These are his favorites, from the horse’s mouth.
In no particular order:
(1) 蚂蚁和西瓜
A simple story line about how a group of ants discovered a slice of watermelon on a hot summer day, and endeavored to bring the watermelon back to their ant hill. They realized that they have limited strength and subsequently engaged the help of fellow ants. Together, they brought the watermelon back. Great book to talk about teamwork.
（2）小熊绘本~午饭
This is Xxm’s Favourite! This is book 3 of the 小熊绘本 series. Xxm enjoyed this series of books very much. I have successfully used another book to potty train Xxm. The story line is simple, and the text repetitive. Each book teaches a value e.g. sharing food with friends in 午饭, putting away one’s toys in 收起来 etc.
Just earlier this week, Xxm surprised me by reading pages from this book. It is pure memorization on his part but he delights in reading together with me. I will read a page and he will read the next page. We have even gone and bought him his favourite 午饭 from the book, bento sets from Yoshinoya. He is particularly fond of the onigiri.
(3) 家 与 小鱼
These two books belong to a set of beginning reader books from Odonata Publishing in Malaysia. They are suitable for older kids who are learning to read. A few new words are gently introduced each time and they are used extensively throughout the entire book. The words are craftfully concealed in new sentences each time. More of a reader series, the story line is not as interesting as the former books.
There are many other Chinese books that Xxm is hooked onto now. What was mentioned here was simply what he told me when quizzed about his favourite books. He enjoys reading so much now that he will hibernate in our room during the day and request to be read to. Lately, I have also noticed that he’s taking better care of his books and replacing them on the bookshelf. In terms of cultivating a habit of reading, I think we have nailed it!
Balancing yin Miao yang Meow 