My First Japanese Kanji Book - by Eriko Sato & Anna Sato

Book Synopsis

My First Japanese Kanji Book is an inventive and unique introduction to kanji for children.

Written by the mother-daughter team of Eriko and Anna Sato, this lovely book introduces 109 kanji characters to children with poems and illustrations. It includes all the Japanese Government-specified first-grade level kanji characters and a sprinkling of simple second to sixth-grade characters.

The kanji are introduced in the context of 36 colorful paintings and poems by 14-year-old Anna Sato, herself a kanji learner. Each of the poems is presented in both Japanese and English, and all kanji are accompanied by furigana (small hiragana letters), stroke-order diagrams, sample vocabulary and boxes for writing practice.

A charming and educational volume, My First Japanese Kanji Book can be used as a self-study text, a supplementary material in Japanese language schools or a gift book for family or friends. Companion audio reinforces learning and ensures correct pronunciation.

All media content is accessible on the Tuttle Publishing website.

Review Quotes

"Hazel and I began trying some out first with just regular colored pencils and I realized we were not getting the thickness of the lines correctly so I pulled out some calligraphy pens. Hazel loved this activity!! She wanted to do some more while I started making dinner. Again I love that Hazel gets to hear the correct pronunciation. I also showed her how to listen to the poems on her own if she wants to try some while I'm busy. This really excited her. She actually asked if we could try some lessons every day." --Crafty Moms Share blog

"It's an illustrated picture book AND a workbook, all nicely hard-bound." --PragmaticMom.com blog

"There are 36 lessons in this book, which is enough to really keep your children learning. Most of the lessons are two pages long, so quite reasonable and not too intimidating." --Castle View Academy blog

About the Author

Eriko Sato is Associate Professor of Japanese and translation studies at the State of University of New York at Stony Brook, where she is also the Director of the Japanese Teacher Education Program. She has authored and co-authored over a dozen books, including Japanese Stories for Language Learners, Essential Japanese Grammar and Learning Japanese Kanji.She has also authored or co-authored Contemporary Japanese, Japanese Demystified, Japanese for Dummies, Complete Japanese Grammar, Japanese Phrases for Dummies, and Basic Japanese.