This summer, we have been busy reading these Chinese cultural books from Tuttle publishers. As a bilingual parent, I have always wanted my children to learn their own mother tongue and learn about their own culture.
Tuttle have just published these books which are close to our heart and our cultures and I have been able to show it to my children. Tuttle was founded in 1832 in the small New England town of Rutland, Vermont. Since 1948, Tuttle has been a leader in publishing books on the cultures, arts, cuisines, languages and literatures of Asia. If you are looking for these types of books, they have a great range of books to buy.
First, I have this Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese kit which comes with 64 flash cards, audio CD, wall chart and learning guide. This is a great kit to start your children to learn those common basic daily living words in mandarin. This is an easy guide for adults to use too. I love the quality of the flash cards. They have a smooth finish and are easy to read. Besides the Chinese characters shown, it also shows the Han Yu Pin Ying, how to write the strokes and many more. I would recommend it if you are looking for a simple kit to start with.
Cang Jie – The Inventor of Chinese Characters is a story book about how the Chinese characters were invented. This watercolour illustrations are very colourful and detailed. It is a good, simple and straightforward story for young children to understand how the Chinese characters came about.
Dharma Delight is a visionary comic guide to Buddhism and Zen. My son finds it hard to understand some of the books as he is not aware of the circle of life in Buddhism and the concept of Zen. I had to explain to him in more details for him to understand the comic. It is colour illustrated with plenty of comic strips on every page and is interesting to read.
Etiquette Guide to China is a great book to read to learn in depth about China history, their culture and many more. Even though I am a Singaporean Chinese, there are a lot of Chinese cultures and etiquette I have not come across nor practise. It is always good to have an understanding from their point of view. For me, I have not studied about China history during my school days so this is definitely great insight for me to learn how China closed and opened their doors to the outside world again. Inside this book, it also discuss on how Chinese businessman used Sun Tze’s The Art of War to demoralize their enemy, so don’t get tricked by them!
Last but not least, we have Beyond The Tiger Mom which has recently published. It is about the East-West parenting book by Maya Thiagarajan. The author was born in India by an American mum and a South Indian father. She later moved to USA in her teen years and then later to Singapore. It is interesting to learn how the author spent her time in Singapore with her family where she spent time with hundreds of Asian parents and kids while teaching. She then examines the stereotypes and goes beneath the surface to explore what really happens in Asian households. Woven into this narrative are her own reflections on teaching and parenting in Asia and the West. She offers a detailed look at their values, hopes, fears and parenting styles. Reading her interviews with her students, it does make me think that I am glad that both of my children are not living in Singapore. It was very stressful not only for children, but also for adults. Everyone loves to compare results and makes it hard for children to appreciate their childhood. It is a great book to read if you are keen to learn from her experience.
Here are list of books from Amazon:
- Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese
- Cang Jie – The Inventor of Chinese Characters
- Dharma Delight
- Etiquette Guide to China
- Beyond The Tiger Mom
Disclosure: I received these books from the publisher for free. However, they have not paid me for this review, and they do not exercise any editorial control over my review or anything else on this site. Contains Amazon affiliate links.
