2024 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Winner

 

The package came, and my new book, Little Bun A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings finally arrived!

Writing With A Partner

This time I have a co-author. This writing partner also did the illustrations. The making of this picture book is a story in itself. At one point I was not sure if this was possible.

 

What Is Little Bun?

The idea of Little Bun originated from a popular and common Chinese dish and snack food, steamed buns, bāo zi 包子. You can see them in bamboo cages at food stalls on the streets or in restaurants in Taiwan and China.

A Story For Social-Emotional Learning

A story my co-author and I wanted to write is about feelings and emotions. Little kids need to know how to identify, verbalize, and ask for support when they experience big and small feelings. So we want to write this story in a way that is simple, connecting, and relatable for young kids.

In the meantime, we want young readers to connect with the Chinese language if it is new to them. Furthermore, we want young readers who are learning Mandarin to connect with this story and feel comfortable sharing their emotions in two languages, English and Chinese.

 

Bilingualism And Young Children

A Harvard research story confirms that many studies on the cognitive benefits of bilingualism from infancy suggest that bilingualism in children should be encouraged.

According to Dr. Patricia Kuhl, Babies are linguistic geniuses! Dr. Kuhl is internationally recognized for her research on early language and brain development, and studies that show how young children learn. More importantly, her work demonstrates how early exposure to languages alters the brain.

In addition, studies also show the following cognitive advantages of learning more than one language at a young age:

• Better ability in problem-solving, creativity, and pattern recognition

• Improved academic performance

• More empathetic and better perspective-taking

  These are just a few real skills to prepare children for the future of work and the next generation.

 

Reading Bilingual Storybooks

Introducing bilingual books with printed text in English and Chinese is a good way to ignite curiosity in children of all backgrounds.

Reading bilingual books provides young kids exposure to a world language that they are likely to hear in the community. Furthermore, it can also be exciting for children who have Chinese as a home language to see their heritage language script appearing in books that their friends can read in the community language (English) as well.

 

Who Is the Co-Author of Little Bun A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings

This book was co-authored and illustrated by my teen daughter, Emily. Yes, that’s my cub who often appeared in my earlier videos to sing songs, share expressions, and do activities with me in Mandarin.

At the beginning of the writing process, Emily and I discussed the foods we enjoy on our trips to Taiwan. Emily also reflected on the emotions she felt over the course of acquiring Mandarin, her heritage language. Our goal is to help little kids enjoy the story and have an opportunity to connect with the Chinese language in a way that their friends can enjoy it, too. Either, in English or in Chinese. The magic happens when children can read the book together and talk about it. With you, friends, and/or grandparents…

Little Bun, The Lead Character

“LITTLE BUN: A BILINGUAL STORYBOOK ABOUT FEELINGS” guides young children to identify their feelings, helps parents and caregivers acknowledge children’s emotions, and supports their developing social-emotional skills. Therefore, the story follows Little Bun, the lead character, who is created from a popular Chinese dish, as he learns how to express his emotions with words and shares how he feels so people around him can understand and support him.

 

Emotions and Feelings Experienced On A Bilingual Journey

For my daughter and me, “Little Bun” is a bilingual children’s picture book and a milestone of our family’s bilingual journey. We want to share the feelings and emotions we have experienced while embracing our heritage language, culture, and identity. We hope this book can open up conversations about feelings for you and your child and extend the discussion to the special foods that bring you and your child joy and fond memories.

Who Is This Book For

This bilingual book is for young children ages 2-6. It is written in English, Chinese, and Pinyin with online audio reading in Mandarin.

 

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Where Can I Locate Little Bun

There are two language versions available: Traditional Chinese, Pinyin, and English version + Simplified Chinese, Pinyin, and English version. You can take a look at the inside pages in the following channels.

Amazon Traditional Chinese hardcover | paper | kindle and Simplified Chinese hardcover | paper | kindle

Bookshop Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese

 

Book Reviews • What People Say About Little Bun: A Bilingual Storybook About Feelings

 

A Much-Needed Book for Little Ones to Express Their Emotions – …Young kids don’t always know how to express their feelings. This book can help them to verbalize what their feeling inside. As a super huge bonus, this is a bilingual book in English, Simplified Chinese, and Pinyin. There are many bilingual English/Chinese books out there that teach everyday vocabulary words (numbers, colors, etc.). But I haven’t seen one that addresses emotional learning which is just as important as academic learning. In addition, the illustrations are so adorable! Fun fact: the author’s daughter illustrated the book. I highly recommend this book!

-Maria Wen Adcock, Biculturalmama & author of It’s Chinese New Year, Curious George

Miss Panda Chinese – a superb bilingual blogger – has released a bilingual storybook about feelings called Little Bun. …What I really like is that it’s a book about feelings, and how to express emotions in words, which can be ever-so-hard in one language, let alone two.”

-Emily Teoh, founder of LahLahBanana and author of A Way with Words

This newest book is just adorable and follows Little Bun through all his feelings and what he does and doesn’t do as a result those feelings. All kids (and even us adults) will be able to relate. As a bonus, you’ll learn how to express your feelings in Chinese, as well as in English!”

– Eugenia Chu, author of Brandon Makes Jiao Zi and Brandon Goes To Hong Kong series

As the mom of a preschooler, I love books and resources that explain the different emotions. It (Little Bun) definitely helps me as I try to teach my son how to name and express his feelings. The book is cute and colorful which makes it even more fun learning about the different emotions!

-Briana Jazmin, Founder of Hellamamathings

Steam buns are an iconic Chinese food that everyone loves. It’s a perfect character for a Chinese English bilingual book. It is attractive to kids because it’s cute and smooth. Little Bun allows us to teach our kids 12 emotional terms that we can use in daily life. It’s very useful. After introducing all 12 emotions, I love how the author ask the readers how they feel. That’s a perfect ending, and leaves us a moment to discuss our emotions together. Of course, it has high-quality audio that is easy to access, so we can use it to listen while reading.”

-Po Tim King, Founder of FortuneCookieMom

Little Bun was written by Amanda and her daughter Emily (so sweet! It makes me want to write a book with my kids!) and is a simple, easy to understand book about feelings for young children. I always kept a handful of books about feelings in my classroom library when I taught preschool to help the children learn about all the different emotions they could be experiencing. …Little Bun would be a fantastic addition to any early childhood school or home library.”

-Natalie, Founder of Cardboardmom

About the Author

Amanda Hsiung-Blodgett is the founder of Miss Panda Chinese, the Chinese language consultant on Netflix’s “Word Party” dual language seasons, and the host of the Playful Chinese podcast. Her published work includes “First Mandarin Sounds: An Awesome Chinese Word Book” and “Let’s Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda!” streaming album. She has appeared in Highlights parents (Highlights), Today parenting (NBC), Multicultural kids blogs, and the annual Multicultural Chidlren’s Book Day publishing event. Her MissPandaChinese.com blog was selected as one of the Top 25 Chinese Language Blogs on the web. Her global education program and speaking engagements have been invited to schools, libraries, universities, and corporates.