When I first learned about Mandarin Companion, they had just published their first graded reader “The Secret Garden” 《秘密花园》.   I was delighted to be able to read this Chinese adaptation of  Frances Hodgson Burnet’s novel because it brought back memories of elementary school when my teacher read this story to us.

I purchased the Kindle version because I like having lots of books at my disposal.   I also liked having the vocabulary hyperlinked to the index so I could conveniently look up new words from the text.    However, I’ve since opted to purchase Chinese graded readers in paperback so I can make annotations in the margins.

This was my first attempt to read a graded reader in Chinese and I wanted to make certain that I picked up everything, so the first time  I read “The Secret Garden” I would type the sentences into Google translate.  That was an arduous task and I don’t recommend it.

I have since tried to simply read Chinese graded readers as I would a book in English.   The repetition of key words throughout the book makes learning Chinese natural.  My initial approach was anything but natural.

I’m currently rereading the book at an HSK3/4 level and am pleased to see how much progress I’ve made since I purchased it several years ago.   Keep at your Chinese studies.  With persistence you’ll improve!

Mandarin Companion doesn’t attempt to create awkward transliterations of character’s names.   The protagonist, Mary Lennox, is known in this book as Li Ye (李叶).  Rather than being born in India and moving to London, Li Ye’s story starts in Hainan and after she’s orphaned, she moves to Nanjing where she’s under the care of “aunties” courtesy of an absentee uncle.

Li Ye seems to be a little more spoiled and bratty than I remember Mary Lennox, but as her character develops, that brattiness transforms into maturity as she develops a friendship with Wen Siyuan (文思远 Colin Craven)

Another thing I really appreciated about “The Secret Garden” and all of Mandarin Companion’s  other books are the use of colorful and appealing illustrations.   From time-to-time at first brush I didn’t understand the plot, but a quick glance at the illustration would help me piece things together.   As much as I like the “Chinese Breeze” series of Chinese graded readers, I think Mandarin Companion does a much better job of making the book aesthetically appealing.

One thing that I think Chinese Breeze has over Mandarin Companion the inclusion of an audio CD.  I suppose Mandarin Companion decided against including the CD as cost consideration.   I like hearing the text read by a native speaker.

Don’t rush through 《秘密花园》.  Take time to understand the text.  It is best reinforced by reading the 讨论问题 （Discussion Questions) located in the appendix.

The “Secret Garden” was a first for “Mandarin Companion” and a good one at that.   With subsequent books they made improvements which I’ll save for future posts!