Like his mother, AJ is a real book worm and now has amassed quite the collection of bilingual Canto/English books. One of his favourite books is ‘Things that Go!‘ by Karen Yee, which he affectionately refers to as his “go go book”. I think there was a solid 8 months where I read his go go book to him literally every night. We own all of Karen’s books and I’ve been planning a book review of them for a while. So you can imagine my utter delight in being contacted by Karen for me to review her latest book, ‘Calvin Goes to School‘. (Make sure to read to the end to find out how to win your own copy!)
Note: Karen sent me a copy of her book in exchange for an honest review. This review is 100% my own opinion. In addition, this post contains affiliated links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. I only ever link products I personally use and recommend.
Overview
The book follows our protagonist, Calvin, who spends a lovely day at school. School is a fantastic place where his classmates and teacher are animals. On the day we see Calvin, there is a new student and Calvin shows us how to be kind to others and make friends. We also learn school is a fun place to be!
Features
- The book is written in colloquial/spoken Cantonese with jyutping and English text alongside, which is perfect for parents who sik1 teng1 m4 sik1 gong2 and those who only speak English.
- There is also an audio recording on the Green Cow Books website and YouTube channel for those who aren’t confident with their Cantonese pronunciation.
- In addition to the story, each page has a ‘Look and Find’ activity along the bottom. This is a great way for learning new vocabulary, especially for toddlers who aren’t old enough to really follow a narrative.
- There is also the bonus activity of find Calvin’s dinosaur throughout the book. AJ is currently dinosaur-obsessed so very much enjoys this challenge.
My Thoughts
Firstly, I’m delighted that Karen has written another early reader. Currently, she only has one other book with a story: ‘Goh Goh and Dai Dai’s Big Day with Elephant‘. While AJ loves the picture books, naming every object in every colour combination can become tedious for the adults (Though this has become a lot more fun now AJ can say a lot of the words and we can “read” them together). Having the combination of a story and word banks means that the book can be enjoyed lots of different ways by a wider age range. Developmentally, it’s better to name objects in a picture book for toddlers than to read a story aloud and then once the child is older, they can understand the story and learn to read it themselves. It’s great to have a book that can grow up with AJ.
The layout of ‘Calvin Goes to School’ is very clear and the illustrations are beautiful. I noticed that this is the first book that doesn’t feature Karen’s alternative romanisation, which I think is a good decision. The pages don’t seem busy, which is no easy feat for books containing two languages and the romanisation! Whilst my non-Canto-speaking partner used the alternative romanisation a lot (he hasn’t bothered to learn jyutping), reading the text in a British accent meant some of his pronunciations were off. I believe it will be better for him to just learn how to read jyutping than to rely on alternative romanisation.
Whilst the storyline is simple, there are strong messages about the importance of friendship, celebrating diversity, and enjoying education. These are all things I want to instil to AJ and I feel books are the best way to teach children about big concepts and ideas. Although some of AJ’s books are just fun to read, it’s a real bonus to have books that also have positive lessons attached.
Finally, I wanted to say that ‘Calvin Goes to School’ is a real step up from Karen’s previous books. I would love to see a whole series following Calvin and his friends, especially about Dragon. AJ always laughs at Dragon’s antics in the background so we think his character deserves more time to shine.
Giveaway
I’m very excited to announce that Karen and I are offering you the opportunity to win your own copy of ‘Calvin Goes to School’. To enter, head over to my instagram account to find my post about the giveaway. You will need to:
- Like the post
- Follow @mamabearcantonese and @greencowsbooks
- Tag your friends in the comments – each tag is a bonus entry
You can earn 2 bonus entries if you share the post to your stories. Make sure to tag @mamabearcantonese and @greencowbooks so we can see it! You have until 14/2/24, 11:59PM GMT to enter. Good luck!
P.S. I highly recommend you check out all of Green Cows Books. We literally own every one and they are well-used and much loved in this house.
Mama Bear Cantonese 