Recently, we celebrated World Book Day, by discussing how to take advantage of the Kindle Unlimited book offer to get access to over a million free titles for kids, young adults, and parents alike. But it also got us thinking, now that the venerable Sanlitun institution The Bookworm is gone, how else can Beijing booklovers get their fix of physical books? Luckily, if you know where to look, there are a range of great reading resources in the capital for adults and children alike. Let’s take a look…

Bookstores

Here are some of our favorite go-to bookstores in the capital, broken down by neighborhood.

• Sanlitun: Multi-level Page One is hard to beat, with kids and young adult books on the 2nd floor. The newly opened Jetlag Books in Taikooli North is also worth a peek. 
• Shunyi: Roundabout has a nice selection of second-hand and loved books. They are not open right now, but you can browse using their new online shopping app.
• Xicheng: Xidan Books has been serving the book-hungry crowd in this western district for ages, and has a decent range of English language books. Meanwhile, bookstore chain Zhongshuge just opened a new location in Galleries Lafayette with a seriously eye-catching interior design.
• Dongcheng: The obvious starting point is the mega Wangfujing Bookstore, then just down the road the Foreign Languages Bookstore. Then, or the more graphically minded, we can’t go past WBcomics.

Libraries

Aside from the library at your child’s school, the National Library of China has the largest collection of English books in the country and is a beautiful, quiet place to read or study. It also has dedicated children’s and foreign language collections, and foreign ID cardholders can register for membership. In Chaoyang District, Capital Library also allows foreigners to borrow books, although their foreign language collection is smaller. Scholastic Children’s Library has multiple locations in the city, however they are still awaiting approval from the government to reopen. Meanwhile if you’re after books in other languages, organizations such as the Alliance Française de Pekin (French) and Goethe-Institut (German) also large collections of books for all ages.

Order Online

Yes, you can order English books via Taobao, but be warned that the quality tends to vary quite a lot: think cheap paper and smudged print. Amazon, usually the go-to in other countries, don’t have a great range of titles in the Chinese version, due to the market dominance of other online shopping platforms. Therefore, one of the best and reputable services is The Book Depository. Just expect your orders to take a couple of weeks to arrive.

WeChat Groups

And of course, there is always WeChat. There are more ‘second-hand stuff’ groups of WeChat than you can shake a stick at, and books are always on offer, especially during ‘moving season’. Ask around in your community to be added to some, and keep your eyes peeled, as good quality books in Beijing are a hot commodity!

Please note: due to COVID-19, many businesses in Beijing have been forced to close temporarily. We have endeavored to make this list as up to date as possible, but we cannot guarantee opening hours so (as always in China) it’s best to check ahead of time.

Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments, or drop us an email directly at editor@beijing-kids.com.

KEEP READING: Entrepreneurs and Psycho Butts – the Xu Family Tell Us About Their Favorite Books

Images: Johnny McClung (via Unsplash)

The team at beijingkids chose a reading-themed issue for many reasons. As writers, we naturally love books; as parents, we know books challenge our children educationally and spark their creativity; as expats, we love finding out about different cultures and locations near and far.

Books let us explore the world from the comfort of the warm sheets in our bed or propped on the couch under a soft blanket with loved ones tucked in our arms. Books let us escape suffocating, thick summer air or the cold bite of a winter night. Reading age-appropriate books over the summer is an inexpensive way to help students beat summer fallback, a common issue among grade-schoolers with empty summer plans. The world of literature seems as vast and wide as the world’s oceans, with every year producing new authors and experimental genres. For your children and teens, there is bound to be a book to set their love of reading ablaze.

“Read Around the World” as my last issue as Managing Editor is incredibly fitting, as I’m stepping down from the role to focus on my family and my own book and blog projects. I’ll still be around in Beijing for good times at clothing auctions, day trips to my favorite Beijing spots, coffee breaks, and events here and there. For the foreseeable future, Beijing is my home, and the community’s students, parents, teachers, and schools have my support. Be on the lookout for the July issue, where new dad and Managing Editor, Kipp Whittaker, will make his debut with a long-overdue Maternity issue. Don’t be surprised to see my name on articles and blogs too, as I can’t imagine completely leaving the beijingkids team while here.

Former Managing Editor Jessica Pan said working at beijingkids made a huge impact on her life. “I met my husband while working as editor; he did some work for the magazine one summer.” For her, the company colleagues were her family. “It’s an amazing group that I’m so honored to be a part of. I really loved that job.” Her favorite issue was the Mother’s Day issue. “We interviewed all kinds of different mothers living in Beijing: single mothers, mothers who have adopted, grandmothers, first-time mothers, mothers with four kids… I really liked interviewing and hearing the stories of the women and families who have found themselves in Beijing.” Pan is now a freelance journalist in London, contributing to ELLE, Refinery29, Jezebel, VICE, and The Daily Telegraph, and her memoir Graduates in Wonderland was published by Penguin in 2014.

Photo: Jessica Pan

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Living in China or any country where your native tongue isn’t widely spoken can be a challenging yet rewarding cultural experience. Chinese can especially be a difficult language to grasp, let alone master. Proficiency requires commitment and investment of time and money.

However, with Chinese being the most widely spoken language globally, there are growing reasons to give your kids polished putonghua in an increasingly connected world.

Learning a second language is also proven to have numerous cognitive benefits, especially for young learners developing skills in critical thinking, creativity, cultural awareness, communication, and other areas.

Choosing a Dual Language Program
Research suggests there are two ways for children to learn another language: simultaneously or sequentially. These learning models influence education programs offered at different schools.

In August 2016, the International School of Beijing (ISB) opened its Dual Language Program guided by the philosophy of “reflect[ing]the mission, vision, and core values of ISB by providing students with the opportunity to become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural.” It also aims to develop “respect and appreciation towards language, culture, and global diversity” through an immersion model that promotes 50 percent instruction in English and 50 percent instruction in Chinese.

beijingkids spoke with ISB’s elementary school principal Clarissa Sayson and PreK 3 teachers Karen Fidler and LingTong to find out what questions parents should ask themselves and the school when considering the best options in bilingual education:

What are your attitudes towards raising a bilingual child?
This is the most important question. Sayson advises parents to ask how they feel about their child growing up bilingual.This internal reflection will affect how parents approach their child’s learning of an additional language. It will also have direct and indirect consequences on specific schooling decisions.

How will you support your child’s development at home?
Parents need to complement their child’s language acquisition at home to reinforce what they learn in school. Sayson reminds parents that developing biliteracy, through reading and writing, is just as important as bilingualism.ISB provides parents with appropriate resources as well as useful strategies to help their children at home.

Does the school have a Dual Language Program philosophy?
The overall school philosophy gives a general idea of the school’s approaches. However, a specific philosophy for a Dual LanguageProgram gives valuable insight into how the program will be implemented.

What type of teaching model is used at the school?
When evaluating a Dual Language Program or certain teaching model, it is important to look at the different approaches used by schools. A teaching model, for example, looks at how a school makes use of and synergizes teachers. Sayson adds, “In a co-teaching model, two teachers work in the same class, while in a partner teacher model, each teacher is in their individual classrooms.”

Be sure to check the teaching time allocation, along with how days and weeks are split. In ISB’s 50:50 immersion model, half the time is spent learning in Chinese and half learning in English.

More Important Questions:
What environment does your child learn best in?
How much language is taught during the day?
How long do you intend to live in a foreign country?
Where do you plan on moving to next?
How much will this cost?
What is the experience and expertise of the teachers?
How does the school maintain or grow your child’s culture?
How will my child’s social-emotional wellbeing be nurtured?
How is the program staffed?
Is co-teaching available?
What is the average class size?
How are school days structured?
Is language used as a tool to learn other specialized programs?
How will my child’s progress be communicated?
Is the library stocked with resources to support the specific language learning?

ISB’s Dual Language Program is currently accepting enrollments for PreK3, PreK4, and Kindergarten for the 2017-18 school year. Prospective parents are invited to book a tour of the school, where they can have all these questions and more answered by ISB’s friendly Admissions officers and Dual Language Program educators.

This post is sponsored by ISB.

Photos: ISB

Literacy week is an amazing opportunity to encourage children to find and fall in love with new and old stories. In October, the International Montessori School of Beijing (MSB) held their literacy week to celebrate children’s literature with plays and performances, storytelling, a Book Character’s Parade, class parties, author and journalist appearances, and other literary and literacy activities.

I was invited to the school to watch a play based on Eileen Brown’s picture book Handa’s Surprise by the UK based Little Angel Theatre troupe on October 28. In attendance were over 70 preschoolers (who were adorably shy and whispering to each other about the set before the performance) seated on the floor along the four corners of where the stage had been set up.

Handa’s Surprise tells the journey of Handa to her best friend Akeyo’s home in the next village that’s set in the south west of Kenya. The books introduce seven different fruits and animals that are commonly found in Africa. The fruits, gifts for her friend Akeyo, are eaten by seven animals while on her journey. The performance was full of puppetry, songs, and dance that encouraged the children to join in by clapping, singing along, and interacting with the animal puppets. They all stood up to dance at the end of the performance.

Leading up to the performance, the students had been well prepared by their teachers, having read the English and Chinese versions of the book in advance. The teachers have also integrated the story into their monthly themes of fruit and animals so the children easily recognized the  fruits and animals featured in the narrative.

MSB’s Interim Acting Principal, Sharon Keenan, attended the performance, introducing the theatre group to the children and dancing with them in celebration at the end. Keenan explains why it’s important to instigate a love of language in children from such a young age. “It’s just crucial that they learn to love words as little children,” Keenan says. “Maria Montessori pointed out that the young child has a natural sensitivity for language development between birth and four-years-old. Obviously, the most important preparations for reading and writing are listening and speaking. Reading and writing are accomplished only when spoken language has been founded. So, we instill a love of new vocabulary and self-expression in our preschoolers. Our young children have a unique fascination for new words. Additionally, library time and storytelling are well-loved and critical components of our preschooler’s routines. We want them to realize the vast universe of information and entertainment awaiting them within the world of books.”

I am prone to the blahs of March. In Beijing, the month can feel like cold, temporal punishment. I am quite possibly at my worst once March rolls around.

And yet, the kids and I look forward to March in Beijing like it brings a unique holiday. In a way, for us, it does. Every March the Bookworm mounts their Literary Festival. Over those two weeks they host an international roster of authors, illustrators, and journalists. It would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience in our regularly scheduled Western Pennsylvania lives but happens in Beijing every year!

I wrote in the March issue of beijingkids about our favorite reason to get out of bed (and out of Changping) this time of year. The magazine in its entirety can be found in many locations around Beijing or by following this link. 

The Bookworm International Literary Festival in on again this year. Already this week, Myles, Brigid, and I have been to three of the children’s programs. Next week we have three more. It is a very busy time for us, but so very worth it.

This post first appeared on Jennifer Ambrose’s site on March 19, 2015.

Jennifer Ambrose hails from Western Pennsylvania and misses it terribly. She still maintains an intense devotion to the Pittsburgh Steelers. She has lived in China since 2006 and is currently an at-home mother. With her husband Randy and children Myles and Brigid, she resides outside the Sixth Ring Road in Changping, northwest of Beijing

Photo: courtesy of Jennifer Ambrose 

Books help us escape our mundane everyday lives and enter a new world of imagination and creation, helping us to extend our knowledge and exposing us to fresh ideas. Every New Year brings us new books to look out for, so without further adieu here are 2015’s most anticipated young adult novels.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
In a world separated by blood color, the Reds are poverty-stricken commoners, and the ruling Silvers possess powerful abilities. When Mare Barrow, a Red from The Stilts, discovers that she too has powers despite her designated social status, she becomes a threat to the mighty Silvers’ control.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Travelers have the rare ability to traverse parallel universes, and Kell—capable of moving between Grey London, White London, and Red London— is one of the last few remaining. Kell is the ambassador of Red London, but he also has a dangerous hobby: giving people glimpses into worlds they will never set foot in.

Liars, Inc. by Paula Stokes
Max Cantrell and his friends Preston and Parvati begin a lying business, dubbed “Liars, Inc.” They forge permission slips, create cover stories, and receive an abundance of customers from the student body of Vista Palisades High. One day, Preston wants a cover story to impress a girl he met online. All is well until Preston goes missing, his corpse is found, and all evidence points to Max. Will Max be able to uncover the true killer and undo his lies?

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
When huntress Feyre kills Tamlin, a powerful faerie that hides in the body of a wolf, she is spirited away into the dangerous magical lands known only in legends. As her initial distaste for him transforms into passion, she discovers a darkness emerging within the faerie lands. Feyre must either choose to destroy it or leave the lands – and Tamlin – to impending doom.

Fairest by Marissa Meyer
As the evil Queen in the Lunar Chronicles, Lavana is depicted as manipulative and cruel in her quest to gain power. In this new bridge book between Cress and Winter, her mysterious past is revealed: a past that shows a whole new side of her.

The Orphan Queen by Jodi Meadows
Wilhelmina was a member of royalty, but when the Indigo Kingdom conquers her land, she is taken into hiding and trained by experts in stealth and theft.Meanwhile, Wraith—a toxic byproduct of magical mishaps— is slowly destroying her land and Wilhelmina’s magic may be the key to stopping it.

My Heart and Other Black Holesby Jasmine Warga
A website known as Suicide Partners provides assistance for those afraid to commit suicide alone. Aysel, is a misfit physics nerd obsessed with plotting her own death, and Roman, a boy haunted by a family tragedy, find each other on online and create an unshakable suicide pact. All seems to be going according to plan until Aysel begins to question whether or not she actually wants to take her own life.
 

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
The Martial Empire is a Rome-like world where Laia, a scholar, goes undercover as a slave in the world’s greatest military academy to receive assistance from a rebel force that will save her brother from execution. Meanwhile Elias, one of the top soldiers in the academy and a reluctant participant, is chosen to partake in a contest that will decide who will become the next Martial emperor. When their paths cross, they discover that their decisions could change the future of the empire.

Blood and Salt by Kim Ligget
When a mother decides to return to the spiritual commune she had escaped, her daughter Ash Larkin decides to follow her to a place haunted by unrequited love, murder, alchemy and immortality. As she delves deeper into the darkness of the village, Ash is tormented by the memories of her ancestor. 

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman
Competing rival corporations are at war over a small, ice-covered planet in the year 2575 when, without any warning, the inhabitants of the planet are enveloped in sudden chaos beset by a mutating plague and fleets of attacking artificial intelligence. Former lovers Kady and Ezraare forced to evacuate, but must come together to decipher mysterious hacked data in order to find the truth behind the conflict.

 This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Sophia Zheng, a student at the International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

In many parts of the world, March is a month that honors the power of words, books, and literacy. In the USA it is National Reading Month and here in Beijing we are blessed with two literary festivals at The Bookworm bookstore and Capital M restaurant. It is a rare chance to hear from the authors we love, gain insights into the creative process and, well, stock up on more books for our children and ourselves.

Unfortunately, for much of the world’s children, access to books is not easy to come by due to the absence of libraries. This is precisely the situation two young educators from the USA, Rebecca and Josh Rousculp (good friends of the author) discovered when they moved their young family of four to the town of San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Instead of lamenting about the problem, they decided to work with their community to build a library that addresses the needs of the citizens. They have the staff, the volunteers, community support, and the knowhow to make the library a reality. What they need are the funds to make the dream come true.

With a goal of just $19,000, the San Francisco de Macoris community will be able find a space, hire a local library coordinator, purchase table and chairs, and acquire more books and materials to stock the shelves. To reach it, the community has turned to the internet to crowd-source the funds and you are invited to get involved. They have already reached 30% of the goal and are trying to close the gap in the next three weeks. Donations of as little as 1 dollar are being accepted and there are “perks” for donations at any level: USA10 will land you an electronic copy of I am an Illegal Immigrant” written by Rebecca Rousculp, USA50 lets you adopt-a-reader, USA150 will land you some Santo Domingo coffee, just to name a few. These and more also can land your name on the library mural of hippest people on the planet.

To find out more on how to get involved (there is even a way to donate books via a USA address), visit their site on the Indiegogo.com website here. Knowing that just 10 dollars can officially make you one of the hippest people on the planet is reward itself, but helping kids learn to read is priceless.

photo by Flickr user daydream.queen

Ask any little girl the question above and the answer will invariably be YES! Having once been a little girl myself, I could hardly turn down the opportunity to talk with Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands as she visited WAB earlier this week.

Why is she here? The 2011 Beijing International Book Fair, which began on Wednesday, August 31 and runs until Sunday, September 4, features the Netherlands as their Country of Honor this year. And it just so happens that Princess Laurentien van Oranje has published two children’s books in an ongoing series about Mr. Finney, a fish who learns about our planet by asking questions and seeking solutions. 

Van Oranje’s first book, Mr. Finney and the World Turned Upside Down — available in Dutch, English, Spanish, and Catalan — has now been published in Chinese. She is quite excited that the doors are open for discussion about sustainability of our natural resources, including educating and involving our children to make a difference for the future. She will be at the book fair (held at the International Expo Center in Shunyi), hosting book talks, meeting with book critics, and presenting a workshop on sustainability. The expo is open to the public on all days.

In the meantime, van Oranje visited the children at WAB to read excerpts of her book, as well as to engage the students in conversation about our environment. Approximately 50 elementary students from the Dutch Learning Program gathered in the library to listen to the princess read from her book in Dutch; later, other elementary classes joined her in the theater for a presentation in English. She finds that the diversity of the student body in international schools provides such an enriching experience from which the children can learn.

The two main areas of professional work for the princess include literacy (she serves as the UNESCO Special Envoy on Literacy for Development), and sustainability. This China trip allows her to highlight both, and introducing the Mr. Finney series to students while creating environmental awareness is a highlight.

 “It’s not so much an educational book from parents to children, but it’s really a book to tap into the imagination and the innate sense of morality that children have,” says van Oranje. “We want to provide a platform, an instrument for these questions to come out, empowering children to keep the mindset of always questioning. The ‘why’ that children ask are ultimately moral questions, and they are the right questions to ask.”

No stranger to Asia, van Oranje grew up in Japan with her Diplomat family. However, this was her first trip to China. She’s already been invited back to the country for future visits and discussions, about which she is genuinely enthusiastic. “These are universal values,” she says, and she knows it requires an investment of her time to then make it happen. “You’ve got to create that dynamic.”

Limited supplies of hardcover book copies are for sale at WAB for RMB 200, in both English and Dutch. As an added treat, the copies have been signed by both the author and illustrator, Sieb Posthuma. Proceeds of the book go towards van Oranje’s foundations.

A real princess making a real difference.  That’s the kind of princess to meet.