Eugenia Chu

Eugenia Chu is one of my new, favourite authors! Honestly, two books in and I'm digging everything she has to give us! Brandon Goes to Hong Kong is a delightful story that whisks the reader away to Brandon's fun, inviting world.

This book is longer than the first book (which was a short, picture book). We have a short, middle grade read just under one hundred pages. This is an excellent story for five year olds and up, and I can easily see an older age group appreciating this book too! There's more to unpack with this story, in all the best ways! There's also lovely illustrations too.

These are the amazing points that I love about this book:

1. There is an introduction to Mandarin Chinese and how the tones work. To me, this is super interesting! I love an educational book that is also fun. You don't have to learn how Mandarin Chinese works, but if you want to Eugenia Chu has video offerings on her website on how to pronounce the words and how to use tones.

2. This is a sweet book about family and fun! Brandon goes to Hong Kong (like the title suggests) and gets to experience exciting adventures with his family. You'll learn about a lot of major hot spots in Hong Kong when you read this book too. I definitely liked Googling some of the places he went to take me away during all the craziness of our current times.

3. There questions at the end of the chapters to prompt discussion. Whether you love story telling, or just want a more engaged audience - this book is selling it all and making it work!

4. There's a full glossary of words at the back! I love me some educational books. I also enjoyed learning how to pronounce these words (I'm not the best, but I'm learning and trying!).

5. There's also an introduction to Cantonese. It's a little less than Mandarin, but it's super cool! And an introduction to what buddhism actually is! That's a topic I've always wanted to learn a little more about, so it was mighty cool learning it from a book. It makes it kid friendly and simple, and it also doesn't go into anything too controversial. Just a basic understanding of what goes along with that word.

6. Dragons, kites, Komodo dragons, pandas and fantastical delights! What more can a young reader ask for?

Overall, I highly recommend this book. It's an excellent read for young and older audiences alike!

Five out of five stars!… (mere)

Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子) is a beautiful little story that should be read across the nation!

Jiǎo zi is a dumpling, in case you didn't know (because I didn't until the book told me!). Brandon loves dumplings - make them and eat them (mostly eat, obviously). One day, Brandon's Grandma from China comes to visit and everything becomes super, duper exciting! Mistakes occur along the way, but everything is made to be fun!

Epic positives:
1. The description and quick lesson about Pinyin was super cool! I don't know much about Chinese characters and Asian languages, so the little lesson was very much appreciated! I've always been curious how translations can work, so this totally spiked my interest. I can totally see families bonding over the language barriers, especially if they are learning a new language!

2. This book is really positive. It not only is educational but shows that Brandon could make mistakes and it was able to be fun and not a negative experience. I can totally appreciate that! Kids make mistakes in the kitchen all the time and they should be embraced, not ridiculed!

3. The glossary! I normally am not a super big fan of them, but I liked seeing all of the words used so I could do a little learning myself.

The pictures are also hand drawn and it's obvious. I think it's sweet and gives a very homey feel, but this may be a negative for some readers. So - readers beware!

Overall, this is definitely one of my top children's reads this year! It's short and sweet, but packed full of adorableness!

Five out of five stars!… (mere)

I am a huge fan of bilingual children’s books. I love them for languages that I work with my child to learn or for other languages, just for exposure. A common pitfall for these books is that they fall into two unhelpful categories: flashcard style books that just show vocabulary with pictures or story books showing the story separately in both languages, with no way to intermingle them unless you repeat the story in the other language. If you’ve ever sought out bilingual English-Chinese children’s books, they usually have the added issue of only having either the characters or the pinyin (and sometimes worse: a third pronunciation form).

Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子) is one of those rare exceptions that incorporates both pinyin, characters (traditional), and a delightful story. The best part is that the pinyin/character elements are woven into the story, so you aren’t just either reading in Chinese or English but all together, like you would if both languages are used in the house. This was such a pleasant surprise that I bought a second copy of the book, so I could keep the first to read with my daughter and still give away the second to a little free library.

The story itself covers familial relations with a loving grandmother and her grandson, the passing of culinary traditions, and also how to be resilient in the face of mistakes. The illustrations are simple, but compliment the story well. The publishing style leaves a lot of blank space on the page, but it’s not particularly distracting. Looking forward to more books like this from the author.… (mere)