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You are here: Home / Favorite Books / I Love Martine Books in Chinese 玛蒂娜故事书系列 Review

I Love Martine Books in Chinese 玛蒂娜故事书系列 Review

By Betty
September 11, 2019

11 Sep
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玛蒂娜故事书系列 Martine books Simplified Chinese

When my children read 玛蒂娜故事书 I Love Martine books, they feel like they are experiencing a French family’s real life. In addition to the rich narrative, the illustrations are incredibly realistic and detailed.

Originally written in French in the 1950s, the 60-book series has been translated in several languages, including simplified and traditional Chinese. Topics range from normal, daily routine to special adventures.

Contents of this review:

  1. Background about the I Love Martine Chinese Version 玛蒂娜故事书系列
  2. Mandarin Chinese narration for 玛蒂娜故事书
  3. What we like about the I Love Martine Chinese Version 玛蒂娜故事书系列
  4. The big downside to the I Love Martine Chinese Books
  5. How we store the I Love Martine Chinese Books

This post may have some affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, I earn a small commission which supports my blog and free printables at no additional cost to you. Please see the disclosure policy for details.

I Love Martine in Chinese 玛蒂娜故事书系列 Review

1. Background about the I Love Martine Chinese Version 玛蒂娜故事书系列

I Love Martine 玛蒂娜故事书 is one of those few series that a wide age range of children can enjoy. I first heard about these books from Guavarama’s review of the traditional Chinese version, and I knew I needed to add them to our home library!

My almost 3-year-old son and my almost 6-year-old daughter are fascinated by the photograph-like pictures. Since the action is so vivid, we can spend a lot of time observing and discussing the visual story.

Compared to typical picture books which have only a few lines of text per page, 玛蒂娜故事书 stories are longer with many paragraphs of text. These advanced picture books stretch Chinese vocabulary and listening/reading comprehension.

In terms of reading level, my daughter actually finds the I Love Martine 玛蒂娜故事书 to be more challenging than simplified Chinese chapter books like 米小圈上学记 and 加油小米啦.

However, they are just the right level of challenge as the small text is accompanied by plenty of visual prompts that help her memorize new Chinese characters.

I Love Martine in Chinese 玛蒂娜故事书系列 Review

2. Mandarin Chinese narration for 玛蒂娜故事书

Listening to the audio narration also helps my daughter learn to read new 玛蒂娜故事书 books.

You can listen to 悦悦妈讲故事 read all 60 stories on her Ximalaya channel for free!

Luka Reading Robot also reads 玛蒂娜故事书! This robot has high-quality narration and encourages children to read books independently!

If you’d like to hear my daughter’s Chinese reading progress, have a listen to my daughter’s narration of 《玛蒂娜住进了医院》 toward the middle-end of the post.

3. What we like about the I Love Martine Chinese Version 玛蒂娜故事书系列

One of the best parts about the series is that my children are learning concepts that they have not experienced.

For example, a few stories take place in winter and enlighten my Californian children on appropriate cold-weather attire. (My kids have never seen snow). These stories introduce fun cold weather sports (eg, skiing) as well as accidents that can happen on slippery ice (dog falling through).

Other stories involve regular, everyday life (eg, cooking), and my children get to experience them through Martine’s eyes. Since my daughter attends weekly ballet class, she was very intrigued to learn that Martine also dances.

In the beginning of the ballet story, the book shows the name of each dance position in Chinese. Just by reading the book, my daughter learned the Chinese translations through the descriptive illustrations and Chinese labels.

Each story has a take-home message – a moral that encourages thinking and discussion on how it applies to our own family.

I Love Martine in Chinese 玛蒂娜故事书系列 Review

4. The big downside to the I Love Martine Chinese Books

As an Asian-American family living in a non-diverse town, I’m always looking for diversity in books. Since 99% of my daughter’s classmates are Caucasian, we want our media to feature Asians and people of color.

To be frank, this huge set of books adds a lot of whiteness! Moreover, there was one book where the children appropriated “Indian” culture, dressing up as a dark-skinned servant during pretend play.

Some families may prefer to remove these types of books from their libraries while others may use them as discussion opportunities.

As my daughter has read many of these on her own before I even realized the content, I’ve been making sure that we have regular discussions about racism so that she can learn to recognize these problems in stories that I might not get to read with her.

We also make sure to balance these stories with lots of books featuring realistic illustrations of minorities as protagonists.

Related: 25 Important Children’s Books About Black History in Chinese and English

5. How we store the I Love Martine Chinese Books

Organization of our home library is important for our family to find the books we want to read.

For this large set of 60 Chinese paperback books, I use a rope basket to hold the books. The handles on the basket make it a little easier to take in and out of the shelf.

In the United States, you can find inexpensive baskets at Home Goods and Marshalls. We have many sets of these baskets on Amazon (similar here) which are washable and have held up well over the years.

White rope basket contains 60 Chinese books

Due to the convenience of the basket, my children can flip through and find the books they want to read.

Although I wish our basket was a little stiffer to hold up these books, the softer shape makes it easier to squeeze in the corner of our bookcase.

6. Book titles 目录

 1. 《玛蒂娜在农场》 Martine Goes To The Farm
 2. 《玛蒂娜去旅行》 Martine In A Trip
 3. 《玛蒂娜去海边》 Martine At The Beach 
 4.《玛蒂娜看马戏表演》 Martine Goes To The Circus 
 5. 《玛蒂娜去上学》 Martine Goes To School
 6. 《玛蒂娜去园游会》 Martine Goes to The City Fair
 7. 《玛蒂娜表演戏剧》 Martine And The Play 
 8. 《玛蒂娜去滑雪》 Martine Goes Ski 
 9. 《玛蒂娜野外露营》 Martine Goes Camping
 10. 《玛蒂娜坐轮船》 Martine On The Cruise Ship 
 11. 《玛蒂娜的春夏秋冬》 Martine’s Four Seasons
 12. 《玛蒂娜做家务》 Martine And The House Chores 
 13. 《玛蒂娜去动物园》 Martine Goes To The Zoo
 14. 《玛蒂娜去购物》 Martine Goes Shopping
 15. 《玛蒂娜坐飞机》 Martine On The Airplane 
 16. 《玛蒂娜学骑马》 Martine Learns To Ride Horses
 17. 《玛蒂娜去公园》 Martine Goes to The Park
 18. 《玛蒂娜当妈妈 》Martine The “Mother” 
 19. 《玛蒂娜过生日》 Martine’s Birthday
 20. 《玛蒂娜做园艺》 Martine The Gardener
 21.《玛蒂娜学骑车》 Martine Learns To Ride Bikes 
 22.《玛蒂娜学芭蕾》 Martine’s Ballet Class 
 23.《玛蒂娜参加花车游行》 Martine In The Parade 
 24.《玛蒂娜学烹饪》 Martine Learns To Cook
 25.《 玛蒂娜学游泳》 Martine Learns To Swim
 26.《玛蒂娜生病了》 Martine Is Sick
 27.《玛蒂娜在姨妈家》 Martine Visits Her Aunt 
 28.《 玛蒂娜坐火车》 Martine On A Train
 29. 《玛蒂娜学开帆船》 Martine Learns To Drive A Sailboat 
 30.《玛蒂娜和小麻雀》 Martine And The Sparrow 
 31.《玛蒂娜和小毛驴》 Martine And The Donkey 
 32. 《玛蒂娜过母亲节》 Martine And Mother’s Day
 33.《玛蒂娜乘坐热气球》 Martine Rides The Hot Air Balloon  
 34.《玛蒂娜的校园生活》 Martine’s School
 35.《玛蒂娜学音乐》 Martine And Music
 36. 《玛蒂娜的狗狗丢了》 Martine’s Missing Dog 
 37.《玛蒂娜在森林里》 Martine In the Forests 
 38. 《玛蒂娜的生日礼物》 Martine’s Birthday Gift
 39.《 玛蒂娜的怪邻居》 Martine’s Strange Neighbor  
 40. 《玛蒂娜不同寻常的星期三》 Martine’s Unusual Wednesday
 41. 《玛蒂娜的圣诞夜》 Martine’s Christmas Eve
 42. 《玛蒂娜要搬家》 Martine Moves Away
 43. 《玛蒂娜的漂亮舞裙》 Martine’s Pretty Dress
 44.《玛蒂娜和流浪猫》 Martine And The Homeless Cat
 45.《玛蒂娜和小雪貂》 Martine Martin and The Little Ferret
 46.《玛蒂娜住进了医院》 Martine In The Hospital 
 47.《玛蒂娜当保姆》 Martine The Babysitter 
 48.《玛蒂娜的发现课堂》 Martine’s Discovery Class
 49.《玛蒂娜学画画》 Martine Learns To Draw
 50.《玛蒂娜漫游奇境记》 Martine’s Wonderland 
 51.《玛蒂娜学做厨师》 Martine The Chef
 52. 《玛蒂娜和神秘礼物》 Martine And The Mysterious Gift
 53.《玛蒂娜和诺亚方舟》 Martine  And Noah’s Ark
 54. 《玛蒂娜参加古装游艺会》 Martine’s Custom Party
 55.《玛蒂娜和有趣的幽灵》 Martine And The Funny Ghost 
 56.《玛蒂娜和小马》 Martine And The Pony 
 57.《玛蒂娜和让和好了》 Martine Made Up With Her Brother 
 58. 《玛蒂娜雨中历险》 Martine’s Rainy Day Adventure  
 59.《玛蒂娜保护大自然》 Martine Protects The Nature 
 60.《玛蒂娜和神秘王子》 Martine And The Mysterious Prince

7. Video of I Love Martine narration in Mandarin Chinese

Here is a video of my daughter reading her favorite story, 玛蒂娜住进了医院, when she was 5 years old. Sometimes I wonder if she will be a healthcare worker when she grows up, because she’s always most attracted to stories like this!

This reading is approximately 13 minutes in duration.

8. Photos of 玛蒂娜故事书系列

《玛蒂娜去海边》

《玛蒂娜去滑雪》

《玛蒂娜学芭蕾》

《玛蒂娜和小雪貂》

9. Where to buy I Love Martine Chinese Version 玛蒂娜故事书 / 我愛瑪婷

  • Author: Gilbert Delahaye
  • Illustrator: Marcel Marlier
  • Simplified Chinese: 玛蒂娜故事书
    • Where to buy:
      • JoJo Learning 60 book set
      • JoJo Learning 10 book preschool version
  • Traditional Chinese: 我愛瑪婷
    • Where to buy: Anson Book

***Please note that the traditional Chinese title is different from the simplified Chinese version. The traditional Chinese set includes 52 books and not 60.

I Love Martine series 玛蒂娜故事书系列

Have you read the I Love Martine series 玛蒂娜故事书系列?

What did your family think of the books?

Also, if you know of any Chinese series similar to this but featuring Asian protagonists or people of color, please share in the comments below! We would be grateful for your recommendations!

FREE CHINESE AUDIOBOOKS

Many websites and apps offer FREE multilingual books for kids!

Ximalaya FM is our favorite, and I highly recommend their free Chinese audiobooks for all kids!

Since the entire website and app is in Chinese, please refer to this guide on How to Use Ximalaya if you cannot read Chinese.

Let’s stay in touch

As always, let me know if you have any questions in the comments. I’ll try my best to answer them!

Follow me on Facebook where I share my latest posts as well as favorite articles about children’s education, Chinese resources, and hands-on activities!

On Instagram, I share activity highlights and how we integrate learning Chinese & Korean (minority languages) in our daily life.

And I’d love to chat more with you about favorite books at @chalkacademybooks!

Tips for boosting Chinese skills

  • 20+ Ways to Get Your Child to Speak Chinese
  • How to Find a Language Teacher for Your Child
  • 5 Ways My Child and I Learn Chinese from Audiobooks
  • Handmade Cards for Reading and Writing Practice (English, Chinese, and Korean)
  • 5 Key Tips for Memorizing Chinese Characters (VIDEO)

Happy reading, friends!

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About Betty

I'm a Chinese-American mom who is having fun teaching my children Mandarin Chinese while re-learning the language myself. I love coming up with creative, hands-on, and educational activities, and I hope these ideas help your children have fun learning Chinese!

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Dr. Betty Choi CHALK Academy - 2

Hi! I’m Betty, a Chinese-American mom, believer, pediatrician, and writer.  I’m having fun learning Chinese with my children, and I love sharing multilingual resources and teaching tips!  I hope these ideas can help your family or school! Read More…

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