Product Description

Meet Lin and her pet dragon!

When the dragon mysteriously disappears, Lin sets off on a journey to find her best friend . . . and readers set off on a journey of learning and discovery.

By ingeniously integrating written Chinese characters into the illustrations as the story progresses, Christoph Niemann has created a book that is engrossing, unique, and memorable. The Pet Dragon is a playful introduction to the fascinating world of Chinese language and culture . . . and a terrific story to share with children everywhere.

You are invited to join Lin for an adventure you will not soon forget!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62494 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Released on: 2008-08-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 40 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061577765
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Niemann (The Police Cloud) introduces readers to 33 Chinese characters via an ingenious, breezy tale about a spunky heroine named Lin who's searching for her runaway pet dragon. Throughout Lin's quest, Niemann superimposes bold, black Chinese characters over key images or other elements in his super-smooth digital graphics. When Lin herself is introduced, for example, the character for person is overlaid on her figure, allowing readers to see how it evokes the outline of a body and two legs. Unlike authors of conventional primers, Niemann doesn't try to directly incorporate the special vocabulary into his story (the text doesn't refer to Lin as a person). Nor does he adhere to the expected icon-to-object correspondence every time: as he notes in his genial introduction, some of the match-ups reflect his own imagination at play (the character for work takes the shape of an I-beam at a construction site). As a result, the pages reflect not only Niemann's cleverness, but also his sense of discovery and his enthusiasm. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 3—Lin, a young Chinese girl, receives a baby dragon for a gift. The two of them play together until they accidentally break a vase. Lin's father is so angry that he insists the little creature be caged. The dragon escapes, and Lin goes to look for it. With the help of an old woman, a witch, she finds it living with the other dragons in the clouds, and grown up. The dragon returns Lin to her home, and her father agrees that they can visit often. Though the story is thin, the book is clever. Its purpose is to introduce the Chinese language, and it succeeds admirably. Each page contains one or more Chinese characters, which appear not only at the bottom with the English translation, but also superimposed on the drawings. In this way, Niemann emphasizes the connection between the lines of the character and the object it represents. The stylized illustrations are jaunty and appealing, and the use of red, a color representing good fortune in China, visually unifies the tale from beginning to end. Playful and humorous in his approach, Niemann includes some of the icons of Chinese culture, past and present-dragons, the Great Wall, Ping-Pong, and the ever-present giant cranes that are building modern China. Now that Mandarin is becoming a popular language choice in forward-looking communities, this title is sure to please.—Barbara Scotto, Children's Literature New England, Brookline, MA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
When Lin and her pet dragon accidentally break a vase, her father insists that the dragon be caged, but the creature escapes. Lin searches everywhere and finally finds her beloved pet living happily in the sky among other dragons. The dragon returns Lin safely to her family and the grateful father agrees to let their friendship continue. Although this original story uses folktale elements, it serves primarily as a vehicle to introduce Chinese characters, which are cleverly incorporated into the story’s artwork Clear, uncluttered computer-generated illustrations provide visual clues for each Chinese character, repeating the characters along with the definitions at the bottom or side of each page. The final two-page spread provides a festive test for those who want to challenge themselves, and the author’s note—in which he discusses the complexity of the language—adds depth. Grades 1-4. --Linda Perkins

Customer Reviews

We love this book!
I am a director of a Preschool and we teach the Mandarin Language here. I ordered this book to add to our collection of story telling and was pleasantly surprised! This is a great book to start teaching the Chinese written characters and the children love love love this story! They even now can pick out the written characters in other written materials because of this book. The story is memorable. Author uses the Chinese character strokes over the pictures. Pictures are cute and story is entertaining.Highly recommend this book!!!

Well drawn and a clever teaching tool
I love this book! It is a large format so my son has a lot to look at and does not get as easily distracted as he does with smaller books. The pictures are also high contrast. I enjoy the illustration a great deal myself. And did I mention the clever integration of the Chinese characters into the illustration. I'm not sure yet how much my son has learned but it has taught me a lot. Great book!

Why no pinyin?
This is a wonderful first introduction to chinese characters for kids. The story is cute, the illustrations are very attractive and fitting the characters into the pictures is a great neumonic. The only thing that left my child reader frustrated was 'daddy, how do you pronounce those characters?' A pinyin pronounciation guide underneath or even at the end would have made this good book great.