Where Are You Going? to See My Friend!

Rating:
Summary: ESL
Review: I use this book in my ESL classes for elementary school kids in Japan. The repetition of "Where are you going?" is great for teaching a grammar point and the kids love getting to read the Japanese after I read the English. It's also fun for learning the animal sounds in English/Japanese. Reading the roman-ized Japanese might not be that interesting for someone who doesn't know any Japanese but older kids can start to learn easy Japanese writing by looking at this book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Art Book but a little too sophisticated for kids..
Review: We are huge fans of Eric Carle so I had my husband pick this up for our 2 year old at the local bookstore (based on the title). While it is a beautiful book/collaboration, it is not very "kid-friendly". There's really no storyline and half the book is written in Japanese. The first 5 pages or so consist of a different animal asking the dog "Where are you going?"...and the dog replied "To see my friend!"....I have to admit that I am disappointed with this one. I will treasure it more as an art book than a children's book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Art Book but a little too sophisticated for kids..
Review: We are huge fans of Eric Carle so I had my husband pick this up for our 2 year old at the local bookstore (based on the title). While it is a beautiful book/collaboration, it is not very "kid-friendly". There's really no storyline and half the book is written in Japanese. The first 5 pages or so consist of a different animal asking the dog "Where are you going?"...and the dog replied "To see my friend!"....I have to admit that I am disappointed with this one. I will treasure it more as an art book than a children's book.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Bi-Cultural Book
Review: What A Wonderful Way To Expose Your Child To A Different Culture. This is a great book. I am happy to read both the English and the Japanese to my child. It has 2 different forms of art, 2 different languages, all connected together in the middle of a lovely childrens book. It is a wonderful way to expose your child not only to another culture, but great way to get a child interested in learning another language. For those who are looking for bi-lingual books (other then spanish) know that they are hard to find and I am glad such a wonderful and famous writter has made a great example to help bring about awareness and teach children.