When you open a book to read to your child, you are creating a meaningful bonding time for both of you. As you read aloud with your child, they may snuggle up to you, immersed in the words and images of the book. Reading books introduces children to a whole new universe of words. Mandarin Chinese books for children introduce them to everyday vocabulary and also enrich their vocabulary by helping them discover new facets of the language. These are the best 20 Mandarin Chinese books for children to learn about China's past and present. It includes a combination of non-fiction and fiction and other genres such as picture books, early chapter books, and graphic novels.
1. Mei-Mei Loves the Morning
Grandfather, daughter Mei-Mei, and her bird spend the morning travelling around the streets of a Chinese city, experiencing modern-day China. A talk with a street cobbler is the first stop.
2. The Greatest Power
Ping is now Emperor in this sequel to The Empty Pot, and he ponders what the ultimate power is. Is it technology, money, beauty, or something else? Children in China make significant contributions in these areas. This graphic book is one of the best Mandarin Chinese books for children that introduces China's innovations and Chinese philosophy.
3. I See The Sun In China
This bilingual picture book shows a little girl's day as she travels from a small Chinese village to Shanghai to spend time with her aunt.
4. Little Leap Forward: A Boy in Beijing
This sweet, simple book about a difficult time in Communist China looks at the narrative of the Cultural Revolution through the eyes of a little child.
5. Little White Duck: A Childhood in China
This graphic novel focuses on little events as viewed through the eyes of a young girl rather than on greater political upheavals. Despite living on the edge of huge upheaval, her life was filled with tiny emotional moments.
6. Mystery of the Giant Masks of Sanxingdui
Discover the vanished civilization of Sanxingdui, which existed over 3,000 years ago in Sichuan Province, China. This picture book imagines the individuals who created these incredible bronze items.
7. The Terracotta Girl
After the death of her father, a little girl desires to join the Emperor's army and become a warrior. This beautifully illustrated book does not only tell an engaging story but also introduces your child to interesting facts about Ancient China.
8. You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China!: Defences You'd Rather Not Build
This intriguing and engaging graphic book makes the reader thankful that The Great Wall was not completed.
9. The Silk Route: 7,000 Miles of History
The Tang Dynasty was a golden age in Chinese civilization when silk was the most valuable commodity in the ancient Western world. As people from many nations and religions crossed paths, ideas were also exchanged. The endnotes are especially intriguing, revealing more about the Silk Road's rich history.
10. The Plant Hunters: True Accounts of Their Daring Expeditions to the Farthest Ports of the Earth
The plant hunters crossed the world, driven by an all-consuming enthusiasm, encountering hardships at every turn: tropical diseases, severe terrain, and hazardous creatures. Then they attempted to get the plants and themselves home alive. The plant hunters left an important legacy in research, medicine, and agriculture, and their work continues to inspire the scientific and environmental efforts of modern plant lovers.
11. The Magic Horse of Han Gan
Han Gan grew up poor yet became a wonderful horse painter. Han Gan can bring actual horses to life from the images he paints in this story.
12. Flying Paintings: The Zhou Brothers: A Story of Revolution and Art
The true-life narrative of the brothers reminds us of the Chinese film To Live (1994) and a short story in Zen Shorts. It shows how difficult it is to understand luck - good or bad.
13. Angel in Beijing
The plot centres around a white cat found in a tree by a young girl who is terrified by the loudness of the firecrackers.
14. Lucky Bamboo Books of Crafts
This is a resource you will return to time and again! It's a veritable treasure mine of Chinese-themed creative ideas!
15. Mei Ling in China City - Icy Smith's Lifeline of Letters from China City to Manzanar
This is a bilingual English novella that tells the story of Japanese American relocation from a unique perspective: Mei Ling in Los Angeles' Chinatown is writing to her closest friend who is in an internment camp.
16. The Third Revolution
The Third Revolution details Xi Jinping’s ambitions to "spread the existing Chinese political and economic growth model abroad". This book is a clever, succinct primer on contemporary Chinese political philosophy.
17. Riding the Iron Rooster
Riding the Iron Rooster is an excellent alternative to both the imperialist travelogues of the first half of the twentieth century and the self-serious immersive reporting books that started to dominate in the first part of this century.
18. All About China: Stories, Songs, Crafts and Games for Children
If you want one book to learn about Chinese culture, this is the one. It also serves as a crash course for anybody planning a trip to China, whether as a tourist or for business.
19. Little Monk and the Mantis: A Bug, A Boy, and the Birth of a Kung Fu Legend
This is a must-read for everyone who likes Kung Fu, even if it is only the Kung Fu Panda films! Kung fu does not imply fighting; rather, it refers to mastering a talent via hard practice over time.
20. Shiho S. Nunes' Chinese Fables: The Dragon Slayer and Other Timeless Tales of Wisdom
These timeless tales, drawn from China's golden period of fables in the fourth and third centuries B.C., both instruct and delight.
Mandarin Chinese books for children have a fantastic way of enhancing children's development. Depending on whatever books your child is reading, you can discover imagination and creativity with a dash of fiction and realism. While reading books can be enjoyable, there is more to reading than just enjoyment. Many children who started to read at an early age perform better academically and are more likely to succeed later in life. In addition, reading helps your child's brain grow by improving their vocabulary and linguistic abilities.
Reading Mandarin Chinese books for children teaches your child how to talk effectively to people in various situations, basic etiquette and helps them conduct conversations on a wide range of topics. It is also excellent for stimulating your child's creativity.
To help your child get immersed in the Mandarin Chinese language through a unique and carefully designed learning journey, sign up for a free trial lesson with us today.
At LingoAce, each lesson your child takes with us is a product of over 100 hours of curriculum creation, courseware production, mock teaching, teacher training and quality control (QC) rounds to ensure an engaging, interactive, and high-quality learning experience.
