My First book of Chinese Words review

In addition to Tuttle Chinese For Kids Flash Cards Kit, I received “My First Book of Chinese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book” from Tuttle Publishing. I was first impressed by the quality of printing and the illustration which is in a traditional way. When I skimmed through the book, I did not see many Chinese characters and I was wondering that it does not seem to a book to Chinese words. However, when I read more closely, I realized that it is actually a very unique book which lists the common Chinese words based on their pronunciation organized in the Alphabetical order.

As written in its preface, “The goal of this book is to use playful rhymes and illustrations to introduce the Chinese language to young children. The words covered in this book include objects and actions that children across cultures are familiar with, such as body parts, moon, sun, saying goodbye, and words that specifically relate to the Chinese culture. ”

On each page, there are several parts:

– Chinese character (sometimes in both simplified and traditional)
– the alphabet letter
– the pinyin
– A rhyme which explains the meaning of the Chinese character
– a note with more cultural background of the character
– lovely illustration

The combination of all the parts make “My First Book of Chinese Words” a good choice for young children to learn some basic Chinese in a structure of their familiar settings (alphabetical order). The note emphasizes the Chinese culture and tradition the Chinese character reveals, which adds depth in the learning.