Beijingkids has been an essential family resource for Beijing international families since 2006. And just as kids grow up in the blink of an eye, Beijing has grown and changed almost beyond recognition in that time. In Throwback Thursday we jump in the time machine, traveling through our 14-strong blog archives to dig out the most entertaining, fascinating, and thought-provoking stories for your reading pleasure. Ready? Let’s go…

This week, we travel back to May of 2007, when Julia Donaldson, the best-selling author of dozens of children’s books including the classic The Gruffalo came to Beijing. Even back then, Donaldson was already a hot property, as her book had already sold over 1M copies and been translated into dozens of languages. Yet even further success lay before her: now in 2020 the book has sold over 13M worldwide copies, she has been awarded an Order of the British Empire, and a special commemorative Gruffalo 50p coin was even minted in the UK in 2019. Back in 2007, she did a special reading at The Bookworm and our writer Simon Fowler managed to catch her afterward for an interview.

Fowler and Donaldson discussed how the Gruffalo was originally inspired by a classic Chinese folk tale (狐假虎威hújiǎhǔwēim lit. fox fake tiger power), the merits of reading her rhyming-couplet storybook aloud, and the amazing success of her book. Since then, she’s gone one to write dozens and dozens of other books, including many collaborations with The Gruffalo illustrator Axel Sheffler, including a direct sequel, The Gruffalo’s Child. 

Since that time, a few key things have changed: the beloved Bookworm bookstore in Sanlitun is no more, and this very magazine was at that time going by the name ‘tbjkids‘, as an off-shoot of the already popular the Beijinger magazine. Yet as a proud aunty to seven adorable little humans, I can testify that the allure of this classic story has not faded: it’s the book I am always happy to read when I get to visit with my nieces and nephews, and they never seem to get sick of it either. If you haven’t yet discovered the joys of this classic tale, we can’t recommend it enough. In the meantime, click this link to read the full original article and interview. 

KEEP READING: Where to Get Your Book Fix in Beijing

Images: Amazon.co.uk

Time to grab a book Beijingers, because today is World Book Day! Also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book, this day was inaugurated in 1995, and was founded by UNESCO to celebrate all things reading, literacy, publishing, and copyright. Now, it’s celebrated all over the world.

As many of you are probably aware, it’s not particularly easy to buy books in China in languages other than Mandarin – the selection in the big bookstores is limited and there is currently no dedicated English-language bookstore or library in the capital. But don’t let that stop you, because Amazon has unlocked a pretty attractive feature recently: offering two months of access to their Kindle Unlimited service for free. The service (which usually costs the equivalent of about USD 10 per month) is available to all new subscribers and gives you access to over 1 million titles, including plenty to keep both parents and kids happy. Actually, this service is more like a library subscription than a bookstore: instead of purchasing books one by one, as under a normal Kindle store, with Unlimited you pay a flat monthly fee and download and read up to 10 different titles from the collection at a time. If you want to read something new, you’ll have to “return” one of your books.

To take advantage of this deal, you have to sign up before Apr 30, but you don’t even need a tablet to use this service: you can download directly to iOS, Android, and Windows devices with the free Kindle apps. You can also sign up and then immediately cancel your subscription, and still enjoy the two months access.

While not all Kindle books are available on Unlimited, there are over 1 million different titles, including bestsellers, magazines, self-help titles, kid’s books, and everything in between. So… where to begin reading? It’s a big wide world out there, but of course, we’ve rounded up some reading lists that are all about parenting, education, and of course, books for children themselves.

Note: please be aware that availability and whether or not they are included in the Unlimited collection also depends on your device’s region settings.

Just click the link for more details and how to download them to your device.

• Book Authority:25 Best New Parenting eBooks To Read In 2020.
• Free Stuff Finder: Free Kindle Parenting Books.
• Goodreads: Free Kindle Books (Young Adult).
• Amazon: Children’s Kindle Books.
• Project Gutenberg: Children’s Bookshelf.
• Free Booksy: Young Adult.
• Manybooks.net: Young Readers.

… and this is just the beginning! Do you have any other good resources for free books? Share them in the comments section!

A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, the Beijinger.
Photos: bady qb (via Unsplash)