Bobby and Boo
Learn to Count in Chinese Too
Bobby and Boo is straightforward, educational, and fun, with engaging characters who learn to count in Chinese alongside their audience.
In Kathy de Bruin’s Bobby and Boo Learn to Count in Chinese Too, a boy and his cat go about their day discovering things and learning how to count them in Chinese, complete with pronunciation aides and catchy rhymes.
Bobby and Boo start their day of fun together by getting ready. They find one shoe. That shoe is counted in English followed by Chinese. The rest of the story follows in the same fashion: everything that Bobby and Boo discover, they learn to count in the two languages until their day ends and another adventure awaits off the page.
Though it’s perhaps oversimplified, Bobby and Boo is straightforward, educational, and fun, with characters who learn to count in Chinese alongside their audience, making the material engaging. Additionally, the entertaining rhyme scheme fits the situations Bobby and Boo find themselves in; text flows off of the tongue with ease.
The text’s use of repetition bodes well as a teaching method, and the book’s structure is easy to follow, though it does not tell a story in the traditional sense.
Bobby and Boo are characterized well. A typical day for them includes adventures and helping out, so that they double as good role models. They are curious, play together well, and never once get bored going about their day. The world, as seen through their eyes, is an interesting place.
The book’s computer-generated illustrations are colorful and sharp, though they overlap with the text in some situations. They are most helpful when it comes to illustrating how to count.
Bobby and Boo Learn to Count in Chinese Too is an educational picture book that will be helpful for those learning to count in Chinese.
Reviewed by
Rebecca Monterusso
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
