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126th out of 152 books
—
44 voters
The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters
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 D...more
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 D...more
Hardcover, 40 pages
Published
August 26th 2008
by Greenwillow Books
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The colors and forms of the illustrations are definitely extremely eye-pleasing. The subject matter (Chinese characters/words) is definitely in high demand these days. However, I find the "story" very forced (where did that green witch pop into the story? And a Pet Dragon is definitely NOT a very Chinese concept. Dragons are not cute little creatures to have as friends! I blame Disney's Mulan for this belittling of a powerful mythical being.)
It is also odd that there is no reference whatsoever t...more
It is also odd that there is no reference whatsoever t...more
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One day Lin gets a baby dragon as a gift. She and her dragon do all sorts of things together, becoming the best of friends, until one day they have a little too much fun and a vase is broken. Dad insists on caging the baby dragon, but the dragon breaks free in the night and disappears. Lin sets out to find him, and with the help of a witch-woman, eventually finds her friend in the sky with his own family. Everyone lives happily ever after, and the plot is summarized with more words than the stor...more
Story wise, the book was just so-so. What I did think was great about the book is how the illustrator integrates Chinese characters into the illustrations in a way that makes the characters understandable. I found that once I had read the book I could identify some of the characters on the last page. I think this book would be a great addition for collections that need preschool-early grade school titles on China.
Not only is this book excellent but it's original. It shows children how to write Mandarin Chinese characters but they're integrated as part of the story illustrations. Simple colourful pictures with a good story. Written in French. Would make a unique gift for children learning or wanting to learn Mandarin Chinese.
Christoph Niemann, The Pet Dragon: A Story of Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters (Greenwillow, 2008)
First off: this is not one to get out of the library, except on a trial basis to see whether you actually want to buy it (and you probably do). Niemann covers a whole lot of ground in these thirty pages; not as much as you're going to get from one of those teaser CD sets from Pimsleur that entice you to buy the whole (and much more expensive) ninety-disc set, but enough that it'll be a...more
First off: this is not one to get out of the library, except on a trial basis to see whether you actually want to buy it (and you probably do). Niemann covers a whole lot of ground in these thirty pages; not as much as you're going to get from one of those teaser CD sets from Pimsleur that entice you to buy the whole (and much more expensive) ninety-disc set, but enough that it'll be a...more
Creative. I didn't necessarily love the story, but the usage of Chinese characters as part of the story to teach basic Chinese was pretty cool. I don't know anything about Chinese so I have no idea how great it really is. But my 3 year old loved that there was a dragon in it.
This reminds me of the pedestrian "tell and draw" you often find in storytelling books. The language is stilted and the plot disjointed.
People with an interest in Chinese characters will find this useful. But as a picture book, it falls flat.
People with an interest in Chinese characters will find this useful. But as a picture book, it falls flat.
Fantastic book design and illustration, but the story was convoluted and confusing and didn't match up very well to the clever premise of Chinese character interpretation. I so wanted to give this five stars, too- very cool concept.
Pretty pictures, some chinese characters shown in the picture, but all in all, I'm not too impressed. The story depth was rather thin even for children books.
Lin has many adventures as she searches for her pet dragon in this picture book that playfully explores traditional Chinese writing.
Niemann deserves praise for his clever use of Chinese characters to help illustrate this book. Niemann appropriatley offers a discalimer stating that his books intent is not to teach readers Chinese but rather to offer " a glimpse into the fascinating world of teh Chinese language" in an attempt to make it less intimidating. I decided I liked ths book when a little...more
Niemann deserves praise for his clever use of Chinese characters to help illustrate this book. Niemann appropriatley offers a discalimer stating that his books intent is not to teach readers Chinese but rather to offer " a glimpse into the fascinating world of teh Chinese language" in an attempt to make it less intimidating. I decided I liked ths book when a little...more
A simple story to show us the complexity of Chinese characters. I'd never really thought about the intricacies of learning a Chinese language before reading this book. It really must be an overwhelming task! in his brief introduction Christoph Niemann explains that you need to be able to recognise 3-4,000 characters to be considered literate. WOW. We struggle for a while at times with our mere 26. I now know to my core that I will never be able to read Chinese in this lifetime at least- not that...more
This story tells the story of Lin and her very special gift, a baby dragon! After the pair, cause mischief, Lin's father imprisons the dragon. The next morning, Lin awakes to find her dragon gone and proceeds on a long journey to find him. The true magic of this story is not the story itself. It is the illustrations. Imbedded within the illustrations are ancient Chinese Characters. The characters also appear below with explanations. This manner of illustration brings the ancient Chinese characte...more
This is a fun story with illustrations that include chinese characters. Lin has a pet dragon who disappears. As Lin searches for her dragon, she meets a witch who helps her find her friend.
This is a quick and fun story for first and second graders. I used a document camera to show the pictures so that students could see the characters and illustrations. We compared the characters (tree, woods, forest) and did air drawing. Fun! The final picture includes all of the characters from the story and...more
This is a quick and fun story for first and second graders. I used a document camera to show the pictures so that students could see the characters and illustrations. We compared the characters (tree, woods, forest) and did air drawing. Fun! The final picture includes all of the characters from the story and...more
Jun 05, 2010
Maria
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
children,
picture-books
When Lin's pet dragon mysteriously disappears she sets off on an adventures to find her best friend.
Why I picked this book up: Beautiful illustrations and I have always been curious about Chinese calligraphy and characters.
Why I finished this book: It's cool to see how some characters are combined to create other characters.
Who I would recommend this book to: Laura, little Paul or anyone who is interested in learning a few Chinese Characters.
Be Advised:
Why I picked this book up: Beautiful illustrations and I have always been curious about Chinese calligraphy and characters.
Why I finished this book: It's cool to see how some characters are combined to create other characters.
Who I would recommend this book to: Laura, little Paul or anyone who is interested in learning a few Chinese Characters.
Be Advised:
We teamed up with Lin and her pet dragon today at Pretend City. This duo took us on a journey of learning and discovery! When Lin’s dragon mysteriously disappears, she sets off on a journey to find her best friend while we set off on a journey of learning and discovery of the Chinese language.
It was so cool how the author was able to take the symbols of the story and add them to the pictures. When you are able to identify symbols with pictures and meanings, learning becomes so much easier and a...more
It was so cool how the author was able to take the symbols of the story and add them to the pictures. When you are able to identify symbols with pictures and meanings, learning becomes so much easier and a...more
I wanted to like this more than I did. The idea is neat - use Chinese characters for a concept in the illustrations for the story. My 8 year old was inspired to draw all the characters after our first reading, and at the end of each reading both he and his 5 year old brother like to identify the characters in the end pages. However, the story itself was kind of weak and left me disappointed.
This was the perfect book for reading to a classroom. Compelling with not too many words per page. I was doing an art lesson on Chinese dragons with first graders and this was the perfect authentic but not too in-depth introduction. Each page has Chinese characters inscribed on top of the pictures which was also perfect to explain a little about Chinese writing.
This picture book is so cool. It tells the story of a Chinese girl and her pet dragon, who disappears. The girl goes to look for her pet and has some exciting adventures on the way. Throughout every page the illustrator has used Chinese characters that are integrated into the rest of the illustrations. It is very clever and the pictures are great as well!
Lovely, subtle introduction to Chinese characters. One or two characters form part of each picture, illustrating the word conveyed by the character. The story is pretty standard but holds my kids' interest. Bonus points for the non-stereotypical female protagonist. We read this many times in the 2 weeks we had it out from the library.
Great illustrations that teach some basic Chinese characters. Some characters are very common, usable words (person, water, speak), and some are fun (worm). What a wonderful way to introduce pictograms - an easy-to-read format that creates a landscape for the characters to interact with Chinese characters and a simple, fun story.
very fun story that does an amazing job integrating chinese characters. I was skeptical, because I though the illustrations were too flat, but they help the dark lines of the charcters stand out. And the fairy tale feel give the story an epic quality. My sons loved it and the Kindergartener wants to learn more characters.
I love how the author incorporated aspects of the Chinese culture into this story. It also teaches children Chinese symbols. The plot isn't exactly the most exciting plot. But the idea of teaching Chinese symbols and using fantasy such as dragons and witches were great. The illustrations were unique.
A very clever concept beautifully executed: Niemann cleverly incorporates Chinese characters into the illustrations of the objects which the character stands for. For instance, the Chinese character for river is incorporated into the illustration of a river, etc. The story is good as well.
The story is only okay, but I liked the introduction of Chinese characters. Associating a character with a picture that depicts its meaning is a wonderful way to learn Chinese - I have a similar, bigger book for Japanese. It is a nice introduction to learning the language for children.
A story used to introduce Chinese characters. The characters are integrated into the graphic illustrations in a way that would be easy to recall. While it's a disjointed story, the concept is fun and will appeal to some children. Easily ties into an art lesson.
Not a super-compelling story as far as childrens books go but the illustrations are wonderful and the book got my son interested in Chinese characters and mythology. He spent the better part of "quiet time" practicing the characters and their English counterparts.
A great story for those curious about Chinese characters, not intimidating at all. The characters appear in black in the actual story illustrations and are also highlighted with their English meaning at the bottom of the page in blue.
While I enjoyed the beautiful artwork, the story is so haphazard and a lot of the Chinese characters seem shoehorned in versus cleverly worked in. Still, as a fun way to introduce kids to some Chinese characters, it's a fun book.
Dec 20, 2008
Beth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to Beth by:
Found it in my shipment of new books at the library
The idea of integrating Chinese characters into the illustrations of this story was inspired. It's a fun way to get kids interested in a new culture and a different way of making words.
Nice story, excellent illustrations, and I've learned more Chinese characters from reading this book than I have in nearly a year of living in Beijing. And the kids like it too...
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