One, Two, Three Dim Sum: A Mandarin-English Counting Book

by Rich Lo

Children and their parents can learn to count to ten in both English and Mandarin in this fun bilingual counting book of food.

This book features traditional Chinese food items paired with numbers in both English and Chinese. Illustrated by Rich Lo, you'll learn two is for chopsticks, five is for egg rolls, and nine is for sweet buns, and since the numbers are shown in both simplified and traditional Chinese and English, learning is both easy and fun.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Food, China, Counting, Asian Literature, Cultural

22 pages, Board Book

Published March 31, 2020

About the author

Born in Canton, China, Rich Lo was always drawing and painting with his six siblings. At the age of seven, he and his family emigrated from Hong Kong to the United States and eventually settled in Chicago’s Chinatown. An accomplished illustrator and fine artist, his work can be found on packaging and ads for national brands and on large installations in public buildings throughout the Midwest. Rich’s first picture book Father’s Chinese Opera, about his relationship with his opera composer father, was published by Sky Pony Press (2014), and named an ALA Asian Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book. Rich is also the author-illustrator of New Year, published by Sky Pony Press (2016), the illustrator of Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service, published by Charlesbridge (2016), winner of the Carter G. Woodson Book Award, and Dim Sum—A Mandarin English Counting Book.

Reviews

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counts 1 to 10 in numerals, English words, Chinese character, and pidgin words.

I think there could have been better choices to illustrate some of the numbers. 9 seems like a LOT of barbecue pork buns.

Color is used to set off the number word from the rest of the phrase, but for the number 1, "ge" is included with the number when it isn't for the other numbers.

Want an audio recording of this so I can make sure I'm pronouncing things correctly.

I also want to know what "ge" means or is used for.

Also, dim sum is traditionally Cantonese, so maybe a little odd in the choice for learning Mandarin?

[Alexandria · Rating 4 out of 5]

My son loves this book. It was a book from a random box of diverse books. He loves counting in English and its a great primer for amazing food. That being said I don't know Mandarin so I need to look up some pronunciation guide to get him the most out of this book.

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good counting book -- numbers 1 through 10 in both English and Mandarin (characters and pinyin), along with the Hindu Arabic numeral, with just the numbers on the left and with context -- a noun with a corresponding image -- on the right. The number part of the text on the right is highlighted in yellow in all languages/writing systems.

Not all of the choices for each number were great (nine char siu bao is a lot?), but in general dim sum is a good context.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great example of what a “teaching” board book for the very youngest can be. It is bilingual being in bothEnglish and Mandarin Chinese. The left handed boards(pages) have the numerical representation and the word for both English and Mandrain. Right hand boards ( pages) County Chinesefood, including my favorite, crabmeat rangoons.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Counting board book

[Miss Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple toddler and up counting book with numbers one through ten in English and Mandarin.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I needed a pronunciation guide but a good intro, bilingual counting book paired with food.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adorable bilingual counting book 🥰

[Ivana Putri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is literally just 10 pages long, contains how to count from 1 to 10 in chinese, paired with 3 different measure words (个，個，根) and different items

[Calista · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little Chinese/English book to learn language and some food too. It looked yummy.

I know my numbers one to 10, but this book had other characters dealing with the food and I knew a few of them. I know meat and I'm learning other characters. The pin yin is so difficult. So many ge's in this and they are different characters. It's difficult to keep it untangled in my head.

The artwork is nice and it's a great introduction to Chinese numbers for anyone interested in learning.

[Lilbearmooyahoo.Com · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Mandarin usage is actually incorrect. It’s cute but we make the corrections ourselves as we read it aloud.

[KathleenB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute basic counting book but a pronunciation guide would have been nice