The Twelve Animals of the Chinese Zodiac

Traditional Fables in Chinese and English - A Bilingual Storybook for Kids (Free Online Audio Recordings)

Peng Wang author Vivian Ling author Yang Xi illustrator

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Tuttle Publishing

Published:3rd Oct '23

Should be back in stock very soon

The Twelve Animals of the Chinese Zodiac cover

Twelve Traditional Stories That Children Will Love!

This bilingual children's book presents a charming collection of folktales and fables on the timeless theme of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. All of these stories are very popular in China, retold and adapted here to appeal to young readers and children all around the world. Each story explores a moral dilemma that young readers can easily understand, and provides a gentle lesson that they will discover for themselves.

The twelve stories in this book include:

  • "How a Monkey Was Doomed by His Own Pride" A monkey is rescued by a dolphin after a shipwreck but is dumped back into the sea when his pretense of being rich and famous is discovered.
  • "What Kind of Music Do Cows Appreciate?" A master musician does not blame the cows when they don't like his music, but instead learns to create music that the cows will appreciate.
  • How Do You Make Dragons Come to Life?" An artist obeys the emperor's command to add eyes to his painted dragons, but when the dragons come to life and fly away, it tuns out this was not what the emperor wanted after all.
  • And nine other stories!

This book is intended for children 7-12 years. It is for young language learners as well as general readers.

Let Good Ideas Flourish: A Q&A with Author Vivian Ling
"If you have more than a passing interest in the culture of Asian countries, whether that is folklore, mythology, traditional crafts, food or a host of other areas, then you should really be placing books from Tuttle Publishing at the top of your list. […] The Twelve Animals of the Chinese Zodiac is one for younger readers, being a collection of traditional fables from the region; short stories designed to entertain but to teach an important message at the same time." —Mark Norman, The Folklore Podcast
"As an Asian American parent, I see this book as an effective vehicle to get our kids interested in their heritage and culture, as well as to motivate them to learn the language." —Yan Lei, Senior Lecturer in Chinese at Dartmouth College

ISBN: 9780804855945

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 595g

64 pages