In Search of Hua Ma: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Breakthrough Level

Breakthrough level

by John Pasden, Jared Turner, Shishuang Chen

As a young boy is walking through the mountains in search of a gift for his mother’s birthday, he comes across an ancient house. An old lady beckons him inside and asks him to find “Hua Ma”. As he leaves, he finds himself inexplicably transported to the distant island of Hainan while the old lady and the house have disappeared. Unsure of who or what Hua Ma is, he sets out on a quest to find him, realizing this mysterious Hua Ma may be his only chance to find his way back home!

Mandarin Companion is a series of easy-to-read novels in Chinese that are fun to read and proven to accelerate language learning. Every book in the Mandarin Companion series is carefully written to use characters, words, and grammar that a learner is likely to know.

The Breakthrough Level is written using only 150 unique Chinese characters and is intended for Chinese learners who have obtained a low elementary or novice level of Chinese. Most learners will be able to approach this book after one year of traditional formal study, depending on the learner and program. This level is designed to help learners begin to read full-length texts in Chinese and combines simplicity of characters with an easy-to-understand storyline that helps beginners grow their vocabulary and language comprehension abilities.

Genres: China

80 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2019

Reviews

[Morgan Mc]

First Chinese book!✅

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 3rd graded reader 🎉 read aloud with tangents for clarification + discussion over a period of 9 sessions with my tutor, since late April. This was a really well-written original story with magic realism elements about a boy from Shānxī just trying to bring home a nice big flower for his mom's birthday, while using a core set of only 150 characters. I'm impressed.

- getting the hang of 的
- distinguishing 住 and 在
- learning 一边 x, 一边 y structure
- realizing the "comma" I glazed over is a unique punctuation mark used almost like the English misuse of the slash
- looking for negation clue (都没有) to suggest "not even [x]"
- expanding recognition of prep. words like 对, 给, 到，etc.
- lol @ 很老很老的老头 (tripped over this one)
- expanding recognition of 要 as imperative + something about to happen
- catching at least one new sandhi rule for 一边 and 一点 （1st to 4th tone)
- 笑 is more smiling, not really laughing

[Ula · Rating 5 out of 5]

My fourth Chinese book read in 2023! 🎉🥳🏮

[Jessica Whitworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant way to practise Chinese, I really enjoyed reading this book 🙂

[selina (^_−)−☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

idk i just really think nannans parents were really irresponsible letting him walk around and talk to strangers like that at such a young age. also not a fan of the way it left on a cliffhanger? how did his parents know the old woman??? 3 stars for the moral message tho

[Bex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute little story, packaged in an attractive book, with lots of helpful notes and vocabulary. It also used repetition of set sentence structures in different contexts, which was useful to be able to see how they are used in various applicable situations.

Although it is aimed at beginner to intermediate readers, it felt more like a children's book than one for adult Mandarin learners. Part of me doesn't mind that, because I am in fact an overgrown child, but part of me would have liked something that felt a teeny bit less juvenile, perhaps.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found that this is the best book to practice pronunciation with out of the Breakthrough Level Mandarin Companion books that I've read. There are moments where the authors purposefully challenge new learners to make distinctions with tones (ex: placing 马，妈妈，and 吗 near each other) and words with similar pronunciation (like 去 and 出). I found the story to be pretty good but not quite as engaging as Just Friends or My Teacher is a Martian. But, like I said before, this book is really good for learning and practicing, and I definitely recommend it!

[Clifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

In very simple Chinese, this book is a fun way to practice reading instead of just studying grammar and vocabulary. This is the first Mandarin Companion book I've read and it was perhaps too easy for my level--not the book's fault, of course--so I'll look for more advanced books in the series. Recommended for students of Chinese.

[G · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last of the breakthrough MC graded readers for me, and I think it's the most solid. Easily readable but an interesting story. Like the other breakthrough books, though, they can't resist filling the plot with unsolved mysteries and end on a cliffhanger. I think I've just learned to accept it.

The group of short Hainan guys are hilarious. "你是马妈妈吗？"

[Cat {Pemberley and Beyond} · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took forever to finish as I've been using the text in so many ways (home-made blank filling exercise, handwriting practice, pronunciation practice). Absolutely loved this, and will keep an eye out for other texts in the series.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another successful captivating Mandarin Companion for struggling Chinese language readers. Not too easy, not too difficult, just right to build you confidence in reading. Highly recommended.

[Lily M · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first book in Chinese!

[Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

我的第一本中文书，非常怀旧...哈哈哈

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2024: A book that takes place over the course of 24 hours (read in 2025)

[Ca Quang · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's really a great book. Easy to understand for beginners.

[John Osborne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished my first book in Chinese! The conversations were a bit dull and repetitive, but I suppose that is to be expected with only 150 characters. The plot twist was also pretty obvious. That said, it was still far more enjoyable than reading a textbook.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for newbies to Mandarin. Even manages some linguistic humor understandable with only 150 characters, which is quite an accomplishment for the authors and makes the reader feel pretty clever too. Sure it's redundant with 150 characters but they use those characters with maximum creativity and a lot can be learned about language structures by osmosis, and the repetition cements the learning. Makes a nice break from and reward for traditional textbook-based learning, and comes with a handy glossary and even discussion questions at the end.

[Gabrielle (Estel.Edits) · Rating 5 out of 5]

🎉This is my first Chinese book!🎉⁠
//⁠
Then I immediately bought another and read yet another chapter. My Chinese reading stamina has exponentially escalated with these grader readers! When I started In Search of Hua Ma, two pages would leave me mentally exhausted. Now I'm up to easily reading 2-3 chapters in one sitting!⁠
//⁠
Mandarin Companion does a great job of choosing important phrases and words to include in the index. I like that I have to work a little to get the translation. And, above all, they don't include Pinyin on the page. Thank goodness.

[Cori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute, a bit repetitive, but that meant by the end it was very comfortable reading.