ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 13th May 2016 - "Chineasy Everyday" by ShaoLan Hsueh and Noma Bar (Thames and Hudson)

And now for our second book of the week, something very different and very awesome indeed!
If you've never heard of "Chineasy" before, you are in for a real treat because the amazing pictorial system for learning Chinese now comes in a fantastic subject-rich book format, specifically designed to get your kids up and running and learning the world's fastest growing language.

Shaolan Hsueh, an entrepreneur living and working in London, struggled to find a decent system for teaching her children Chinese. So she came up with a unique visual system to teach her kids common phrases in a fun and engaging way. And Chineasy was born!

We previously looked at the fantastic Chineasy app for iPad and iPhone and wished that the system was available in book form. Now it is, we think this is a real winner of a book - containing over 400 commonly used Chinese words and phrases on a whole range of subjects from people to nature, travel to food.

Gorgeously designed, easy to follow and truly visually appealing. What a brilliant system!

As you can see from the page shots, the book is set out in a number of chapters - starting with numbers, times and dates and tucked away within each illustration are the chinese symbols to learn and master.

Learning the calendar - it's Chineasy once you know how!

Chinese is one of the most daunting languages to learn, but the book really does get you off to a great start and the younger your children are when they start to learn a second language, the better. Thankfully the book has a broad age range appeal from toddlers right up to older children around Charlotte's age.

Innovative 'thumb markers' help you find the page you're looking for with colour coded tabs. 

Pretty much everything has been thought of here, from engaging and bold illustrations right down to thumbnail indexing and colour coding to ensure you always find the right part of the book you're looking for.

What a brilliant and innovative system! We have had a lot of fun learning Chinese the Chineasy way.

(Kindly sent to us for review by Thames and Hudson)

"Chineasy Everyday"

Written and Illustrated by ShaoLan Hsueh and Noma Bar

Published by Thames and Hudson

Publication Date: 28th March 2016