Author(s): Catherine Bruzzone

Middle Fiction 8-12-year-olds

Learning words in Mandarin Chinese becomes a fun game for kids when they open this brand-new addition to Barron's "Hide & Speak "series. The book features vertical half-page flaps that extend from the top of the back cover. Kids use the flaps to cover either half of any right-hand page, on which a column of color illustrations adjoins a column of Chinese words that name the illustrated objects. The words column presents the phonetic spelling for each Chinese word as well as a simplified Chinese character to match each picture. After studying the words and pictures, kids use the appropriate cover flap to hide the words. Next, they recite the Mandarin Chinese words out loud as they try to match each picture with the right word. They can reverse the learning process by covering the illustrations that show the Chinese words, and naming the English language equivalent for each. Children can also use an erasable felt-tip pen to write their answers on the cover flaps. The words and pictures on each right-hand page relate to a single theme, such as "Dressing Up" (learning names for clothes), "At the Zoo" (animal names), "On the Street "(cars, trucks, bicycles, buses), "My family " (names of relatives), and others--10 themes in total. The facing left-hand page shows a large illustration related to the theme along with bilingual descriptive statements.