I’ve been busy with my manuscript revisions this week so haven’t posted here as much as I’ve wanted. But I haven’t stopped reading.
One book I’ve been reading many times each day is H is for Hong Kong (Things Asian Press, 2009).
Last week I received this book and immediately ripped open the plastic wrap so I could read the story to my kids. They loved it so much it’s now their favorite bedtime story. My 2 year old asks me to read it two or three times before nap time and in the evening.
Some of my kids’ favorite parts of the book include familiar things like a bamboo steamer of dim sum, a Chinese fan, goldfish, and a dragon.
New things they’ve learned about in this book: bamboo scaffolding, kung fu, the Star Ferry, double decker trams, Chinese medicine, a shoe repair stall, and many more.
Each page of the book features one aspect of Hong Kong, including a beautiful antique blueprint, the English, Chinese, and pinyin words for the image, and an English, Chinese, and pinyin couplet describing the image.
Today when my 4 year old daughter and I caught the end of a food show set in Hong Kong, I pointed out the kung fu masters and Chinese medicine on the show that are similar to what we’ve read in this book.
We’ve been reading this book every day for a week now and my kids have shown no signs of wanting to move on to another book. That’s great for me because I can talk about Hong Kong forever. We’ve had countless discussions about scaffolding and double decker trams and the Star Ferry, and how they play an integral part of life in Hong Kong.
With the holidays coming up, this book would make a great gift!
Hi Susan, thanks for featuring our book!
Hong Kong has such a wealth of experiences to draw upon for images. This was unusual for a children’s book as ThingsAsian first commissioned the illustrations, then the words came afterwards. It gave me real freedom to choose what I found most interesting in HK.
Good on you for doing your part to expose your kids to Mandarin!
Thank you so much for your comment! Wow, I didn’t know that about the illustrations coming first. That’s very cool. I loved the map at the end that showed where you found each of the images. The eggballs and fan dancers were especially brilliant.
I started to learn Mandarin at 19 and would have jumped at the opportunity to learn it earlier!
Hey Susan, are you raising your kids bilingually? If so, I’d be interested to know what method you’re using to achieve this.
Thanks for your comment! Oh, I would really love to do that, but it’s been difficult. My 13 year old had Mandarin in his public school until we moved to the suburbs four years ago. Now he can only take a Mandarin class that meets once a week. I try to speak Mandarin with all three kids, but it’s hard when I’m the only one who speaks it. Plus, my Mandarin has really slipped over the years and my tones are pretty bad now. I think it’s possible if one parent speaks primarily in that other language. I’m still hoping our high school will teach Mandarin. I was thinking about blogging about this very issue (not teaching Mandarin in the schools)! How about you?
Thanks for the reply. I don’t have kids. My interest in bilingual education is purely academic. It’s unfortunate that your local school doesn’t offer Mandarin classes, but hopefully that will change soon.
Thank you! I hope it changes soon, too. We have a once-a-week extracurricular Mandarin class and love the teacher, but I wish it were offered more than just once a week.
How cool! Oh, my kids would love this. My sister bought me a really old picture book from the 1950s about Hong Kong. My kids loved it, too. This looks great … I might have to think about this for a Christmas present. Thanks for the tip!!
Oh, I <3 Hong Kong. Even seeing that Star Ferry on the cover makes me homesick.
Amy
Thanks so much, Amy!! Was the book your sister bought “This is Hong Kong”? I bought that for my kids and we love it, too! I found it interesting to see what the author chose to feature in “H is for Hong Kong” and thought everything was a great choice. In the back of the book, there’s a map and a little key stating where each photo in the book was taken before it was made into an antique blueprint.