Bao & Bun's Bilingual Journey

超狗神探 is a super popular comic in the US. It’s about this detective who ends up in an accident, and then a doctor does this wild surgery where he combines the detective’s body with a dog’s head. It’s already a hit in English because the story is just hilarious! Now, the traditional Chinese characters version doesn’t have zhuyin, which might make it tough for kids who usually depend on it. But honestly, it’s a cool way to get kids to read books that don’t have zhuyin if they know some characters. On the word difficulty scale, I’d say it’s not super easy. There are definitely some idioms sprinkled throughout, but each comic panel is pretty small, so the sentences are short. My kids love reading them and totally get the story even if they skip some text. I’d say it’s more for fun, and unless you’re in a class (I think Monthly Notes might cover it) where a teacher or parent goes over all the idioms, I’m not too sure it’ll really help boost your kids’ Chinese skills. But hey, I’m all for book lovers, and not every book has to be a lesson in something. One thing to note is that I can’t believe it’s out of print! I am unable to find them in Taiwan’s online bookstores (Oct 2024). I recently got two from Yo Baby and two more from Little Kozzi from Canada which I include the links below.

褲子小偷 is a cool bridge book that mixes some fun stuff with learning about the human body. While the overall story isn’t super strong compared to other bridge books, it definitely has some interactive games like puzzles and things to spot in the pictures. What I really love is all the vocabulary it introduces about body parts and organs. If Dog Man isn’t really for teaching, then this book totally has an educational vibe. Another thing I dig is that the line spacing is nice and wide, making it super easy to read each sentence without getting all confused when moving to the next line, which sometimes happens to my kids when the spacing is too tight. I didn’t grab the second one yet, but I totally think it’s worth getting both together.

汪喵偵探 is a fun detective series that comes from Korea. It features a cat detective named 喵嗚 and a dog detective called 汪奇, who dive into all sorts of cool, mysterious, and sometimes spooky cases. People often compare it to 屁屁偵探 since they have a similar vibe. However, after reading a few books of this series to my kids, I gotta say I prefer 汪喵偵探. I find that 屁屁偵探’s case-solving skills feel kinda out there, like more fantasy than reality. In contrast, reading 汪喵偵探 feels more like those true crime shows we see on TV, but with a kid-friendly twist. Each time these two detectives are on the hunt for clues, they stick to their own rules—either checking out the clues more closely or looking at them from a different angle. The pic-to-text ratio in this book is pretty interesting too. Some pages are packed with text, while others have that comic book layout with several panels. Overall, the text density is still on the heavier side, so I think this is best for kids who have been tackling bridge books for a bit and aren’t scared off by a good chunk of reading.

比利家的小怪獸們 is a translated graphic novel that talks about the main character, Billy, accidentally getting some little monsters. Each monster has its own personality. The story mostly revolves around Billy trying to continue his daily life events, but the little monsters always get him in trouble.

What I love the most is how thin this book is; it’s very easy to carry around during travel. Secondly, this book, even though it’s in graphic novel/comic book style, still includes zhuyin. The text is mostly colloquial, so it’s easy to follow for overseas kids. There aren’t many idioms in the text, so I think it’s an easy read for kids who know about 300–500 characters and know how to blend zhuyin. For younger kids (like age 3–5), I would suggest that parents read to or read with kids because the font is a bit small and the graphics and text can be overwhelming. The story is perfect for lower grade elementary students.