My First Book of Vietnamese Words: An ABC Rhyming Book of Vietnamese Language and Culture

by Phuoc Thi Minh Tran, Dong Nguyen (Illustrator), Hop Thi Nguyen (Illustrator)

Overview

*Winner Moonbeam Children's Book Award*
*Winner Creative Child Magazine Book of the Year Award*
*Freeman Book Award for Children's Literature*

My First Book of Vietnamese Words is a beautifully illustrated book that introduces Vietnamese language and culture to young children through everyday words.

This Vietnamese children's book teaches in a playful way—combining the familiar ABC rhyming structure with vivid illustrations to encourage young children's natural language learning abilities. Words kids use every day in English are joined by words unique to Vietnamese culture to give kids a glimpse of Vietnamese life and to show how, despite cultural differences, children all over the world have a lot in common.

Linguistic and cultural notes are added to enhance the kids' adventure in a land that's modern yet filled with beautiful traditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780804849074
Publisher:	Tuttle Publishing
Publication date:	08/29/2017
Series:	My First Words
Edition description:	Bilingual
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	657,613
Product dimensions:	9.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Phuoc Thi Minh Tran spent ten months in a refugee camp in Malaysia before coming to America. In 1984, a 50-hour Greyhound bus trip brought her from California to Minnesota, where she became the state's first Vietnamese librarian. She has been an active storyteller for over twenty years, visiting many cities across the US to share Vietnamese folklore with children and adults alike. She is the author of the Moonbeam Award-winning Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories.
https://phuocthiminhtran.wordpress.com

Illustrators Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong began their careers as young professional artists in the South Vietnam of the 1960s, exhibiting in France, Taiwan, Germany, and the US as well as in Saigon. Since their marriage in 1968, they have collaborated on book and magazine covers, posters and illustrations for over one hundred titles for publishers around the world. Among their many titles are Thich Nhat Hanh's Each Breath a Smile and Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories.

Editorial Reviews

"This book by the team that produced the award-winning Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories, provides cultural tidbits, values, and traditions in captions, with rhymes (and occasionally strained meter) in large type for young readers … Despite the challenges of Vietnamese language and uncertain meter, this book is a lovely tribute to a culture and its people. A valuable addition to a language and geography collections." —School Library Journal

"Alphabet books that reinforce the beauty and importance of learning about many languages and cultures." —Booklist

"Readers gain a useful introduction to the Vietnamese language, alphabet, and culture in this companion to similar books on Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, and other Asian languages … supplemental cultural details, included in brief asides, add valuable context to a book with few competitors on bookstore shelves." —Publishers Weekly

"…informative on what the Vietnamese culture and language [is] about." — Nouchi Xiong, MIA's Global Youth Exchange Program participant

"Open up any one of these books and you'll see beautiful illustrations depicting the target culture, a fun and memorable rhyme, the foreign vocab in Roman letters, as well as in their native script." —Castle View Academy blog

"Teaches the alphabet in a playful and cultural way by combining the familiar ABC rhyming structure with vivid illustrations to encourage young children's natural language learning abilities. Words kids use every day in English are joined by words unique to Vietnamese culture to give kids a glimpse of Vietnamese life and to show how, despite cultural differences, children all over the world have a lot in common. Linguistic and cultural notes are added to enhance the kids' adventure in a land that's modern yet filled with wonderful traditions." —Midwest Book Review

"The book guides visitors through the English alphabet with short rhymes and some contextual information…" —8Asians.com

"…this hardbound book will teach your child so much. While spending time together, you and your child will learn about Vietnamese culture and some new words along the way. A great addition to your child's library." —Texas Kitchen blog

From the Publisher

08/01/2017
K-Gr 3—This book by the team that produced the award-winning Vietnamese Children's Favorite Stories, provides cultural tidbits, values, and traditions in captions, with rhymes (and occasionally strained meter) in large type for young readers. There are two pages of pronunciation help, though no mention of the six possible tones that combine with the diacritics. As with other related books from the publisher (My First Book of Hindi Words), images and boldface type allow readers to connect the Vietnamese word with its English meaning, and a word list at the end confirms the association. The clear, delicate line-and-color illustrations in soft neon depict smiling children, usually enjoying food or play. VERDICT Despite the challenges of Vietnamese language and uncertain meter, this book is a lovely tribute to a culture and its people. A valuable addition to a language and geography collections.—Patricia D. Lothrop, formerly at St. George's School, Newport, RI

School Library Journal