The Pet Dragon by illustrator and author Christopher Niemann was written in 2008 and is about a little girl named Lin who gets a pet dragon as a gift. Lin and the Dragon play together, do activities that other children would do, and they get into trouble. After breaking a vase, Lin’s father makes the dragon stay in a cage. When Lin goes to the cage the next day, the dragon is gone. After searching everywhere a little old lady who happens to be a witch helps Lin find the dragon after she did a favor for the old lady. When Lin is returned home safely by the dragon, Lin’s father lets the dragon and Lin play together again. While the story is being told, children learn Chinese characters through the illustrations.
I thought the author was very creative in the way he taught children Chinese characters. The book was intriguing, and the illustrations were colorful and cartoon like. I also liked how the book showed a little bit of Chinese culture and how children living in China do the same activities as children living in America. The book is great for young readers, because there are not a lot of words and the Chinese characters are shown in the illustrations and at the bottom of the page. This book can be used in a language arts lesson by having children draw a picture of one of the Chinese characters, such as a tree and then having them write the Chinese character next to the picture. This way students are able to have fun while learning Chinese characters.
I thought the author was very creative in the way he taught children Chinese characters. The book was intriguing, and the illustrations were colorful and cartoon like. I also liked how the book showed a little bit of Chinese culture and how children living in China do the same activities as children living in America. The book is great for young readers, because there are not a lot of words and the Chinese characters are shown in the illustrations and at the bottom of the page. This book can be used in a language arts lesson by having children draw a picture of one of the Chinese characters, such as a tree and then having them write the Chinese character next to the picture. This way students are able to have fun while learning Chinese characters.
