Not just a random idea!
“This site is centred on introducing these books to you, reviewing them for you, sharing with you our experiences and learning curves, and (eventually!) bringing them closer to your doorstep.”
So where did it all begin?
I guess it all started kicking off during my second maternity leave when my daughter turned two. I realised that the only exposure to Mandarin that she received (aside from family) was from watching Peppa Pig and Treehouse Detectives in Mandarin dub. She’d also listen to some Chinese Stream of Praise music (if you could catch her in the right mood).
The thing that really made me acutely aware of this, however, was a feeling of… I suppose you can call it envy. Every night, she’d snuggle up next to my husband and enjoy lovely long bedtime readings! Book after book after book: The Gruffalo, Superworm, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, ‘Hear me read!’ Bible stories - the list goes on! All in English with my husband’s engaging, enthusiastic and animated reading! She absolutely loved those stories, saying “last one” and then again, “last one”!
Almost all of the books she had in her mini library were in English. If they weren’t (we had a handful of flashcard books and children’s books), I could barely read the majority of them because they were in Traditional Chinese… And to top that, I couldn’t read with my husband’s animation either!
So, I decided to do something about it. I thought, “Right, no more mucking about. I’m getting some Chinese books.” But where do you even start? I did a little research and came across some great bloggers and reviewers (links below!) who recommended a whole plethora of books only to realise that I hit a brick wall whenever I tried to buy them. Some weren’t distributed in the UK; others were too expensive if they were available in the UK; others had crazy shipping fees and delivery times from overseas; let’s not even talk about how much harder getting Chinese Christian books were!
At this point, I would usually rely on my lovely friends and family living in various parts of Asia to bring little parcels of books with them when they come to visit. Another friend of ours gave me a list of Chinese children’s books that I could find in our local library.
But then we suddenly found ourselves in the middle of lockdown.
I tried to do some on-the-spot impromptu translation of her favourite English books but alas! my daughter didn’t take the bait because she knew I was making it all up. It really wasn’t very difficult to tell - anybody would think I was just saying rubbish! I obviously wasn’t doing the books the justice they deserved…
In my desperation, I tried using another method. After I’ve put both of my children to bed (finally!), I’d listen to YouTube readings of those books in translation and write them on paper to stick in her books. Although highly rewarding, it was painfully time-consuming. You’d think I could watch a movie with a well-earned massage while they were in bed, but - nope - I’m up till after midnight watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar and reading children’s books. Still, I’m proud of my work! I’ll definitely share it with you in a future post.
After some extensive research and given our current circumstances, I decided to just take the plunge and buy a set of graded Chinese books with a reading pen (it’s called Le Le Chinese 乐乐文化 - see here). The price was a little hefty but I like to think of it as an investment for my kids. (My bank account is asking why. Haha.) My daughter spends a significant amount of time on those books. She learns and engages with it very happily.
I was lucky - I am lucky! - and blessed, too, to have even had the time or resources to do these things. It really hurts to think that if my situation were any different, I would have had to give up on my child being able to embrace this side of her heritage.
So, that’s where we are. I want to source the books that I know are entertaining, engaging and useful for my kids so that I can share them with you! This site is centred on introducing these books to you, reviewing them for you, sharing with you our experiences and learning curves, and (eventually!) bringing them closer to your doorstep.
I dream of a site that can help support bilingual and monolingual families so that we can start our children on their multi-lingual journey while they can still absorb information like sponges! Language is a key communicator - it is what allows us to understand one another. I hope that it will help us bring together communities and let our children embrace culture and opportunity in the future!
UPDATE (14/07/2021 15:01): As of today, we have joined the Le Le Chinese Affiliate Program but please note that this review was written before the affiliate program ever existed! You can use our affiliate link below to get 5% off your order with Le Le when you use ‘LELEDEZIREMI’. Every purchase made with this link helps support this blog and the day-to-day running of the bookshop - so thank you in advance! And thank you to Le Le Chinese!
Link not working? Use this URL instead: https://www.lelechinese.com?sca_ref=926448.O5wzfZVszX
Follow us so we can take this step together! And please reach out to us about books that you like and share your experience of languages with us. Or just leave comment!
And while this site is still a little beansprout… check out these other amazing sites for resources and fun activity ideas!
Ms Claudia Lee Kimura (also does English, Japanese, and Cantonese!)
Sweet Note Learning (Cantonese)