Last week I was shopping around for a bilingual Chinese + English children's book for my future niece. It's technically my first cousin's daughter but in my family we call practically every female relation and non-relation 'cousin' or 'aunt'.
I came across a wonderful and unique story Monkey and Rabbit Together retold by Dr. Mike Lockett and illustrated by Ming-Jen Hsu.
The story is based on an African folktale about two friends faced with each other's bad habits. A monkey and rabbit have a contest to see who can sit still the longest without exhibiting any of their bad habits. Monkey has a bad habit of scratching while Rabbit sniffs constantly. While telling stories to pass the time, both Monkey and Rabbit can't help but fall back into their old behavior. By the end of the story the two friends learn to accept the other's 'annoying' habits with humor. The tale is a simple and genuine lesson about friendship.
Hsu's illustrations are wonderfully drawn. The animals' facial expressions crack me up. I especially liked his addition of animals joining in during their contest.
An audio CD comes with the book to help kids follow the story on their own. Monkey and Rabbit is in a bilingual format with English on one side and when flipped over, Chinese is on the other side.
This is the most perfect book for our family that I could ever imagine!!! I'm so glad you found this. I can't wait!!
ReplyDeleteI thought the same thing when I saw it at the store!
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