What Children Read

More than a few local teachers and parents suspect that children read far less than is necessary for their education and personal development. Even so, local bookshops confirm that probably a majority of youngsters do, in fact, indulge in leisure reading when they get the time and when they can afford to buy books rather than just low-priced comics. We list some of the most popular books among young people.

 

What foreign children read

Tots

Mind Your Manners, Pooh!, written by Jessica Glasscock and beautifully illustrated by Josie Yee. This cardboard-paged book is a fine lesson on the subject of manners, as taught by the accident-prone Winnie the Pooh. For tots learning to count (up to 20), there could be no better aid than Martina Selway's So Many Babies. It's fun to read, thanks to "teacher" Mrs. Badger. Give your youngster a final treat with a copy of Edward Lear's The Jumblies, illustrated by Ian Beck. It's all for learning as our heroes face a stormy sea.

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6-12 Year Olds

The Diana Wynne Jones's series The World of Chrestomanci, including Charmed Life, The Magicians of Caprona and The Lives of Christopher Chant,described a world parallel to ours, where magic is as normal as mathematics. Although the two worlds are not connected in any way, Chrestomanci also wrote some history of the real world. The mixture of reality and magic is best suited to children of mature reading abillity.

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Young Teenagers

The Hobbit, Prof. Tolkien's first published work, is the genesis of a tale which continues with the three much longer volumes of The Lord of the Rings. Terry Pratchett is one of the great inventors of secondary - or imaginary and alternative - worlds so also let your children try The Amazing Maurice. Specially written for young girls, Sandra Glover's The Girl Who Knew vividly portrays the life and thinking of teenage girls.

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Christmas' Specials

The customs and history of Christmas an important festival the world over has become kind of culture. Kay Chorao's Baby's Christmas Treasury combines classic nursery collections with sturdy board pages, telling the basic story of the festival. Highly recommended by parents and educators everywhere, the Magic Tree House series, by Mary Pope Osborne, introduces young readers to different cultures and periods of history, as well as to the world's legacy of ancient myth and story-telling. Christmas in Camelot combines two cultural elements.

 

What chinese children read

Classic Chinese Novels

The true value of the four classic masterpieces titled Si Da Ming Zhu lies both in their influence on other works and their enduring popularity among children. The familiar plots of these works have become part of Chinese culture and familiar to virtually every Chinese child.

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Zheng Yuanjie's Fairy Tales

As early as the 1980s, Zheng attacked strictly enforced (cramming) education and expressed his objection through the "good students" who featured in his tales. He created several memorable figures, such as a normal brother and sister - Pi Pi Lu and Lu Xi Xi, China's human versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse - Shuke, Beita and others. In addition, he commercialized his characters by producing artifacts such as Pi Pi Lu toothbrushes.

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Classic Reading Materials

The Three Character Scripture (San Zi Jing), 300 Tang Poems (Tang Shi San Bai Shou) and other famous pieces from ancient works have long been highly popular among young readers as well as the elderly. Despite the alternative lures of TV, movies and computer games, they continue to be widely read because of their emphasis on character development.

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Cartoon Manuals

No one knows for certain whether Chinese children were first attracted to foreign movie cartoons or cartoon books. No matter, for the fact remains that both mediums were immensely popular right from the start, a trend that shows no sign of waning. Currently, books about cartoon figures such as Mickey Mouse, Ting Ting, Atom, Snoopy, Garfield, Chibi Maruko and Mashimaro remain in huge demand.

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Classic Foreign Masterpieces

Along with internationally known fairy tales by the likes of Hans Christian Andersen and the brothers Grimm, other foreign masterpieces continue to attract more and more attention among children. Reading these works enables better understanding of foreign cultures and histories, both of which broaden a child's horizon. Lianhuanhua (Chinese picture-story books)

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Lianhuanhua(Chinese picture-story books)

Lianhuanhua was an extremely popular art form in China during the heady years after the liberation year of 1949. Books of this genre were a major source of stimulation and entertainment, though it began to wane over the years preceding 1985. While such books have yet to regain their original popularity, more and more children are now said to be reading them.

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Popular Foreign Books

Increasing involvement in all things international enables the Chinese to stay abreast of world trends, including literature. Hence the huge domestic popularity of the Harry Potter books and works such as Lord of the Rings. Local booksellers say such books greatly influence young readers as well as reflect the great changes in Chinese children's reading taste. Local youngsters like to compare the parallels of western and Chinese stories because they tend to find little difference between the two.