Bulk childrens books in Chinese?

[AdrianK]

Hello,

 

I was hoping someone would know where I could find a lot of childrens books in Chinese. Any topic is fine, I just want some material to read and my level of Chinese is only good enough to read very simple childrens books. I'm talking 5-6 year old stuff lol.

 

Suggest some titles if you know any, or perhaps some authors. Anything really would be greatly appreciated. I have a kobo so double points for kobo ebook suggestions.

 

Thanks a lot

[Silent]

How about a book store?

[AdrianK]

Haha yeah that'd be the obvious choice. That's all in Chinese and it's a little beyond me though. I'm really after some titles or authors. I don't want to buy a book only to find it's not what I expected. Apologies if I'm being a little demanding.

[Lu]

Have you considered graded readers? I haven't tried them myself, but they seem the kind of thing you might be looking for without knowing it.

[AdrianK]

Sorry I'm still new to learning Chinese - What is a graded reader? Is there a thread on this forum to do with them?

Thanks for taking the time to help. Much appreciated.

[Shelley]

Yes there are lots of topics about Graded readers on the forum. Just type Graded reader in to the search box top right and there lots of results to choose from.

 

The good thing about graded readers is that they have a different levels of characters but the stories are not baby stories.

[Silent]

graded readers are books designed for learners. So it uses simple language vocabulary and grammar wise.

I think 'Chinese Breeze' is a good series to start but there are many more.

 

Native childrensbooks are often not as simple as you may expect. Many stories are not about day to day live, also children tend to have fair language skills when they start reading. They mainly learn to read, quite different from non-natives that often start learning to read without pre-existing language skills. 

[AdrianK]

Oh okay thanks so much!

 

[daofeishi]

If you're fine with reading the books on a computer/in a browser, there are plenty of children's books available online for free. Just google 小人书, and you'll find several pages that list them by their cover.

 

Try this website for example. Click on any title in any category and look for the words 在线阅读. Here's a cute, simple, educational story that might be up your alley. 

 

 

graded readers are books designed for learners. So it uses simple language vocabulary and grammar wise.

 

...which is why they are only a crutch and should be dispelled with as soon as possible. I actually think many motivated learners do best by starting out with suitably chosen native level material (in addition to their textbooks/teachers).  Graded readers are tailored to the non-native learner to a point where the language very often sounds stilted or off to native speakers. I have seen many readers where the author forcibly stuffs the words or structures he thinks are important into conversations where most Chinese speakers would have made different choices. Since you learn to emulate the material you study, you could also end up acquiring some bad habits that would have to be broken later. Simple cartoons and illustrated children's books might be hard on the palate in the beginning, but they are much more wholesome than the canned and processed stuff, and better for you in the long term. 

[easternodyssey]

Search randomly on Dbank, maybe start with this list http://dl.dbank.com/c02eajbsh9. However, I suggest going to one of the Chinese language childrens website and use a pop up dictionary such as http://www.gushi365.com/ or http://book.pcbaby.com.cn/gushi. PC Baby is really good for beginers as it has the audio while reading.

[AdrianK]

Thanks for all the help guys. All very useful information. I've purchased a couple graded readers, and I'll also look into the other suggestions.

[Silent]

 

Since you learn to emulate the material you study, you could also end up acquiring some bad habits that would have to be broken later. Simple cartoons and illustrated children's books might be hard on the palate in the beginning, but they are much more wholesome than the canned and processed stuff, and better for you in the long term.

I guess it depends on quality of the graded reader, which as a beginner is impossible to judge. But I think the reasoning is true for children books too. Books aimed at children are using different vocabulary too. So maybe the question should be do you prefer to come across as a child or just strange:) No route is perfect.