Book Review: Squid for Brains Chapter Books
This review looks at the Squid for Brains Readers (also called Mandarin Chapter Books) published by none other than Squid for Brains. These are different from the Squid for Brains Picture Books which I’ve reviewed earlier, however the Readers are just as zany and unique. One thing I try really hard to do with this…
Book Review: 朱尔多日记 Zhu Er’s Diary
This review is of a bridging book set 朱尔多日记 (Zhū ěr’s Diary), which is ideal for middle-to-upper primary school readers. My daughter borrowed it recently from the library. Until that point, I really thought we’d heard of most of the better known early chapter booksets from mainland China, especially those written in diary format, but apparently…
Book Review: The Power of the Earth
The Power of the Earth 地球的力量科学绘本 is a book set for children who are nature lovers, geographers and mathematicians. See what it’s all about!
Book Review: Zorori series in Simplified Chinese
Zorori 怪杰佐罗力) stories are a, great blend of comedy and mystery. A superb Simplified Chinese reading book for a P3 or P4 child.
Chinese Graded Novels: Books for not-quite-beginners
Easy-to-read graded novels in Simplified Chinese. Which ones are great and why?
Book Review: Magic Tree House in Simplified Chinese 神奇树屋
A good book set for a child who knows at least 1500 characters, and is ready to read novels. Historical adventure fiction., making is an appealing genre.
Simplified Chinese Comic Books & Graphic Novels for Kids
Review of six great sets of Simplified Chinese graphic novels for children which contain touching stories and Asian-themed graphics. Great for language learners of multiple abilities, with lots of cultural relevance too.
Chinese Home Library: Best Books of 2020 & 2021
Our family’s favourite Chinese book recommendations for each age group from toddler to tween. 3 to 9. As selected by my kids.
Building a Chinese book library at home for children
This post outlines how you can go about creating your own children’s Chinese book collection at home, and what to think about as you do it. It includes the types of books we have by age, genre and author, and also where they came from. Lots of geeky charts and graphs.
Extensive Reading: The secret to learning Chinese
Extensive Reading has been the key to our family’s Chinese learning. It’s about reading widely for pleasure, focusing on of texts where >98% of words/characters are known. This post describes how the approach works, and how stress free it can be. Don’t focus on teaching the child 500 words; focus on setting up a love…
Book Review: Frog and Toad Story Books 青蛙和蟾蜍
Frog and Toad is a charming set of 4-books, which tells a timeless story of friendship, having been written over 50 years ago …. it’s perfect as an early chapter book for an emerging reader, with less pictures and more text. The stories are endearing because Frog and Toad’s adventures are simple every day activities…
Chinese eBook Apps for Children: Comparison and Review
A detailed comparison of nine Chinese e-Book platforms for Children, including Wawayaya JoyReader, Dudu, Ellabook, Epic, and others. The posts covers the range of books available, ease of use, and key considerations.
Mandarin Companion Review
Mandarin Companion books are a really different kind of graded reader / bridging book set. For Levels 1 and 2, they take classics from English literature, and cleverly translate them into books with minimal characters, that can be read by a Mandarin beginner. This concept makes it quite appealing for an older learner, who gets…
Where to buy excellent Chinese books for children in Singapore?
Singapore is 100% blessed with a plethora of lovely Chinese bookstores, and many of our favourite ones have passionate owners who will be able to curate the perfect books for your family too. As a mother who doesn’t read or speak Chinese, I’m really thankful for the amazing options out there, mainly run by passionate mums…
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Literature to support learning Chinese mother tongue in Singaporean Primary Schools
My eldest child can read 1300+ characters, and my younger children read better Chinese than English, in fact, Chinese was the first language they could each read, and my youngest picked it up entirely at home over COVID circuit breaker as a 2 year old.
As parents, we can neither speak nor read Chinese. But we have systematically and deliberately put small doses of Chinese reading into our daily routines, and made it happen little-by-little.
Here are the books and tools which helped to make it happen, which are best suited to primary school age readers, with a focus on Singapore local school syllabus.
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