The Little Pigs and the Sweet Rice Cakes: A Story Told in English and Chinese

by Li Jian

In America, every child knows the story of the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf, so they'll love reading about the pigs' Chinese counterparts.

Told in a bilingual Chinese and English edition, this is the story of three little pigs whose appetites initially get the better of them. In a shared dream, they met an old man who tells them to deliver malt sugar candies to him a week before New Year's Eve. The next morning, they see some malt sugar candies on their kitchen table. The three little pigs completely forget the old man and eat every bit of them. When their mother comes home, she is very angry to discover all the candies gone. Seeing their mother unhappy, the three little pigs help her make more delicious malt sugar candies. When there is only a week left before Chinese New Year's Eve, their mother lays the malt sugar candies in front of the portrait of the Kitchen God and prays for the peace for the family. On seeing the portrait, the three little pigs realize that the old man in their dreams is actually the Kitchen God!

Genres: Picture Books, Food, Animals, China, Nonfiction

42 pages, Hardcover

Published October 2, 2018

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three little pigs lie to mama about eating sweet rice cakes - and make her cry! See what you have done - she is crying because you lied to her! Great story for small children! This would be a great book for a small child trying to learn English/Chinese; the pictures really go well with the story and add depth to this twist on a classic tale.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, this is a story about lying & about not taking things that don’t belong to you. All perfectly acceptable. Something we all should learn as kids, and need reminding of as adults. The problem is that I thought that this might be a take on The Three Little Pigs, maybe mixed with Little Red Riding Hood and/or The Gingerbread Man. Beware: This book was none of that. It was interesting that the book was written in both English & one of the Chinese languages. (Legitimately, the cover is the book says: “Written in English & Chinese.” It seems like this is failing to take into account that there are multiple Chinese languages.)

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gift for V. from Sis. Bowers. She got something Chinese for our part Chinese baby--and it was just after the Chinese New Year, which we usually have a party for but couldn't this year. It has Chinese characters so Hubby could read aloud in Chinese. Has a moral of being honest and telling the truth.

[Miss Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

One little pig tells his siblings about a dream he had of sweet rice cakes later they discover some in there house and consume all of them. Nice mentions of why the rice cakes are made for a Chinese festival. Elementary and up

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bilingual book of English and Chinese. There is no Pin yin here. They list the english and then the Chinese characters. Something interesting is happening for me. I'm beginning to pick out certain words here and there and I can follow along a little better with the chinese. I have a long way to go, but it feels like I made a little progress. Yeah.

The artwork is muted in color. Everything feels sort of fuzzy and washed out. The pigs are still cute though.

This is a story about the Minor spring festival. The pigs have a dream about sweet rice cakes. They play, come home and find some and eat them. Mom comes home upset all the rice cakes are gone and the pigs all lie to her that they ate them. Still, mamma is forgiving and they all help make another batch.

A teaching little story.

[Ellice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the folktale aspect of this book, but thought the recipe didn't need to be included--I'm pretty sure most of the readers will not be able to procure osmanthus or steam rice cakes for hours. OK, but not amazing.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good cultural exploration book, with text in both English and Chinese.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe the story was lost somewhere in the translation, but I didn't like it.

[Ekaterina Trayt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first Chinese book! :D

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Celebrate Lunar New Year with this book, including the recipe.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting.
A tale about telling the truth and how lying hurts others.

[Kristine & Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some typos in the English and very weird descriptions. Awkward word choice. Definitely translated directly, not much flow, so it's not easy to read.