加油小米啦 Chinese Chapter Books for Kids

加油小米啦 (Jiāyóu! Xiǎo Mǐla / You Can Do It Little 米啦!) is a series of early chapter books (eg, Chinese bridge books) with funny stories about a girl, 米啦, and her friends and family.

This is an introduction to the series, not a complete review as we are only just getting started with it.  But so far, we love it and wanted friends to know about it!  I will update this review in the future after we have had more time to read and reflect on 加油小米啦!

加油小米啦 (Jiāyóu! Xiǎo Mǐla) Simplified Chinese Bridge Chapter book for kids

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加油小米啦 Review

Title: 加油小米啦 (Jiāyóu! Xiǎo Mǐla / You Can Do It Little Mila!)

Author: 商晓娜

Publisher: 明天出版

Age level: 5-8 years

ISBN: 9787533290153

Language: Simplified Chinese with Hanyu Pinyin

Where to buy:

加油小米啦 (Jiāyóu! Xiǎo Mǐla)

About the 加油小米啦 series

加油小米啦 is a set of 6 early chapter books written by the Chinese author 商晓娜.  The stories are realistic, relatable, and funny, and the illustrations are adorable!

Five-year-old 小米啦 is always getting into trouble and learning things the hard way!

For example, the first chapter begins with a frustrated 小米啦 who cuts her father’s hair when he’s napping on the couch!  She saw some white hair and was worried that he’s getting too old haha!

Another time she thought her father’s laptop was dirty, and she soaked it in the sink to wash!

How we read 加油小米啦 as a non-fluent family

As a non-fluent family, we thought the language was pretty easy to understand.  My daughter was able to recognize most of the words after completing Sagebooks, Greenfield, and 四五快读 .  When I read to her, I often get distracted by sounding out the Pinyin instead of looking at the characters, but she cannot read Pinyin and seems to ignore the font above the characters.  The Pinyin is convenient because when my daughter is unsure of a word, I can quickly check the Pinyin instead of having to take out my phone to check the Pleco Chinese dictionary app.

Last year, we bought the first book from China Sprout and loved it!  Therefore, I bought the rest of the set from Taobao which arrived shrink-wrapped in perfect condition.  However, last year, my daughter read only the first book.  We stopped because her little brother wouldn’t sit through wordy books with few illustrations and is very disruptive unless we read picture books together.

In the past few weeks, my daughter, now age 5, has been interested in the series again!  My 2-year-old boy has much better listening comprehension of Chinese now, so he enjoys listening to us read together.  Now, the three of us can discuss the story and characters together.  To gauge reading comprehension, I ask my daughter to give me a quick summary of what happened in the story by asking specific questions.

  • “Who did 小米啦 spend time with in this chapter?”
  • “Did she do anything nice?”
  • “Did she make any mistakes? Was it on purpose or accident?”
  • “Did anybody’s feeling get hurt?”
  • “What would you recommend that she do differently next time?”

To encourage my daughter to read, I leave the book out on this bookstand from Amazon in our living room, which is next to the kids’ corner.  Sometimes when she walks by, the book catches her eye, and she’ll sit on the wagon and casually read for a bit!

However, the peaceful moment is usually short-lived with my son running around and encouraging her to play with him!  But at least she gets a few minutes of Chinese reading here and there!

加油小米啦 Photos

加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids
加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids

Introduction of the 小米啦, her friends, and her family

加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids
加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids
加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids
加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids

A peek at the chapters in 加油小米啦!

View of the 加油小米啦 paperback binding

加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids

加油小米啦 Chinese chapter books stacked up!

加油小米啦 Review of 商晓娜 Chinese Chapter books for Kids

Video of my daughter reading 加油小米啦 Book 4

She is able to read almost all of the words independently, yay!  Since she doesn’t know how to read Pinyin yet, she still has to ask me how to pronounce the few words that she’s not sure about.

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Happy reading, friends!

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