Jan 13, 2013

Covers of Numbers Do and Ears Hear

 


Numbers Do  數數
Written by Kathleen Ahrens and Chu-Ren Huang (in English & Chinese)
Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
Sun Ya Publishers (Hong Kong) - 2012 

(See a selection of double spreads from the published book below)

This story is about the power of a young child's imagination to create a world that is both safe and exciting. Written as both a counting book and a classic bedtime story, in it the young child leads her elder sister on an adventure that ends in the sweet realm of dreamland.

This book was written in short simple sentences so that it could be read aloud over and over again. Reading the same text aloud repeatedly helps a child implicitly become familiar with a language's structure. In addition, the warmth and safety that comes from reading and re-reading a story strengthens the caring bond between the person reading aloud and the child being read to. Both the English and Chinese versions introduce the most basic sentence patterns and also allow the child to practice counting from 1 to 10. The Chinese version also introduces the use of classifiers.





 Ears Hear 耳朵 聽見
Written by Kathleen Ahrens and Chu-Ren Huang
Illustrated by Marjorie van Heerden
Sun Ya Publishers (Hong Kong) - 2012

 (See a selection of double spreads from the published book below)

The story in this book was written to engage all the senses: sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. It was also written to capture the joy human beings feel when they spend time in fresh air and sunshine, admiring the animals and insects that share the world with us. Lastly, this book celebrates the love shared between a father and his child. 

Written in short simple sentences, this book is meant to be read aloud over and over again. Reading the same text aloud repeatedly helps a child implicitly become familiar with a language's structure, and at the same time it strengthens the caring bond between the person reading aloud and the child. The sentence pattern is expanded compared to the minimal sentences in Numbers Do. The verbs used in this book often have both subject and object. Readers may also notice the difference between Chinese and English, where subjects can often be omitted in Chinese.