Susan You Mafan

I give this book five stars because I love it. And I love this book as a beginning student because it makes me think that I am making progress and that I can actually read a real book (well, almost real) in Chinese. The glossary contains about 400 words, and I don't think that there's anything in the story not keyed in the glossary, but since it's rarely necessary to refer to that glossary while reading, this book felt very much like reading in Chinese.==========This book in my opinion is great for a beginner student of Chinese to both reinforce ones pinyin reading or someone like me that can speak some Mandarin yet cannot read the characters yet can read Pinyin. Of course, any freshly new student of Chinese would need a teacher to guide them through the basics of the tones and pinyin pronunciation and so forth before jumping ahead to reading characters.One reviewer mentioned some typeo's yet when I looked one of the word up in the glossary it was correct. Nevertheless, I am pleased with the level of this book, perfect for my level moving into reading Chinese. .===========My fourth grade son is in a Mandarin immersion program and he absolutely loved this book. The book was funny and not too difficult, there was only a single word he didn't already know. He brought the book to school several times to share with classmates and his teacher. This is the best book I have found so far for him - much more fun than picture books, but not too difficult. I wish this author had written more - we have her other novel Anna mei banfa. Would highly recommend this book to any parent with a child in a Mandarin immersion program.