My Home 我的家 {Book Review & Giveaway}

When we were in Sweden and Angel was still a toddler at that time, there was a type of book that I really wanted to lay my hands on but it was just too rare to find - A bilingual English-Chinese book! In case you don't know yet, Mandarin is our spoken language in the house as I really want my kids to get acquainted with this language since young and hopefully grow up to be effectively bilingual.

Now that Ariel is at the phase where she starts to love storytelling and is picking up more words every day, I'm constantly on the lookout for books which will help to expand both her English and Chinese vocabulary in a fun and interesting manner.

My Home is a picture book and activity book targeted at children between the ages of 2 and 6. The picture book in particular is the only one in Singapore with bilingual English-Chinese content and lift-the-flap games!

The book follows the story of little boy Jason, who wants somebody to play with him but everyone is just too busy. What should he do? Accompanied by his faithful dog, Blackie, Jason investigates every room in his HDB flat to find a playmate.

Wait, did I just say HDB flat? Oh yes, of course! My Home is a locally-produced picture book and depicts everyday family life in Singapore. Don't be surprised to see familiar words and scenes like HDB, void deck, community centre, market (巴刹), neighbourhood playground and more! That is definitely something that makes this book very vibrant and unique.

Personally, I prefer to read the Chinese words to my girl because they rhyme and are more fascinating to listen to. However, the first time I read it, I did find some of the word arrangement a little odd, for instance "妈妈正把妹妹抱, 待会儿得把奶粉泡". It's not grammatically wrong, just different from how we would usually phrase our sentences, like "妈妈正在抱妹妹, 待会儿得泡奶粉" which you can see would have totally ruined the rhyming of the ending words.
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I'm not sure about your child but mine totally loves to lift the flaps! Every single one of them. The fun part about the flaps in My Home is that instead of looking for a picture or word, it functions more like a game where you try to look for the answer to a question, for instance the one above tasks you to look for an object which dropped out of the baby's hand.

The activity book has stickers, games, DIY activities, flashcards and revision exercises based on the contents of the picture book. I think that some of these activities are more suited for children aged 5-6, for instance some of the crafts instructions can be quite tough to follow and the words on the flashcards can be rather challenging too. One good thing about the book is that it comes with Hanyu Pinyin! This is a great learning opportunity for Angel who is starting to learn it in school this year.

As for the toddler, her favourite activity was designing her own bedroom and pasting stickers all over!


I like how the activity recaps about all the objects you find in different rooms of the house. What's more, the objects featured are the common ones that most of us can relate to and have them lying in our own homes too. That definitely makes it easier to teach the child and will benefit them in recognising and identifying more things in their environment too.

Have you ever seen a crossword puzzle in Chinese? Quite interesting, right? If your child likes puzzles and games, then these fun-filled games and activities will be sure to keep him/her occupied and entertained.

Lastly, I feel that that even though we want our children to be effectively bilingual, it is not advisable to mix and match our sentences in both English and Chinese till it becomes rojak (which seems very easy for a child to pick up)! It is better to communicate in either pure English, or pure Chinese, and then alternate between both of them, while letting your child understand that these are two different languages altogether.

Let's all have fun learning!

For more book offers, check out Wild Crane Press at www.wildcranepress.com. They are now having a 50% discount special promotion to celebration our nation's 50th birthday and local delivery is free for all orders above S$50.

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For those of you who will like to receive a set of My Home picture book and activity book, here's your chance to win!


This giveaway is open to all readers with a Singapore address for delivery. To participate, leave a comment in this blog post with your name, email address and why you would like to win a set of My Home. Indicate in the Rafflecopter that you have done so and to increase your chances of winning, you can follow the rest of the options. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclosure: We received a complimentary set of My Home picture book and activity book in writing this review. Giveaway sets are provided by Wild Crane Press. All opinions are my own.