Kids Books about Chinese Food, Picture Books

We are finishing up our focus on Chinese food in my after-school Mandarin class. It has been FUN!!!
The kids all have some experience with Chinese food, so they are very motivated to learn. We're wrapping up our session with play-acting a restaurant scene: being ushered to a table by a server, placing an order, and thanking the server. More on that later!

There are some great English-language picture books that introduce Chinese food to kids. Here are some of my favorites. They are sure to entertain, and might even make your tummy rumble!

1.  I'm the Chef! The Young Chef's Chinese Cookbook by France Lee (Crabtree Publishing, 2001). 

Okay, so not a picture book, but a darn good kids' Chinese cookbook. Includes recipes for soups, main dishes (sweet and sour prawns, tofu with pork), old standards (long life noodles and fried rice), and treats (egg custard tarts).

I absolutely love how each recipe shows a picture of the ingredients used and what each step should look like. This is what makes it kid-friendly!

We tried making the egg custard tarts, and they turned out fabulous (Read about and see pictures of our experience making egg custard tarts on my old blog, Rice and Pasta, Please!)


2.  The Runaway Wok by Ying Chang Compestine (Penguin Dutton, 2011)

A rollicking Chinese New Year story about a poor peasant boy Ming who trades his family’s last eggs for a magic wok. The wok goes rogue through ancient Beijing, stealing succulent dishes, toys, and money from the stingy but wealthy Li family, and depositing the goodies at Ming’s house. Ming’s family distributes the treats to the whole village, who then celebrate the New Year together as the wok whisks the Li family out of town.

• Author's note about Chinese New Year and recipe for Festive Fried Rice included in the back.  
• Kids will love the lively story and colorful illustrations.  
• If you like this book, check out Compestine’s The Runaway Rice Cake (2001), another Chinese New Year tale involving magic and food.

2.  Dim Sum for Everyone by Grace Lin (Knopf, Borzoi Books, 2001)

My list of kids books about Chinese food would not be complete without Grace Lin! The theme of delicious Chinese food is woven throughout this Newberry Honor winner's delightful picture and chapter books. Dim Sum for Everyone is the story of a little girl’s visit to a Dim Sum restaurant with her family. She discovers that food is served food from carts pushed by servers, and that everyone gets to choose and share the dish that their heart desires because dim sum means "touches the heart"!

• The illustrations are enchanting: drawings of ingredients and Chinese food dance on the inside cover…just seeing them makes me hungry!
• Author’s note at the end explains the history and current traditions of dim sum.

3. HappyBelly, Happy Smile by Rachel Isadora (Harcourt Children’s Books, 2009) 

A sweet story by Caldecott Honor-winner Rachel Isadora about a little boys' adventure to a Chinatown restaurant with his has grandpa. He looks at the fish in the tank, visits the chefs in the kitchen, watches them prepare the food, and then shares a meal with his grandpa, including a fortune cookie that has a special message.

Look for pieces of Chinese restaurant take-out menu and pictures of real food in Isadora's vibrant, textured collage and oil illustrations. 

What are your favorite children's books about Chinese food?  

Spring Book Review: A Nest in Springtime

Spring is finally upon us, and I could not be more excited to see the tips of daffodils and tulips poking through the dirt in my garden.  To celebrate spring's arrival and the conclusion of our number study in my beginning Mandarin class, I shared the bilingual children's book, A Nest in Springtime: A Bilingual Book of Numbers by Belle Yang (Candlewick Press, 2012). Although written for a younger audience, my 1st-3rd graders enjoyed hearing me read the endearing story, first in Mandarin and then translating to English words they had not studied yet. They participated by reading all the numbers in the story (in Mandarin, or course=).  

A great book for beginning Mandarin students and their families: It's not easy to find a Mandarin language children's book that beginning language students can read. 

• A Nest in Springtime is great for kids who are learning to read Chinese characters, especially those who are familiar with the characters for numbers 1-8. They will be able to read 3-4 pages of the book!
• The story is simple with a limited vocab (it's a board book). English translations are shared on opposite pages, and pinyin pronunciation for the Chinese characters in the story is provided on the last page. This option is great for people like me who aren't super at reading traditional characters (繁體字) or who are new to learning Chinese.  
• Beautiful jewel-toned illustrations. These make story a joy to read!

To learn how to count from 1-10 in Mandarin, check out this great video put together by Daily Noodles: 

To practice writing your numbers 1-10 in Chinese characters, check out my post: Back-to-school Printable: How to write Numbers 1-10 in Chinese characters. 

 How will you be celebrating the arrival of spring? 

Year of the Monkey Roundup

I hope you all have had a wonderful Chinese New Years. We welcomed in the year of the Monkey last week (along with Valentines Day and the beginning of Lent--busy week!) with family dinners, performances in our community, making banners with friends, and wrapping jiǎozi with classmates. It's a wonderful time of year to share our love of Chinese language and culture with others. 
Here are some great ideas and resources I've stumbled across, perfect if you are still celebrating the New Years (you have until Lantern Festival: February 22)
1. Make a Chinese New Year poster.
I saw this idea on Hubpages and decided to adapt it for my beginning Mandarin class who just learned how to write numbers one through six (below left)

     
2. Make your own Spring Festival Couplet to hang by the door. 
We painted the couplet 出入平安 (Chūrù píng'ān, Peace when you come and when you go) with calligraphy brushes and ink on red paper from our local school supply store. No calligraphy brushes? No problem! You can easily use sharpies (jumbo sized for big characters). 
3. Read The Year of the Monkey, Oliver Chin's latest book in the Tales from the Zodiac series (Immedium: 2016)

About the book: The 11th book in this 12 book series, The Year of the Monkey tells the adventures of Max (son of the famous Monkey King) as he searches to find his fate. 

What we love: 

1. The story is full of Monkey king action. If your kids like Kung Fu Panda, this book will be a hit. 

2. It introduces the sport of shuttlecock or the Chinese hacky sack (毽子, jiànzi), which was new to my kids. 

3. It's bilingual! No pinyin provided, but if you can read Chinese characters, you can read it in Mandarin.

4. Share Chinese New Years legends and traditions with friends through this cute video. 

I stumbled across this cute and concise video produced by the fast-food chain, Panda Express (Nope, they didn't pay me=) when planning a Chinese New Year lesson for my beginning Mandarin class. 

Super cute animation. It tells the origin of the Chinese New Year, the origin of the Zodiac calendars, and how the holiday is celebrated today. Check out Panda Express's CNY website to download free Chinese New Year printables. 

5. Learn a New Years Song! Here are two of our favorites:

Gōngxǐ Gōngxǐ by BadaNamu

Sung in Mandarin at the beginning and then translated to English. If the verses are too complicated, learn the chorus: Gōngxǐ gōngxǐ gōngxǐ nǐ (Congratulations to you!), which is what you say to someone during the New Year. 

Xīnnián hǎo ya (Happy New Years!) Mandarin lyrics and English translation posted here. 

How are you celebrating the Year of the Monkey? 
Xīnnián kuàilè! 新年快乐！Happy Year of the Monkey!