While I have little trouble choosing English books for my children, I really struggle when trying to choose appropriate Chinese books.
With English books, there are plenty of sources when you are in need of recommendations. There are the lists of the winners of the Caldecott Medal and Newbery Medal. There are booklists from literature-based homeschooling curricula like Five in a Row. There is also that treasure trove that is the customers' reviews section of Amazon where you can find a review on virtually any book you choose. But for Chinese books? I have not found an equivalent.
Thus far, most of Noey and Nomi's Chinese books are gifts from family and friends, or recommendations I got from other Mums. I've also got a couple of books which I picked up from Popular Bookstore, but these are mainly simple readers because I just don't feel equipped enough to choose good Chinese books on my own.
I was therefore very excited when I recently got to know of Flip for Joy, a Singapore-based online bookstore which stocks Chinese and English-Chinese bilingual books for children aged 9 years and under. I wrote in asking for some recommendations of books for my two children and was pleasantly surprised to receive a long and detailed list in reply from Meiru, the owner of the store. I picked a couple of book sets from the list she recommended, and she kindly included a package of additional books from her recommended list for me to review as well. I am very thankful for this because these books are much better than stuff I would have picked out on my own!
Meiru even kindly included hanyu pinyin together with some of the books to assist me with reading.
Some things which you might like to know about Flip for Joy which set it apart from other bookstores:
1. They are book recommendations from one parent to another.
Meiru tells me that she picks and stocks only books which she feels are good enough for her own child. Being an ex-JC Chinese language teacher, she has high expectations when it comes to educational resources and is very passionate about teaching the Chinese language to her own child. She has therefore spent a lot of time and effort searching for books that are fun, exciting and engaging. These are the books that are stocked by Flip for Joy.
In fact, Meiru always reads the books which she sells with her 3-year old before writing the synopsis and recommendations in both Chinese and English so as to help parents who have difficulty reading in Chinese.
2. Flip for Joy categorises their books into 3 main categories:
Flip for FUN books are highly interactive and a whole lot of fun.
Flip for KNOWLEDGE are insightful and have rich elements of story-telling.
Flip for LOVE books help children love the important values in life.
They have also put together Flip Flip Hooray Starter Packs for different age groups (ages 0-3, 3-5 and 5-7) for parents who want help with selecting books. Each pack will have at least 1 book from each of the 3 categories.
3. Many of their books are bestsellers and award-winning titles loved by children worldwide. There is also a good English-Chinese bilingual selection.
Flip for Joy brings in the best books from all over the world (UK, US, Europe, Korea, Japan, China etc). They also carry the Chinese or English-Chinese bilingual versions of popular children's titles such as "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", "Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See", "Counting Kisses", and "The Giving Tree", amongst others, enabling you and your children to enjoy these classics in the Chinese language!
4. Flip for Joy offers free local standard mail for all orders. There is also free delivery by courier to your doorstep for orders of S$50 and above.
Not bad huh!
The children and I have been having fun reading the books we received. There have been some we liked and some we loved. Here is a short review of them:
《幼儿双语绘本》（7册)(Flip for FUN)
I purchased this set of 7 books after reading Debra's review, and I'm glad I did because I really like this set a lot! I think these books are very well conceptualised, with each book teaching a set of related vocabulary. For example, the book 《纸飞机飞到哪里去了?》teaches the use of prepositions (i.e. over, under, inside, on, etc.) by using a variety of them in the story as we follow the flight path of the paper airplane. In the book 《它们一起去野营》, the use of opposites like big/small, tall/short, clean/dirty, full/empty is taught. It even throws in a lesson on sharing at the end!
Another great feature of these books is that they are interactive. They come with sheets of stickers attached, with English translations of either the text, or some of the key words that were being emphasised in the book. I let Noey stick the stickers in the book to reinforce his understanding, and he really enjoyed that. I only wish that the pages were plastic and the stickers were the reusable kind so that we could peel them off and use them over and over!
There is also a rather helpful teaching guide for parents included at the end of each book with good ideas on how to use the book as well as further activities you can do with your child to develop on what was introduced in the book. This is written in Chinese, but I could make it out without too much difficulty. It provided some useful tips which I appreciated.
If you think you might need help with reading the text, Meiru is in the midst of coming up with the hanyu pinyin for the series, which would be provided on request.
(As an alternative, you can, like me, use the trusty KT-CE Dict App on iPhone. I love this dictionary app, which is always by my side when I need to read Chinese books to my kids!)
《奇迹小宝宝初次见面绘本系列》 (11册) (Flip for KNOWLEDGE)
When I first flipped through these books, they didn't captivate me as much, mostly due to the fact that they are written in the format of verses. I am just used to - and therefore prefer - prose. I'm old-school like that! But to my surprise, both children found the books engaging. The illustrations are beautiful and varied, and the children both enjoyed the short and simple stories, as well as the liberal use of sound effect descriptions. Nomi in particular LOVES the sound descriptions. "滴答滴答!" she'd repeat after me, when we read 《小雨滴答滴答》.
As for Noey, he enjoys 《小露露推啊》about an elephant who pushes different rolling objects, and in the end helps some mice push a log up a hill and slides down together with them. He also likes《彩色纸哧哧》which is a cute book about tearing different coloured paper into different objects. I like this book too. There's really something for everyone in this set!
《点点点》(Flip for FUN)
This is the book the children and I both love. This is a Chinese translation of the French best-seller, "Press Here" by Herve Tullet. You can click over to the Amazon page of the English version of this book to read all the rave reviews. This was the first book I pulled out for Noey and he was literally squealing with delight as he pressed the dots on the page, rubbed them, blew on them, and tilted the book from side to side.
This book brings the interactivity that children of today are used to on gadgets like the iPad to the flat pages of a book. You press the dot on the first page and flip to the next page and voila! There are two dots! You press again, and there are three dots. You rub one on the left, then flip over and its turned red! The result is irresistibly charming. We've been through this book many times since receiving it, and it's definitely one of our favourites.
There is a hanyu pinyin document for this book in the works and should be available on request soon.
《小船的旅行》(Flip for KNOWLEDGE)
This book is another translated title, this one from the Japanese original by renowned children’s book author Ishikawakoji. This is a cute book about a little ship that goes on a journey to help a little boy deliver a letter to a friend, and tells the tale of the little ship's journey, with beautiful bright illustrations. The subject matter easily won Noey over -- he loves all forms of transport after all -- but he was especially taken with the large fold-out page right at the end depicting the scene as the little ship came into the harbour in the big city. A good book for the boys, I believe!
《棕色的熊，棕色的熊，你在看什么？》
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? (Flip for KNOWLEDGE)
One of Eric Carle's most popular books, I think this title needs no introduction. A favourite for its simplicity and lovely collage illustrations which are Eric Carle's trademark style, I like the fact that this version is bilingual, so you read it in English or Chinese.
Overall, I think we enjoyed the books we received from Flip for Joy a lot. I was greatly encouraged to know that there are Chinese books that just as interesting as their English counterparts, and I think Noey was too. Incorporating these books into our home reading has helped a great deal with warming both children up to the language. The service we got from Flip for Joy, from the recommendations, to the provision of hanyu pinyin documents for the texts were very helpful and is definitely one of the things that will make me go back for more from them.
Now, a special promotion to share!
(EDIT: Due to popular demand, Flip for Joy has decided bring forward the above promotion and make the S$5 e-gift coupons available from today till 31 Oct! So you can shop now!)
All customers who shop in the month of October will also automatically qualify for their 1st anniversary draw and stand to win a $100 Flip for Joy e-Gift card.
You might also wish to "Like" Flip for Joy on Facebook to be kept updated on their latest happenings and promotions, and also benefit from the many articles and resources shared (on the teaching of the Chinese language, ways to encourage your child to read, parenting etc).
Happy Reading! And if you have any recommendations for good Chinese books, please do share! I'd love to hear from you!
* Aside from the first title 《幼儿双语绘本》（7册) which I purchased, I was provided the rest of the titles in this post by Flip for Joy for review purposes. All opinions expressed here are strictly my own and based on information received from Flip for Joy.
I bought more books thanks to your review. Glad the kids enjoyed them :)
ReplyDeleteJust returning the favour :) Thanks for introducing Flip for Joy to me!
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