My First Book of Chinese Words - (My First Words) by Faye-Lynn Wu (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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

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

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

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

Review Quotes

"...a great way to introduce young children to basic words and concepts through pictures and rhymes." --BiculturalMama.com blog

"...provides a basic primer for preschool children who want to learn Chinese, using the familiar ABC structure to present everyday words that hold special meaning to Chinese culture. Each word is presented in Chinese characters and in Romanized form, with easy cultural and language notes accompanying the story of a Chinese family who helps youngsters learn. An accompanying website page helps kids actually listen to the Chinese words in the book." --Midwest Book Review

"A perfect introduction to Chinese for any age." --PragmaticMom.com blog

"On a more instructional, but equally enjoyable level, My First Book of Chinese Words introduces children to the Chinese character system as well as language." --McClatchy News Service

"Starting with A, for 'ai', a word that means 'love' in Chinese, this picture book uses the English alphabet as a framework to learn Chinese words." --Booklist

"This book is truly a beautiful lesson on culture and language." --Crafty Moms Share blog

"This book uses the alphabet to introduce Chinese words. There are both simplified and traditional versions of Chinese used, which is good, and colorful pictures on each page showing the words to be learned. There are short rhyming poems on each page and the words are spelled out in pinyin so you know how to say the words. There are also small hints on how to pronounce the words. I liked that this book has lots of colorful hand-drawn pictures." --Joshua, age 8, City Book Review

"This unique and charming alphabet book uses rhymes and fact snippets to introduce Chinese words to a pre-schooler." --The Children's Book Review blog

About the Author

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

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