Wo Shui Bu Zhao (我睡不着), ISBN:9577513883. Have you also had the feeling that there aren't enough Chinese stories that rhyme, that all the rhyming has been reserved to the Tang Dynasty poems? Well, here is one, and it soon became one of my younger son Jason's favorites. The story begins with Mom turning off the lights to a little boy's room, but he says "Wo Shui Bu Zhao! (I can't sleep!)" He and his kitty then go on a fun, dreamy journey to the imaginary night-time city, and with each page turned is a new theme with a witty rhyme. For example, the boy plays guitar in a band with cats and dogs in the street, while a thief quietly runs along the roofs in the background. In the end, the boy gradually becomes more relaxed and starts falling asleep on a boat - of course, to be woken up by his mom telling him it's morning and time to go to school. Now he yells, "Wo hai xiang zai shui yi xia (I want to sleep some more!)". The very last page shows his kitty falling back asleep while he stumbles in his pajamas and book bag. The illustration is made from collages of newspaper and magazine material. I was not used to it at first - perhaps they reminded me too much of the often misspelled designs from Asia. However, we soon got past that detail and were charmed by the mixture of colors and the cute expressions on the characters. Overall, this was one of my favorite books to read to Jason during bedtime. The story is mellow but interesting, and the rhyming made him able to memorize many parts quickly.
Tu Nai Nai de Mien Bao Wu (兔奶奶的麵包屋), ISBN: 9867353188. Since it's getting toward that holiday season, I wanted to recommend this book as soon as possible. This is a heart-warming story about Tu Nai Nai (Grandma Rabbit) who, with the help of her little mice friends, make special Christmas treats for all the bunnies in the orphanage. The illustrations are nice, although with a little too much pink than what suits my taste. Frankly, my two boys liked this book, but it was never one that they asked me to read over and over without end. This book comes with the bonus of a couple of games after the main story, which my kids enjoyed (perhaps even more than the story itself).
Zhen Jia Xiao Zhen Zhu (真假小珍珠), ISBN: 9789866759109,9866759105. This was a real gem that we found! In fact, we first stumbled upon the sequel to Zhen Jia Xiao Zhen Zhu, called Xiao Xiao Ku Ba Wang (小小哭霸王), ISBN: 9789866759345,9866759342. We loved it so much that I immediately went online, looked for Zhen Jia Xiao Zhen Zhu and reserved it from the library. Xiao Zhen Zhu is a naughty (but extremely likable) elementary school girl in a "normal" family with mom, dad and little brother Ku Ba Wang. Xiao Zhen Zhu takes the stage in the first book, in which the whole family (including Xiao Zhen Zhu herself) order a Xiao Zhen Zhu robot from the Dream Factory that represents their ideal Xiao Zhen Zhu. Dad's ideal and mom's ideal are, of course, stereotypically over-polite girls wearing princess dresses. Ku Ba Wang's ideal Xiao Zhen Zhu is in overalls, and immediately offers to play with him and give him all the toys. Xiao Zhen Zhu herself orders a robot to be as much a real replicate of herself as possible, so that she can go out and play while Mom sees the shadow of the robot Xiao Zhen Zhu studying in the room. Of course, things go awry, and the robot was not as perfect as Xiao Zhen Zhu had originally thought... These plots were evolved through humorous dialogue and wonderful cartoon illustrations. The characters feel real and lovable at once. However, only those kids old enough to understand some of this satirical humor can get the most out of these stories. Even those who cannot fully comprehend Zhen Jia Xiao Zhen Zhu might still enjoy the follow-up book, Xiao Xiao Ku Ba Wang. This book containing three stories featuring Ku Ba Wang, Xiao Zhen Zhu's little brother (probably around 4 years old). They are less complex, and stem from the imaginations of a pre-school-age boy. My older son Calvin laughed so hard at certain parts of the stories - I think he really identifies with Ku Ba Wang. Even if your kids are too young, I would recommend the adults to get these books and read them. They are a delight, and will awaken the child in each of us.
Ai Chang Ge De Niao (愛唱歌的鳥), ISBN: 9867517695. Inspirational and funny at the same time, the main character Yi-Ge is a bird with a terrible voice who loves to sing. He fails at practicing himself, studies with a famous teacher (Miss Swan) and ends up corrupting the teacher's voice. He decides to leave music all together, only to find that no matter where he goes, there is music (there are some wonderful wordless pictures of a doggie punk band, kitty jazz band, African drumming alligators, a penguin choir, and a sheep orchestra). Finally, Yi-Ge settles in a dessert on a big piece of rock where he sees and hears no one. He could not help singing when he saw the beautiful sunset. His voice awakened the rock underneath him, which was actually a gigantic bird named Dou-Dou who had been sleeping for years. Dou-Dou loves Yi-Ge's voice, and joins him in singing together at the top of their lungs until sunrise. Of course, they decide to become best friends and travel the world together as a duet. The voices are illustrated throughout the book as wavy, colorful lines. You can almost tell from the shapes and colors what the voice sounds like. I have a recording of this story, but the illustrations add so much more to the words, and make a creative connection between art and music.
Qi Chuang la Huang Di (起床啦皇帝), ISBN: 9622406092. This is a humorous mix of modern story-telling set in the background of the Chinese imperial palace, in which a fictional little boy is an emperor who just cannot get up in the mornings. The illustration is done with a special type of paper cutting, and there is a nice balance of details needed for the setting and the simplicity needed to convey the characters' expressions. For example, Calvin always laughs at the expressions on the eunich who runs behind the sleeping emperor (being dragged by another eunich), yelling "Emperor, you forgot your hat!" The story seems to break into two halves. The first half rhymes, and describes the emperor's late-rising habits. The second half stops rhyming and becomes a dialogue between the emperor and a poor farmer boy who slipped into the palace to pick ball. They ended up kicking ball together, and decided to do this every morning as an incentive to wake themselves up. This friendship lasts through a page that illustrates the four seasons showing the passing of time, and we arrive at the final page of the two adult versions of the emperor and the farmer kicking ball together. No matter how many times I read this story, the last page always brings a little smile to both my and Calvin's faces. I do need to warn those with sensitive kids: I usually skip the part on the first page about this emperor's father and grandfather dying, and go straight to him being an emperor without much background. I also skip the sentence where the empress (emperor's mom) spanks the eunichs to punish them for not getting the emperor up in time.
Qi E Re Qi Qiu (企鹅热气球), ISBN: 9789866759147,9866759148. What kid does not like penguins? What kid does not dream of riding on a hot air balloon? This story satisfies the fantasies of the majority of kids, including the kid in me. With no explanations needed, Penguin lands his hot air balloon in the forest and offers rides to all the animals. The book is then broken into several tales, each describing a particular journey. I have recorded two of these episodes, one of which starts with a turtle who spent all night walking to make sure he was the first one to get to the hot air balloon in the morning. However, he forgot to get his ticket! So he "runs" back to get his ticket, and meanwhile Penguin will not let any animal go in front of him. All is merry though - Penguin thinks of many fun activities for the animals while they wait. Finally, they all paint a message for Turtle on the hot air balloon so that Turtle would be inspired to keep "running". You can imagine the happy ending. Even though the plot does not have as much "conflict" as many people require for a story to be interesting, the dialogues are humorous, and the characters look adorable. I believe most children will love this book, as my kids do.
Are your kids as much into trains as mine are? Next time, I will review our favorite train-related Chinese children's books. There are many!!
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