1, 2, 3, Go! [Hardcover]

Huy Voun Lee (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A colorful, playful counting book that introduces young children to Chinese characters and action words.

One little girl catches a butterfly. Two small swimmers stomp in puddles. Three young musicians bang their drums. The children in this action-packed counting book jump, dance, and run through the numbers from one to ten. 1, 2, 3, Go! is an exciting introduction to the simplest and most logical of the beautiful picture-words that are used in written Chinese.

Bright colors and bold shapes make the logic behind the picture-words clear. Readers learn that the characters for words such as "push" and "carry," which are actions that involve the use of hands, include the basic character for "hand." And the picture words for actions done with the feet, such as kicking and dancing, all include the basic character for "foot."

In her delicate cut-paper artwork Huy Voun Lee, the author and illustrator of three other highly-acclaimed books on Chinese character writing, has captured all the joy and energy of children at play.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lee's (At the Beach; In the Snow) word and number primer has all the festive ebullience of a Chinese New Year's dragon. Each cream-colored, double-page spread serves as a backdrop for elegant, boldly-colored cut paper figures, a punchy number-verb combination and the appropriate Chinese characters. For "Three hit," a trio of children in ethnic costumes play drums beneath the graceful boughs of a tree; for "Nine kick," a band of leaping, shouting, red-belted martial arts students punch the air with their legs. Old and new blend subtly and gracefully: in most spreads, the children wear modern-day clothes, but occasionally their stylized expressions and poses (especially in the spread for "Six pull," which shows a group attempting to land a huge fish) evoke a much older and exotic visual tradition. For older children, the introductory pages offer a Mandarin Chinese pronunciation guide and some fascinating etymology: for example, Lee explains that the written Chinese for the words "kick," "run" and "jump" are all based on the basic character for "foot." Youngsters will love finding the hidden words within words and trying their hand at writing them. Ages 4-9. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 4-6. In this introduction to Chinese numbers and simple vocabulary, Lee effectively displays boldly contrasted cut-paper shapes on stark white backgrounds. Glossaries at the book's beginning and end present the Chinese characters for the words used and numbers one through ten, along with the English translations and a transliteration of the pronunciation in the Mandarin Chinese dialect. After an author's note explains the theory behind Chinese characters, each cleanly designed double-page spread illustrates a two-word phrase consisting of a number and a verb, while children portray the verb's action: "One catches" depicts one girl netting a butterfly; "Four push" shows four youngsters pushing large snowballs; and "Nine kick" features nine youths leaping in a karate style kick. With masterful simplicity, Lee leads readers to a preliminary appreciation of Chinese culture. Ellen Mandel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); First Edition edition (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080506205X
• ISBN-13: 978-0805062052
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Asian American
  • #91 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Chinese > Instruction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book! Beautiful artwork, and a GREAT way to learn Chinese characters!, September 27, 2008

By 

Christina Liu (Lake Mary, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 1, 2, 3, Go! (Hardcover)

I teach 5 - 7 year old children at Chinese School. I use this book in my class to teach the action vocabulary as well as the numbers. I love the fact that all the words are actions, and I have them do the actions while saying the words so that the children can make a physical connection to the words themselves, which makes it easier for them to remember.

In addition, she has selected words that use hands and words that use the feet, and in a future lesson, I will show them that they can guess at a meaning of a words by recognizing the "hand" radical versus the "foot" radical. This is a fabulous book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning Chinese characters!