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Living in …China

This is a super quick overview of China for young readers. I was pleasantly amazed at how much information there was packed into these brief 32 pages! In 32 pages the book breaks China up into four regions: North, West, South, and East.  The North has the Gobi Desert, the West has the Himalayan Mountains, the South has the rain forests, and the East has the majority of large cities, such as, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Xi’an, and Beijing.

The book is introduced by a young Chinese boy telling the reader about his home country of China. His name is Jin. He lives in Hangzhou with his mother – who works at a bank, his father- -who works for a power company, and his Aunt Jun- who has come to the city looking for work.  The reader follows Jin on a typical day, starting with a breakfast of noodles with eggs. Then, off to school. Jin learns about the 40,000 years of China’s history. It includes a brief line or two about the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming Dynasties, along with the Mongol’s invasion, and the 1912 rebellion against the emperor. “My favorite part of history is learning about all of China’s great inventions. The Chinese are credited with inventing paper, printing, silk, and fireworks.” After lunch, they study science about the dinosaurs in the Gobi Desert.   They, also, study English, computer, art, music, and gym on various days. After school, dad picks Jin up for a snack. Jin is excited about tomorrow’s Dragon Boat Festival. The book closes with Jin’s family eating dinner.

The first page of this book is a glossary of fourteen entries. The last page is “ALL ABOUT CHINA” which includes: the official name of the country, population, capital, official language, total area, government, currency, fun facts, and flag.

Does not contain an index and table of contents.