I see the schema landscape of reading pens fitting together, and try to make it less overwhelming to understand all the options. Different pens are right for different family situations, learning stages, and intended outcomes.  We have each of the pens listed in this table, so our family has good experience trialling them all.

Chinese reading pen comparison
Chart demonstrating use of Chinese readings pens in different situations

Head to Head Comparison of Habbi Habbi and the main reading pens we would recommend:

Below is a comparison table of all the Chinese-English reading pens we have:

Chinese reading pen comparison
Comparison of our favourite Chinese Reading Pens and Robots

[Note: if you start off with only 5 Habbi Habi books, the price is SG$145 for Wand + 5 board books]

Pros of Habbi Habbi

  1. It’s clearly designed for toddlers – the pen is sturdy, and the books are board books, with wipe-down matte finish.  This gives me much more peace of mind than our other reading pens which are more ‘delicate’, and which have books with thin pages which are easily ripped without a close adult eye supervising.  I’m much more comfortable leaving my youngest to interact with the Habbi Habbi wand and books alone, than with any of our other sets.  I would add here though that it CAN be useful for older children too…… my tween is currently learning Spanish as a third language, and the Habbi Habbi Spanish books are perfect for that, due to the simple and accessible design, including reading pen.
  1. Chinese AND English bilingual – Unlike our other reading pen books, Habbi Habbi come with bilingual Chinese and English written in each book and spoken through the pen (although on the pen, it has the option for a parent to choose to only have Chinese spoken, which is a nice immersion option).  For younger kids or families in less bilingual countries, having both Chinese and English in the book is helpful as it allows non-native (or less-native!) adults to understand what is being read, and engage with the book.
  1. Diverse pictures and situations – our other reading pens all originate from Asia (Taiwan and Singapore, specifically).  Habbi Habbi is just different.  The drawings are more vibrant, and the scenes have diverse faces in diverse places, putting a very contemporary global spin on the text.  There are books about working mothers with breast pumps, and blended families.  All phrases are intentionally positive and inclusive.
  1. Highly interactive – Every part of the books is ‘tappable’, giving description of the pictures and surprise music interludes, in addition to the written text.  It can certainly captivate the imagination of a young child, and keep them engaged through to the end of a book (which is rare feat with toddlers, I know!).
  1. Fluent and high-quality audio – well recorded, with native speakers in both languages, and speed is normal spoken speed (which is good for language exposure, mimicking real environments, and learning how to speak). For learning how to read, it might be better to be slower – and I have given them the feedback, and they shared that they are looking into functionalities to slow / speed up speed of the audio.
  1. Full English support – this is helpful.  You’ll realise if you have other pens bought online from China (like the iHuman Pen….) that it just feels nice to know that it’s a quality product, with a quality team behind it who can respond to queries and provide a warranty.

Cons of Habbi Habbi

  1. Phrases verses individual characters:  Habbi Habbi reads out different “clips” (words, phrases, or sentences) – but not character by character.  They chose to do so to simulate conversation, similar to what kids would hear if they heard people talking. Similar to what I’ve mentioned before, this is more suitable for listening comprehension and speaking – over – character recognition and reading. This is a ‘con’ for my older children, whom I’m trying to teach character recognition and literacy.
  1. Difficulty of some Sentence books:   They have different stages of books – Word Books, Phrase Books, Sentence Books, and Story Books. The Word Books and Phrase Books are introductory and approachable. Some of the Sentence Books have more complex sentences, and I think my 3-year old likes to interact with the Word / Phrase books more – or – play with the illustration part of the Sentence books, which speak back short words and phrases (e.g. when she taps Mommy’s earrings – they say earrings!) I do appreciate the philosophy of the sentence books – that they choose to intentionally reflect certain situations, even if they are more complex words (e.g. Mommy is a Surgeon – vs – Mommy is a Doctor). These sentence books may just be more suitable for my older kids than my littlest one.

  2. Size of the books – these are full size, gorgeously produced board books; they clearly focused on design and durability!  They look great on the bookshelf.  However, if you’re an apartment dweller, you perhaps wouldn’t want too many of these (or perhaps you’d only want these and nothing else!).  Our other reading pens come with much smaller books which can be packed away and stored easily – though they are paperback, stapled books.  Again, it’s not really a con.  It’s a fact that all toddler books take up space. 

  3. Regional vocabulary differences – For example, for pineapple, my kids learnt it as school from Hokkien 王梨(ông-lâi) or黄梨 (huánglí). The Habbi Habbi book says 菠萝 (bōluó). The Habbi Habbi website notes that they have native speakers from different regions represented on their translation team and review board, so they are aware of different ways to say things (eg butter – 黄油 Huángyóu, 奶油 Nǎiyóu, 牛油 Niú yóu). They discuss each translation item but when forced to choose, they try to be consistent with simplified Chinese because that is what is printed. 
  1. Content might be too progressive for an Asian audience – The books are clearly not written for a traditional Asian audience. They include things like social emotional learning (teaching kids sentences like “I am vulnerable”) and also feature more controversial topics (Adoptive families – “Mom & Dad couldn’t have kids but that doesn’t mean they can’t have a big family.”) They also name items traditional Asian families may not talk about (e.g. they have illustrated a breast pump with “Banker Mommy” at the airport).
Habbi Habbi Chinese resources
Habbi Habbi books cover diverse topics, including having an illustrated breast pump in the book about working mothers.

 

Books in the Habbi Habbi Series

Habbi Habbi has different types of books, being: 1. Word books;  2. Phrase books (e.g. Emotions); 3. Sentence books (e.g. Kindness); and 4. Story books (coming soon!)

The Habbi Habbi Summer Set (which we were sent)

  • Book of First Words – colours, numbers, shapes, fruits, transport, etc … favourite here was the inclusion of kale in the veggies!  They’re a very western vegetable though.
  • Book of First Phrases – simple phrases about introductions, telling the time, meals and manners
  • Book of Emotions – teaching children to be resilient, understand their emotions, and articulate some not-commonly said Chinese phrases like “I am worthy!”
  • Book of Careers, Vol 1 (Mums)  – with a look at modern mums as female role models
  • I am Kind – examples of kindness including empathy, sharing, community, elder respect, etc
  • Book of Family – highlighting many different family structures, included multi-generational, traditional nuclear, blended / re-married, adopted, same-sex parenting, and a family tree!
  • Foodie Friends – a pot luck party with some very international food choices (including bubble tea and papaya juice).
Habbi Habbi Summer Set of 7 Books

 

Other Habbi Habbi books (which we don’t have – but sound great!)

  • Book of Chores
  • Things That Go
  • Book of Careers, Vol 2 (Dads)
  • Healthy Habits
  • I Love My Body
  • In My Home
  • Apples + Arithmetic
  • Animals, Plants and Places
  • My 7 Wishes for You
  • Global Celebrations
  • Haddie & Lulu’s Worldwide Search *
  • Haddie & Lulu’s Bash on a Budget *
  • Haddie & Lulu and the Bad Grade *
  • * Haddie & Lulu – are Habbi Habbi’s story books!
  • + many more new titles being added constantly

Where to buy Habbi Habbi Reading Wand and books in Singapore?

Currently the Habbi Habbi sets must be ordered via the Habbi Habbi website, and mailed from California.  The mailing isn’t cheap.  In Singapore, they retail through SavvyMama, but only the Chinese versions. 

They also provide a discount for group orders, so if there are other families in Singapore who would like one, let me know as I’m trying to consolidate interest for a group order in the meantime (we would certainly love to keep adding books to our family’s collection too…!).

Which reading pen is right for me?

To see more information about the other Chinese reading pens our family has, do refer to my earlier posts. Different reading pens and curriculums suit different learning stages, ages, family situations, and intended learning outcomes.

I would love to hear from you, especially if you have the Habbi Habbi or experience with other similar pens too. It’s only through meeting other wonderful parents virtually, that this shared language journey becomes a more valuable one.

Disclaimer

I was very kindly gifted the Habbi Habbi Reading Wand and books, but have not received any compensation for this review.   It was a pleasure to review such a fun product.

Book Review: Full Moon 满月

With mid-Autumn festival coming up, we’ve been reading a few topical books about the moon and seasons. 

This story of Full Moon 满月 (Mǎnyuè), probably isn’t what you think it will be, but it’s a touching read bringing up many modern issues about orphans, AIDS, adoption, death, and being grateful.   It’s the only picture book I’ve seen which attempts to intertwine such heavy topics.

Author:  保冬妮
Country of original publication: China
Language: Simplified Chinese
Pages: 30
Lines per page:  6
Pinyin: No
Audio available: No
Available in NLB library: Yes

Recommended ages: 5 – 12 with a Chinese speaking adult.  For context, my P2 daughter was unable to read this book independently, and the concepts contained would also benefit from adult guidance.

Beautiful illustrations with a poignant story make 满月 a memorable picture book.  It might bring tears too – especially for the adult reader, so it’s worth being ready for.  Whilst these are deep, and sadness is a constant theme through this book, the overarching message is about positivity, optimism and hope.

A little village girl in rural China is named 满月 (Full Moon), because she was born on the day of a full moon.  There’s so much in her name – the girl’s parents pass away of a ‘blood disease’ whilst she is very young (which we find out in the afterword of the book is HIV/AIDS from a blood transfusion), and before passing away, 满月’s mother assures her that Mummy and Daddy will be back to visit when there is a full moon in the sky.  Full Moon is her name, and also a symbol of her mother’s hope, and the seasons we go through from waxing and waning, to full again, and always looking forwards and needing to move.

Softly painted watercolours to illustrate a heavy topic

The orphaned girl is cared for by an elder in the village, until a childless couple from the city adopt the child – on the day of a bright round full moon.   She grows up happy and loved.   However, 满月 still remembers her biological parents, and the kind grandfather who cared for her. One year, the adoptive family all visit the village to bring a box of mooncakes during Mid-Autumn Festival. 

The book’s author, 保冬妮, is a professionally qualified psychological counsellor, and has been working in early childhood for nearly 3 decades, so I sense much of what is written comes from observations and deep understandings made over that period of work, which would be beyond the reach of most.

The book has won several Children’s Literature Awards in China, and is reportedly used by welfare organisations and counsellors to explain to children some of these heavy life concepts.  This is unbelievably one of 200 books she has written!  In an interview I read with 保冬妮, she states she is a determined writer who “believes that children’s literature builds the spirit of children” and that “reading is indispensable”.  I wholeheartedly agree!

The illustrations are beautiful and expressive watercolour pieces, and accompany the story well.  The text is short and poetic.  It also doesn’t take too long to finish the story, meaning there is plenty of time for discussion afterwards (and during) without the reading session going forever.

The theme of the moon (or round objects) is intertwined on just about every page.

The downside of this book is that for non-Chinese readers, it’s not as accessible as other books which we’ve enjoyed with Luka or Ximalaya audio.  This one has no audio option, and the text was too challenging for my daughter to read alone.  However, we read it together with a family friend who is a kindergarten Mandarin teacher, and the experience created a beautiful and memorable discussion over afternoon tea.  She commented that the book has a beautiful maternal feel to it – and perhaps this is helped by having a female author.

The same author 保冬妮 has written several other festival-related books which look equally as exquisite and thought provoking – which we will remain on the lookout for opportunities to borrow from our local library and read.

  • Chinese New Year Food 年味儿
  • Lantern Festival 元宵灯
  • Dragon Boat Dumplings Rice Cakes 端午粽米香
  • Chrysanthemum 菊花蜜
  • Lotus Lanterns and The Sound of Flute 荷灯照夜人
  • I Love June First Holiday 我爱六一
  • Huaniang Valley 花娘谷
  • Grandmas Youth League 奶奶的青团
  • The Snow Lotus 冈拉梅朵

This book was kindly given to us by My Story Treasury, and I’m so glad it’s now on our bookshelves.    Thank you to My Story Treasury for recommending and blessing this book to us, after we asked for suggestions on good Mid-Autumn Festival books.

Full Moon front cover – keep a look out at the library!

Where to buy in Singapore?

You can buy in Singapore from great children’s Chinese bookstores, including My Story Treasury . I’m excited to share that My Story Treasury has kindly extended a discount code to all readers of my blog. Use “lahlahbanana10” on check-out to receive 10% off any title that your purchase through their beautifully curated online store.

See my other reviews on Chinese Books for Pre-Schoolers or Chinese Books for Primary Schoolers.

Book Review: House of 100 Storeys 100层的房子 (3 book set)

Author:  Toshio Iwai
Country of original publication: Japan
Language: Simplified Chinese
Pages per book: 32
Lines per page: 2 – 4
Books in the series: 3
Pinyin: no
Audio available:  Luka compatible
Available in Singapore NLB: Yes

What is 100层的房子 series?

This is a very different kind of picture book.  Imagine receiving a strange letter and a map, saying “Come to my home – I stay at the top of a 100 storey building!” – and then reading the book from back to front, with text going vertically….. maybe this sounds a little like Traditional Chinese book, but it’s a totally different concept going on here.

This is a stunningly illustrated and imaginative book set about three different houses which are 100 stories tall (or 100 stories underground, and 100 stories in the ocean).  The original books are in Japanese: they haven’t been translated into English, but they have been translated into Simplified Chinese. With the bright colours, detailed illustrations and clever story-telling through vertically oriented text, the book has been lauded with numerous prizes in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan.    It will be no surprise to a reader to learn that their author/illustrator, Toshio Iwai, is an acclaimed artist who has also created several successful commercial video games.  The books do really feel like you’re in a video game brought to life!

Who is this series for?

We came across this book because my primary school-age daughter loves to read a set of English fiction books called The 13-Storey Tree House by Terry Denton and Andy Griffiths.  These are wonderful novels, which in fact won the Australian Book Industry Award for Book of the Year for Older Children in 2012.  So, when I saw The House of 100 Storeys, I thought the set could be a fairly good alternative to this in Chinese.  And it is – they have a similar style of content and masterfully creative storyline, but with more pictures than words, for a child who is perhaps less fluent with their Chinese reading than their English level.

I’ve written previously about a few book series which we’ve discovered in Simplified Chinese that are largely similar in style to English books my children already had been fascinated with. These include Young Scientists Magazine and Captain Underpants.

If your child enjoys this series in English….They might enjoy this series in Simplified ChineseLink to my book review
The Young Scientists Magazine100 Thousand Whys Magazine
(十万个为什么)		Reviewed here
Diary of a Wimpy Kid or similar school diariesMi Xiao Quan School Diaries
(米小圈上学记)		Reviewed here
13-Storey Tree House seriesHouse of 100 Storeys 
(100层的房子)		This review!
Captain Underpants series or Detective storiesButt Detective (屁屁侦探)Reviewed here
English Children’s literature which have a good alternative in Chinese

13-Storey Tree House certainly has a good equivalent in House of 100 Storeys (100层的房子).

13-Storey Tree House certainly has a good equivalent in House of 100 Storeys (100层的房子).

In much the same way as 13-Story Tree House, the book takes the reader on an adventure level by level, with each page describing a new and very different layer of the house.  The storyline is filled with suspense and is rich in details, covering topics from geography, geology, mathematics, biology and meteorology in a fun fashion.  For example, there is a different set of animals on every tenth floor – a marvellously wonderful array of animals is described, from their habitats to their characteristics.

In the Undersea edition, it revolves around a young girl on board a cruise ship, who accidentally drops her doll into the ocean. As the reader searches for her lost doll, we end up on a magical journey exploring the depths of the ocean, in a rather unconventional and unexpected way. 

I think the book content would be appropriate for children aged 5 to 12, however certainly the child needs to have a high level of fluency and concentration to understand these books.  It really takes about 30 minutes to read the book from back-to-front.  However, simply looking at the pictures is also a fun activity in itself.  Sometimes my daughter will just stare through all the pictures, examining the small detail of the little animals eating, exercising, bathing, sleeping, etc.  Other days, she’ll look at each page and try to guess who lives on the next floor.

Unfortunately, being a vertically oriented book, it’s very hard to do justice to it in photographs.  You need to see the real thing!  The details are exquisite.

What’s especially good?

  • Exquisitely detailed pictures: there are more pictures than text, creating lots of space for exploring and looking, and engaging the child
  • The text is vertically-oriented: showing a child how they can be creative with written language 
  • The stories cleverly combine a fun narrative and facts: the delightful pictures give way to encyclopaedia-like facts, which is especially great for children who like numbers and science
  • There isn’t an English version: so if the child likes the concept, this is the only version they can read!
  • All books are Luka Compatible: Luka reads them in Chinese only

Another blogger (@ The Multilingual Experiment) has made a lovely summary of the key themes / lessons / words which this book can be used for, grouped into animals, everyday objects, prepositions and verbs. Have a look if you’re keen to use this book as part of curriulum.

Titles in the series:

We have three books:

  • 100层的房子 House of 100 Stories 
  • 海底100层的房子 House of 100 Stories Undersea 
  • 地下100层的房子House of 100  Stories Underground

Where to buy 100层的房子 in Singapore?

You can buy in Singapore from many great children’s Chinese bookstores. I made a blog post listing all our family’s favourite haunts to find excellent Chinese literature for Children in Singapore. The list includes some 10% discount codes for our favourite stores.

Specifically, we bought our 100 House set from  My Story Treasury.   I’m excited to share that My Story Treasury has also kindly extended a discount code to all readers of my blog.  Please use “lahlahbanana10” on check-out to receive 10% off any title that your purchase through their store.

Luka Compatible?

Yes, all three books can be read on Luka, in Chinese.  If you haven’t heard of Luka yet, you really must! Luka Reading Robot is a clever – and super cute – robot which will read physical picture books aloud to your family.  This adorable owl-shaped reading companion can read aloud over 50,000 Chinese books, which is great for families like ours where neither parent speaks Chinese.

I’ve made a long list of all the Luka Compatible books which we love in a separate post too.

Other similar books to 100 House series in Chinese

f your family already enjoys this series, there are some other similar books which I would recommend trying out:

  • Other mystery books:  Butt Detective is one, as mentioned above. Nate the Great is another detective set my daughter really enjoys.  We have a bilingual version, which has English at one end, and Simplified Chinese at the other.  It’s more of a novel than a picture book, but the vocabulary used is not any harder than the 100 House series.
  • Books at a similar level of Chinese reading: For other similar level Chinese books, listed by complexity of characters, please see my earlier post on Chinese bridging books.
  • Other picture books which also can be narrated by Luka Reading Robot: See my list of Luka compatible books at this link, sorted by age group.
  • Other books which have been translated from Japanese: There are some excellent picture books which have been translated in Chinese, and contain these really uniquely wonderful pictures (think manga / anime crossed with video games) and / or fantastic storylines.  Our favourites include Mr Crow’s Bakery, and the T-Rex series.  But there are seriously lots and lots!

For more book recommendations, see my collection of earlier reviews:

Review: VIP Peilian for online piano practice

UPDATE JUNE 2022: VIP Peilian is no longer in business. This is one of the risks with online businesses which sprout up from China. It was great for us, but clearly the business wasn’t great. It’s a shame there are many great music teachers now who have lost their livelihoods and not been paid for months, and many families will have lost much in prepaid packages. There is however a lovely US-based service who has helped to re-employ some of these teachers. If you’re looking for online violin or piano classes taught in Mandarin Chinese, I would recommend you look at Bilin Academy.

[Below post is from 2020, and sadly this business is no longer in business]

The concept is so simple – an online music education platform, offering to help your child practice their instrument, with a live teacher (based in China) who listens and provides encouragement, at a fraction of the price of the typical music lessons.  That is the promise of VIP Peilian, and it has a smoothly executed app which enables booking of classes at 2 hours notice, and trained coaches to give real-time feedback, using a special lens for the iPad/tablet so the teacher can better see the instrument and fingering.

I’m especially fond of the concept of VIP Peilian because I’m always looking for more ways to increase the spoken Mandarin around our house, without taking formal Chinese tuition: learning piano from a mainland Chinese speaker certainly ticks many boxes for us!

What is VIP Peilian?

VIP Peilian is aimed at children aged 5-16, already learning a musical instrument.  It’s said to be the first service in China to provide “online one-on-one instrument training”.  It’s certainly the only one we know of (based in China at least…. I do know of a few other online piano classes, but their costs are astronomical).

It really is a practice buddy, not a long-term substitute for real music lessons.  The word “Peilian”, meaning training or sparring reflects this.  The classes are intended to be a supplement to in-person learning (in that they will not develop a curriculum for you).  In our experience, the VIP Peilian coach has focussed on teaching my daughter how to practice, and systematically goes through the songs which have been set by her real in-person teacher.     During the ‘lock down’ which our city had for Covid, we did take a break from physical piano lessons, and relied merely on apps, but I’m glad we’re able to do the real thing once again too.  There’s certainly no substitute for a physical teacher, but VIP Peilian is a nice way to ensure regular practice sessions are effective.

How the Peilian online classes works

  1. Classes are booked through the app (either 25 minutes or 50 minutes). 
  2. Once a lessons is scheduled, there is an option to photograph and upload the music.  The app also has all the common music books (split by instrument and grade).
  3. The lesson is conducted over their app, and uses a free attachable fish-eye lens, so the teacher can see the fingering better (in our case, it points down for the keyboard, and has a split mirror allowing the teacher to see half screen the keyboard/hands, an the other half screen being the child). The lens will be express couriered to you before your first class.
  4. After the lesson, the teacher provides short written feedback summary, and it’s also possible to watch a replay of the lesson.
  5. Child can earn points during the week, between classes, through extra practice and use these to get virtual clothing/food/features for an online monster pet.

We do 3 x 25 minutes per week, and it feels just about right.

VIP Peilian camera
The lense which enables a teacher to view the child’s playing technique and hand positioning, with 180* view of whole keyboard.

What instruments are offered by VIP Peilian?

Piano, violin, viola, oboe, guitar, clarinet, saxophone, drums, ukulele, cello, flute, accordion, and guzheng, among 20 instruments offered.  Interestingly, nothing for voice. We’ve only tried out the piano option (it’s been great), and we’ve heard varying reports about the effectiveness of other instruments.

Pricing of VIP Peilian?

Packages are sold in packages of 50, 80, or 120 “credits”. 

If you take a standard teacher, 1 credit is 50 minutes.  We do 25 minute lessons, so that’s 0.5 credits.  Hence, the 80 credit package gives us 160 lessons, which need to be used up in the space of 18 months.  The credits can be used across different children (in the one family) or across different instruments.

Note:  if you choose a higher charging teacher, they may charge 1.2 units per 50 minutes or even up to 3 units for 50 minutes for a fancy teacher.

There is a free trial lesson (message me if you would like our referral code).  After that, lessons must be done from a package and booked through the app.     Yes it’s possible to pay in USD using Paypal, and there is also a myriad of options in RMB pricing through Alipay, Chinese credit cards, etc.

Online piano class in Chinese

How the free lesson trial works

  1. Register for a free trial (I think if you provide my referral details you’ll get 2 free classes too).  This can be done online through their website, which is totally in Chinese.  Otherwise, contact them via their Site Chatbot or WeChat, and request to speak in English.
  2. A course consultant will call you to arrange a trial appointment.  At this stage, they’ll ask for information about the child’s age, instrument background, personality etc to determine an appropriate match in teacher for the trial.
  3. Online 1:1 trial class with the teacher – done through phone/iPad, and requires downloading the VIP Peilian app.
  4. After class, the sales consultant will ring you to give feedback on the trial and give you A HARD SELL! It’s a little off putting, but it all melted in comparison to the joy I saw my child having, and the light-bulb moment when I realised she’s be able to practice independently with this service.
  5. There are a range of packages available – as explained above in ‘Pricing’ section.

Pros of VIP Peilian online piano class

  • Prices are cheap – US$12 for 50 minutes for a basic teacher!  It’s like peanuts if the intention it to simply get a child to happily practice for 25 minutes, several times a week.
  • Increases practice time without needing my supervision – I get 1.5 free hours a week, because my daughter will happily practice three times a week with the online teacher, and it happens without any nagging at all!  My daughter’s patience and attitude to practising has improved immensely through VIP Peilian, which in turn, it making her actual in-person lessons more worthwhile too.
  • Flexible timing –  classes can be booked around the clock, and they have help desk to assist 24-hour, that can speak (some) English.  If not, they’ll get an English speaking consultant to call you back.  Classes can also be cancelled at 2 hours prior notice, which I think it very fair.
  • App includes written feedback from the teacher and video of lesson – in case parents want to review afterwards
  • Good alternative to other online music lessons during Covid – the teachers are very positive and encouraging, and the special free fish-eye mirrors lens enables hand position and shape to be critiqued, which is an added bonus that might not be available for other Zoom-style music lessons being offered as alternatives to physical classes.
  • Practice for spoken Chinese:  It’s possible to get the lesson in Chinese or English.  We chose Chinese, although the teacher’s English is good enough that she can explain concepts that way too if needed.  The Chinese is extra welcome, as our usual teacher doesn’t speak in Chinese.
  • Ability to choose a teacher (or teachers):  There are a range of teachers, from less experienced music conservatorium students through to prize-winning pianists who have taught for year.  It’s possible to view the biographies and qualifications of each teacher, and make a choice.   The  prices do differ by experience.   Apparently, all teachers have professional music school backgrounds and have been screened and trained by VIP.
VIP Peilian practice piano

Cons of VIP Pielian

  • The initial sales tactics were a little off putting – in that they call up to schedule a trial lesson and say “it needs to be today” and then afterwards they try to make you sign up for some gigantic package with classes three times a week for the next three years!!  It’s probably not a bad deal when you do the maths on it, however it’s also quite a lot to stomach upfront, and I’ve never liked being locked into long term plans.  Usually that type of hardsell scares me away forever, but here I am writing a blog post about how good it is!  It is actually possible to get shorter packages, and you never have to deal with the hard-selling salesperson again after the original purchase because you then are connected with the teacher and a service help/lesson scheduler who is much more accommodating.
  • The app is 100% in Chinese – it was a lot of work for me to figure it out original set up. Thankfully the customer consultant spoke reasonable English and held my hand throughout the setup.  Now, thanks to Google translate, we’re able to continue on a day-to-day basis in terms of booking/cancelling classes, uploading new music scores, and reading feedback from the teacher.   Still, there is heaps to the app which I don’t understand and I’m sure we’re missing out on (such as free credits for different things, new music, fun music theory games, online competitions, etc).
  • It’s not for brand-new beginners – the child would need to be able to read music and know where the keys are.  We tried one class on my second daughter (who’d had about 4 physical piano lessons), and she was very frustrated by it all.  In fact, she was nearly in tears by the end unfortunately.  I think the Chinese speaking didn’t help, as that also takes a lot of concentration for her.  So, we won’t be trying it again on her for some time. It’s also not great if the child has a hand position issue or needs help learning to read the music ….. . it is predominantly voice-only guidance, for practising playing and rhythm.
  • Teachers could be varied – just like any school or organisation which relies on different individuals (in this case, hundreds of teachers), I’m sure they won’t all be great and there can be some personality clashes.  We were lucky to have a great trial class, and have kept the same teacher, who is easy going and motivating.  We’ve heard of another family (whose child was actually a very advanced violinist) who had a bad experience whereby the trial teacher effectively said the child wasn’t as good as their mother thought they were, and it was a less-than-professional discussion which evolved where the teacher stated to question the mother about why she was Chinese but couldn’t speak Chinese.  Not a great advertisement.   They do say on the website that over 80% of the business is from word of mouth, so it cannot all be so bad!

Other alternatives for online piano classes

Online apps:  For online practice we also purchased the Joy Tunes app, with Piano Maestro and Simply Piano.  These are fun and being in English, we can make more use of the apps.  They provided video lessons and an intuitive gamification function where it listens to the piano music being played, and gives a rating.  We’ve used them for over a year now – however, I see this as more fun than learning support or practising.  Unless the child has excellent concentration and ability to not give up, it’s easy for a child to become slack with these apps.  Also, they miss the interpersonal connection! 

Other online lessons: We’ve seen a couple advertised, such as Fireworks Music School based in London, but doing a heavy sell into Singapore.  Fireworks Music School offers ”Online Live Music Lessons with London’s Best Music Professors” through Zoom.  From the look of the website, the iPad needs to be placed beside the keyboard so as for the teacher to view the playing technique, so it might be a bit of a logistic exercise depending on the layout of your room (we certainly don’t have a bookshelf sideways next to our piano!).  A good thing about this is that lessons are paid one-by-one (2 days beforehand via TransferWise), so there’s not the commitment risk which Peilian has.  However, their rates are SG$45 for 30 minutes, of SG$70 for one hour… so it’s like five times the price of VIP Peilian. I know which one I’d choose!! 

How about you?

What great apps or techniques do you use to assist your children with their music practice? I’d love to know!

Meanwhile, if you are interested to try out VIP Pielian, and if they ask you for a referral code, I’m happy to share ours. Likewise, we signed up after a referral from a friend, and it was much appreciated.

If you’ve arrived at the end and are still looking for more classes, perhaps there are other posts on my blog which might help you go down some more rabbit holes to find the ideal class:

Book Review: Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese 开心小猪和大象哥哥

Name: Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese (Set of 17) 开心小猪和大象哥
Author: Mo Willems, 戴永翔 (translator)  
Country of original publication: US 
Language: Simplified Chinese
Pages per book: 57
Lines per page: 0-3
Books in the series: 17
Pinyin: No
Audio available:  Luka compatible and plenty of Ximalaya readings
Available in SIngapore NLB libraries: Yes

What is the Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese?

Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese

This is one hilarious book set!  Originally written in English, and translated into Chinese.

Mo Willems’ Elephant and Piggie series is a modern children’s classic, filled with hilarious storyline and plenty of simple, repetitive sentences overflowing with high frequency words.  For us, it was love at first read.     Every book in the series is ultimately about the everlasting friendship between Gerald the Elephant and Piggie the pig, and the humorous situations they find themselves in.

Gerald is a caring and careful elephant. Piggie is a joyful but not-so-careful pig. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald often has a bad time. Gerald worries a lot, which means that Piggie does not have to. They are best friends.

Mo Willems is a New York Times #1 best-selling author and illustrator who started his career on Sesame Street, where he garnered six Emmy Awards for his writing.  So he’s well positioned to be writing early childhood literature, which is based on sound educational pedagogy.   Willems said his primary goal in writing the books was to create stories that were as funny and exciting as possible, despite their being early readers.

In my opinion, Willems has captured everything an early reader book should be: simple words, short sentences, lots of repetition, clear illustrations with plenty of clues…. and no other distractions.

In terms of content, I would say they’re close to perfect:  perfect length, perfect level of humour, and perfect depiction of the world and people within it.  Having over 50+ pages for a kids book sounds long, but the pages are short and the time flies!

Who is this series for?

The Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese is best suited for ages 4 to 8, for children with basic Chinese listening fluency. The books are conversational, first-person style writing, with only a few words on each page, most of which are repeated several times.  

Each book is a “mini drama” between the Elephant and Piggie, which are fun to read out and role play as a family (as an aside: there are some amazing free Ximalaya recordings of this book, done between a father and daughter which do just that!) Then, there are a range of supporting characters that make cameo appearances, like flies, snakes, rhinos, squirrels and that pigeon.  

They’re pretty good for the whole family – my pre-schooler can read large parts of these books on her own, which cannot be said for many other book series (for example, even Mo Willem’s other famous book set 淘气小鸽子 The Pigeon, doesn’t provide the ease of reading which Elephant and Piggie does).  Even just knowing ~300 Chinese characters (i.e. hasn’t finished Sage book series yet), it’s possible for her to read most of the 57-pages in these books, and feel a great sense of accomplishment in doing so.  Meanwhile, the stories are entertaining enough that my 8 year old also requests these to be read on regular rotation. The stories are fun.  And funny!

The entire Elephant and Piggie series is intertwined with the very subtle message that, despite all of their differences (species, personalities, genders, size), Gerald and Piggie can get along.  I appreciate literature like that.

I see the personas of the two main protagonists reflected in my own children too – perhaps you might see it in your kids or their friends?   The elder being a joyful child who overflows with enthusiasm and optimism, and occasionally gets over hyped. The second being the more cautious sister, who is practical, kind, gentle, and just a little anxious at times, although seemingly with wisdom beyond her years. 

As an overall ‘feeling’, I don’t find the Elephant and Piggie books to be quite as charming as many of Mo Willems’ books which are oozing with joy (in this series, the drawings are simpler, the storylines are less bizarre).  However, these books are deliberately very simple to read and give a nascent reader confidence, and in fact, they’ve been a great bridge for my eldest daughter to go on and read other more complex Mo Willems books (like Knuffle Bunny, or Leonardo The Terrible Monster).

What’s especially good?

We especially like:

  • The text is really large and simple dialogue – and it changes size depending on whether we should be YELLING or whispering the words.  This makes for highly fun and dynamic reading experience, with enough cues that the children get it too.
  • Lots of repetition and high frequency words: most of the words are very simple, but occasionally a ‘big’ word slips in when it’s needed
  • It’s perfect for reading aloud – and it’s laugh-out-loud funny for kids
  • It’s Luka compatible – in both Chinese and English (although there are other free Ximalaya audio recordings in Chinese which we much prefer to the Luka audio)
  • Simple drawings – enables the reader to focus on the words, and the body language of the characters. 
  • The books contain life lessons for kids in a covert way – each story creates room for conversations about values, differences, and problem resolution.

As an example of the life lessons, picture this:  Piggie finds a ball, only to have someone (aka “Big Guy”) come and take it away.  This causes Gerald to want to get the ball back. However, along the way, Piggie learns that the “Big Guy” owns the ball and was just trying to play with her, not be mean – see what I mean about having a nice lesson hidden in the subtext?  

Lessons aside, giggles will abound!

Titles in the 17 Book Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese:

  1. 今天我要飞！  Today I Will Fly!
  2. 我的朋友不开心 My Friend Is Sad
  3. 第一次参加派对！I Am Invited To A Party
  4. 你头上有只鸟！ There Is A Bird On Your Head
  5. 吓你一跳！I Will Surprise My Friend!
  6. 看我来扔球！Watch Me Throw The Ball
  7. 大象不会跳舞！Elephant Cannot Dance 
  8. 我要走了！I Am Going
  9. 我能一起玩吗? Can I Play Too?
  10. 我们在一本书里！We Are In A Book
  11. 要不要分享冰激凌？Should I Share My Ice Cream? 
  12. 听我吹小号！ Listen To My Trumpet 
  13. 开车去兜风！Let’s Go For A Drive!
  14. 大个子抢了我的球！A Big Guy Took My Ball!
  15. 我是一只青蛙！I’m a Frog!
  16. 新朋友真有趣！My New Friend Is So Fun!
  17. 等待真不容易！Waiting Is Not Easy!

Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese

Short synopsis of each book:

These books come in a set of 5 and a set of 17.  Boy am I glad that I chose to buy the set of 17!  My kids tore through this entire series so fast: 

  • 今天我要飞！  Today I Will Fly! :  Piggie is determined to fly, but Gerald sensibly suggests this is impossible.  Piggie refuses to give up, and gives it her best shot, “I will try, I will try”.
  • 我的朋友不开心 My Friend Is Sad:  Gerald is having a sad day.  Piggie desperately tries to cheer him up, by dressing up a cowboy, a clown, and a robot. But what will turn his frown into a smile again?.
  • 第一次参加派对！I Am Invited To A Party:  Piggie receives her first ever invitation to a party, and asks Gerald to join her.  But, what will they wear?  Gerald thinks he has expert advice to give.
  • 你头上有只鸟！ There Is A Bird On Your Head: Piggie tells Gerald that a bird has landed on his head, and Gerald really isn’t happy.   He slowly learns that it’s not so bad, in fact, it’s better than having two birds on your head.  This book was the winner of the Theodor Suess Geisel Medal in 2008.  Gosh, the book series is really that old?
  • 吓你一跳！I Will Surprise My Friend! Piggie and Gerald agree to surprise each other.  But things don’t work out as planned, which surprises both of them.
  • 看我来扔球！Watch Me Throw The Ball: Piggie wants to throw the ball, but Gerald wants to put more thought into it.
  • 大象不会跳舞！Elephant Cannot Dance: Piggie attempts to teach Gerald how to dance, but it’s not as easy as she hoped. In the process, Gerald teaches Piggie something much more important.
  • 我要走了！I Am Going:  Piggie decides she is going, and Gerald is distraught because he doesn’t want his friend to go away for good.  Why does Piggie want to go?
  • 我能一起玩吗? Can I Play Too?:  Piggie and Gerald are trying to play ball, when a snake asks to join.  The snake cannot catch the ball, so the trio need to adapt their game to be snake-friendly.
  • 我们在一本书里！We Are In A Book: Gerald and Piggie discover the joy of reading about themselves.  But how will the story end?
  • 要不要分享冰激凌？Should I Share My Ice Cream? Gerald has a big decision to make – but will he make it in time.  This story is about the challenges of doing the right thing, and making things right.
  • 听我吹小号！ Listen To My Trumpet:  Piggie hopes to wow Gerald with her new trumpet. Gerald listen, but winces. Gerald, being a great friend, conscientiously decides he should tell her the truth — albeit as gently as possible.
  • 开车去兜风！Let’s Go For A Drive!: This is another Geisel Award winning title.  The two friends are preparing to go for a drive and trying to remember what to pack.  The only problem is that they have forgotten they don’t have a car!
  • 大个子抢了我的球！A Big Guy Took My Ball! : Piggie’s ball is taken, and Gerald helps her to retrieve it from the alleged perpetrator.  But they learn along the way that there’s always a different point of view.
  • 我是一只青蛙！I’m a Frog!: Piggie has some ribbiting news!   Can Gerald accept Piggie’s new identity? Piggie explains the art of using one’s imagination, how to “pretend” just for fun and giggles.
  • 新朋友真有趣！My New Friend Is So Fun!:  Piggie makes a new friend and has a lot of fun with her.  But it leaves Gerald (and the snake) feeling jealous and lonely.  Do they have something to worry about?  This is one of the few books in which there are four different voices – so it’s a favourite in our family.
  • 等待真不容易！Waiting Is Not Easy!: Piggie has a surprise for Gerald, but he has to wait for it.  Gerald learns a truth familiar to every preschooler: that waiting indeed is not easy, but it’s usually worth it!. We’ve certainly used the lessons in this book with our daughters.

Translation from English to Chinese:

It’s worth noting that I have heard from others that they don’t feel the Elephant and Piggie series was translated particularly well from the English into Chinese.   There have been several different translators for different versions, so maybe that makes a difference.    In the 17-book which we purchased, it’s been translated by 戴永翔 . I think it’s been excellently written in such a way that it keeps the charm, but still preserves the essence of Mo Willems’ mission, which was to enable the books to be read and enjoyed by a nascent reader.   

I’m aware that there is another 5-book set translated by 漪然 , which we haven’t read.  Some desk-based research on the differences between the sets indicates that in our 17 book set, the name “Gerald” is translated phonetically into a Chinese name “杰拉” (jié lā ….. using two common characters 杰 jié = excellent and 拉 lā = pull). In contrast, the 5-book set translates “Gerald” into “小象“(xiǎo xiàng = little elephant).    I’ve also heard from a friend in Taiwan that the traditional Chinese translation is totally different again!

Having not read the original English version,  it’s hard to comment beyond that fact that we enjoy reading the Simplified Chinese version which we have, and we also enjoy listening to the English audio, which according to the children, it not that different from the Chinese.

Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese

Where to buy in Singapore?

You can borrow all these titles from the local libraries in Singapore (NLB), which lies excellent news!

We purchased our set in Singapore from the online Children’s Chinese bookstore called My Story Treasury . I’m excited to share that My Story Treasury has also kindly extended a discount code to all readers of my blog. Use “lahlahbanana10” on check-out to receive 10% off any title that you purchase through their store.

If outside of Singapore, other options to try could be Deziremi (UK), Jo Jo Learning (US), China Sprout (US) or Taobao or EZBuy (rest of Asia), with a search based on the story titles indicated above.

Other tips

I’m sharing a helpful link which My Story Treasury introduced me to which has teaching resources (in English) about how to use Elephant & Piggie books in the classroom with extended activities.  It has some interesting ideas, especially for value-based themes, but it also includes art, PE, creative writing and more for the classroom.

Luka compatible

The whole 17 book set can be read on Luka, in both English and Chinese. 

Elephant and Piggie series in Chinese

Luka reads all 17 books in Chinese, and also can read 8 books in this set in English (just tap Luka’s head twice to switch languages).   We sometimes do a page in Chinese and then repeat it in English.   The 8 books that Luka reads in both languages are:   

吓你一跳！I Will Surprise My Friend!
第一次参加派对！I Am Invited To A Party
看我来扔球！Watch Me Throw The Ball
今天我要飞！  Today I Will Fly!
你头上有只鸟！ There Is A Bird On Your Head
大个子抢了我的球！A Big Guy Took My Ball!
开车去兜风！Let’s Go For A Drive!:
新朋友真有趣！My New Friend Is So Fun!

Actually, we don’t really need the Chinese audio, as my children can fully read most of these books, and they just fill in the gaps using Luka “point and read” mode.   However, we do like to listen to the English audio (it has great sound effects and musical background), so usually I let the children read in Chinese and then we listen to Luka read in English, where its available. 

Luka is a fantastic reading companion, which I’ve written about previously if you would like to find out more about this amazing little robot.

Elephant and Piggie with Luka Reading Robot

What are other similar books to Elephant & Piggie series in Chinese?

  • Books by the same author: Mo Willems has written several excellent books (in English), many of which are translated into Chinese too. These include 淘气小鸽 (Pigeon series); 小猫小猫, 该睡了! (Time to sleep, sleep the sleep!); 小猫小猫, 谁在叫? (What’s your sound, hound the hound?); 小猫小猫, 那是谁? (Cat the cat, who is that?), 怪兽阿抖来了  (Leonardo, the terrible monster),; 跟大伙儿说谢谢! (The thank you book), and many many more.  Do you have any favourites to recommend to us?
  • Books at a similar level of Chinese reading: For other similar level Chinese books, listed by complexity of characters, please see my earlier post on Chinese bridging books.
  • Picture books which also can be narrated by Luka: See my list of Luka compatible books at this link, sorted by age group.

Bilingual craft ideas: Le Le Reading Challenge 2020

We recently finished the 14 Day Le Le Reading Challenge, and we have a plethora of beautiful new art and craft to show for it.

Le Le are a wonderful series of graded Chinese readers which aim to teach children how to read in Chinese, without using pinyin, and with interesting short stories which create a love for literature.  If you’re unaware what the Le Le Chinese Character Learning 樂樂文化series is, see my review here.

The 14 Day Challenge was organised by Le Le Culture in July 2020, to encourage daily book reading.  We paired each book with a short craft activity, using items we already had in the cupboards, most of which were recycled.  In fact, all the craft I’m about to share in this post only uses cardboard boxes, paper plates, toilet paper rolls, disposable cups, paperclips, yarn, rice, disposable chopsticks, feathers and food dye (and of course paint, glue, scissors, and craft knife). 

We love Le Le because, well, it’s just so easy to craft to!  The craft we do at home is usually very low preparation, low cost, so hopefully from these pictures you’ll see it’s easy for you to do the same.  If there are any specific requests for more instructions on how we made it, let me know, and happy to put more detail in.  I think most of it is so simply, it’s self explanatory.  

Chinese Literary Craft activities for preschoolers

The activities covered include themes for:

  • Animals: Butterflies, Birds, Elephants, Monkeys, Fish, Dogs
  • Foods: Watermelon, food trucks
  • Weather & Seasons: Clothing, Winter, Cherry Blossom, Rainbows
  • Geography: World map puzzle, State map puzzle, Planets
  • Others:  Monsters, Robots, Primary Colours

Le Le 14 Day Challenge Craft

Day 1 – Watermelon  (Le Le Red Book 47)

Paper plate and Ikea acrylic paint!

Day 2 – Singapore Map  (Le Le Yellow Book 10)

Inspired by some other participants in The Challenge, I took out my craft knife from school days, and we made a puzzle of Singapore. Singapore had a General Election the day prior, so we made it to show the electoral regions and coloured by outcomes. It created some great conversations with kids about civics and democracy too.

Day 3 – Rainbow Rice Butterfly  (Le Le Red Book 96)

We followed the Le Le book using food dye to blend the colour, and then added them into ziplock bags with rice and a spoonful of vinegar to make the rainbow rice.  Thankfully no toilet paper shortage post-Circuit Breaker, and we had plenty to decorate the butterfly wings with.

Day 4 – Giant Feet & Footprints (Le Le Yellow Book 23)

Using cardboard boxes and egg carton toes, we made giant feet, and learnt the character “印” (as in foot print). We made the character in the bottom of the shoe using aluminium foil, and stamped around painting it on the ground. It was fun from start to toe! It was a great activity because it involved kids from 2 to 7 during their own unique piece, all had a part to play in the process.

Note if you’re attempting this one: the flatter cereal box was much easier for the children to walk in, rather than the fatter tissue box.

Day 5 – Clothing (Le Le Red Books 53, 98 and 100)

Initially we drew and coloured clothing.  However, with National Day approaching, we then re-purposed the clothing to become washing poles (using chopsticks), which we decorated an HDB block with.

Day 6 – The Bird Hotel (Le Le Red Book 86)

We imagined the 15 birds in the tree were enjoying it as a hotel, and drew what it would be like to the birds in their tall tree.

Day 7 – A Talking Parrot (Le Le Red Book 52)

We read the book then drew our own scene, to encourage sentence writing (something we need a bit of help at!).

Day 8 – Sharing a Feather (Le Le Green Book 71)

Continuing the bird theme, we did feather craft about a peacock who shared their feathers with other birds, and they all became colourful. We used acryllic Ikea paint for the hand prints

Day 9 – Elephant with a curious trunk (Le Le Red Book 69)

Really simple… just use one paper plate, scissors and paint.

Day 10 – Monkey business (Le Le Red Book 15)

A super quick craft before Church using again using hand printing with Ikea acrylic paint.

Day 11 – Cherry trees and blossom (Le Le Red Book 78)

My 3 year old and I had a fun morning scrunching paper (good for fine motor skills!) and eating cherries!

Day 12 – Fishing for words (Le Le Red Book 49)

We arranged the characters from the Le Le Book 49 story on hanging paper clips to make a sentence.

Day 13 – Aquarium (Le Le Red Book 54)

Our fish theme continued today … making paper cup and plate fish. Our aquarium was a little too small!

Day 14 – Walking Water Rainbow (Le Le Yellow Book 70)

Last Day of the Challenge! Hooray! We tried a science experiment to create a “walking water” rainbow. And yes, there was a pot of gold (chocolate) at the end of the rainbow!

The Le Le 14 Day Challenge was a great opportunity to focus on literacy, and meet other like-minded Le Le reading families.  Everyone shared really interesting ideas – including reading ideas.  We learnt a lot about how we can read our Le Le sets (backwards, forwards, fast, slow, indoors, outdoors, etc). It was a fun 14 days!

We’ve also done some other fun Le Le craft outside of the Challenge, including:

Knitted dog clothes (Le Le Red Book 4) – using a ‘knitting nancy’ the dog was made ready for winter.

World Map  (Yellow Book 69 & Red Book 83)– we converted our Singapore map into three layer puzzle, starting with a whole world map, then South East Asia, and finally Singapore underneath.

Snowflakes (Red Book 1 and 19)  – more toilet paper craft & paper cutting

Coloured Elephants (Red Book 15)  – using old milk bottles and crepe paper

Planets (Red Book 100) – we studied outer space in a few different forms, including using PVA glue with food colouring to make planets which we could stick on the window. We also drew our own solar system to scale on recycled cardboard.

Food Truck (Red 72) – a watercolour and pencil sketch

Robots (Red Book 5) – not much literacy in this one, but it was fun to build a large robot using magnetic squares.

Origami (Yellow Book 31) – Dog & Cranes, simply following the instructions in the book.

Cardboard Colour Puzzles (Red Book 100) – for colour blending and fine motor skills.  This was actually a piece of work fully designed and executed by the big sister, for her littlest sister.

See how easy peasy it is? What fun craft have you done related to Le Le? I would love to know!

And pssssst, let me tell you a secret. One of the rewards for finishing the Le Le 14 Day Reading Challenge is a free online art class from Language Art Fun, and it’s well worth it. Below are some pictures from our Zoom classes we’ve done as prizes for completing the challenge.