Twenty Three Cats

NOTE: this is the Traditional Chinese version of this book. A Simplified Chinese version is also available.

A young boy shares a little house in Beijing with 23 cats. His friend comes to visit, but the two of them can't sit down, can't study, and can't even eat dinner together because of all the cats. What to do? The answer, which involves a very large dog, will surprise and delight you.

This wonderful little tale is for beginning Chinese students of all ages. Its tiny vocabulary of just 101 words is taken from the HSK1 list of words used to teach beginning students of Chinese. Each page of Traditional Chinese is faced by an opposite page of pinyin (phonetic spelling), so if a reader gets stuck on an unfamiliar word they can check it against the pinyin. A complete glossary and English translation is in the back of the book, and a free audiobook is available on YouTube and can be downloaded from the Imagin8 Press website.

Twenty Three Cats is written by Jeff Pepper, best-selling author of the multi-volume Journey to the West series for beginning and intermediate Chinese readers, and many other books including innovative translations of the Chinese classics Dao De Jing, San Zi Jing, and The Art of War.

REVIEWS FROM CHINESE TEACHERS:

"Twenty Three Cats is a very cute story, an easy read for beginning Chinese learners. Repetitions in the vocabulary and sentence structure help novice students learn easily. The drawings are vivid and thoughtful to reflect the reading. I love that the pinyin is provided on the opposite page for a quick reference, and not next to the characters directly. I also find it useful for novice learners to have an English version of the story as well as a glossary towards the end of the book." - Treena Larson, Chinese and DE&I Teacher, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

"This is a very good book for beginners to learn Chinese and master the HSK1 vocabulary. This book can not only attract children's attention, but is also a very good resource for adult learners. I think this book is a perfect option for children and adult learners who are looking for a way to learn basic Chinese." - Tong Chen, Lecturer in Chinese, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Global Languages; board member, Chinese Teachers Association

"This is a lovely story full of imagination. The dialogues make it easy for beginner readers to understand, and the repetition of high-frequency words deepens the memory of language. Kids will be interested in learning Chinese and then actually learn it." - Rongrong Lin, Chinese Teacher, New Trier High School, Northfield IL