Mandarin Companion Graded Readers: Breakthrough Level

For the past several years, we’ve had a rule in our house (for the kids): “No video games until you’ve studied your Chinese with mom.” It’s been a good and effective rule—so effective, in fact, that my son will now wake up early on Saturdays and ask if he can study Chinese! He wants to get his 45 minutes of gaming in ASAP, I’m sure, but hey! He’s asking to read Chinese!

Our kids aren’t quite fluent in Mandarin Chinese yet, but 3 years ago they were, and will just a little bit of effort, we know they can be again. We’ve gone through several options as far as studies go.

• We’ve tried some curricula published in China, and they’ve just not been suitable for kids our age (either the characters are too obscure or the stories are written for and about babies).
• We’ve tried Duolingo, but, having paid for only one account, it’s not great for a family.
• We also purchased a lifetime membership to Yoyo-Chinese, and while we all think she’s a great teacher, she’s speaks way too much in English to be of any real benefit to us.

So where does that leave us?

When I was searching for a better option that could help us improve our reading with stories that were both interesting and practical, a friend put me onto Mandarin Companion, and we couldn’t be happier! These graded readers run from Breakthrough (150 characters) to Level 1 (300 characters) to Level 2 (600 characters), and they’re amazing. I’ve only read 2 of them myself so far, but I’ve listened to my 12yo son read many others aloud, and I’ve been super impressed by both their quality and how they’ve supercharged his reading comprehension.

The first book I read was this, The Misadventures of Zhou Hai Sheng, a book I read quietly to myself during bathroom breaks—though reading these things aloud is where the real benefits lie. This book is about a young boy whose parents own a noodle shop, and it’s broken down into a series of 10 chapters and short stories that follow some of his troubles. While the child protagonist leaves this as a children’s book, I don’t really care. I mean goodness, I’m reading Breakthrough Level! I can’t expect deep issues and broadened vocabulary just yet!

It’s been a long while since I’ve spoken Chinese aloud to anyone but my wife (and I’ll admit it: even that’s been sparing), so I’m happy for the chance to grease the mind a bit once more with stories from China. And I’ll be frank, it feels pretty good to say that I’m finally reading whole books in Chinese too! While these things aren’t super long, they’re long enough to boost my confidence and yet short enough to make me want to read more.

Pasden and Turner have discovered the secret recipe, I think, with these Graded Readers, and our family can’t wait to access the whole series. If you’re a non-native speaker who’s got some spoken Chinese down but who also wants to get into reading, I highly recommend this series to you. I honestly don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

©2023 E.T.