Mandy & Pandy Press Box

Mandy and Pandy say "Ni Hao Ma?" has won an iParenting Media Award for their 2007 Outstanding Products Call.

Mandy and Pandy creator Chris Lin illustrator Ingrid Villalta were at the Book Expo 2007 in New York City May 31 - June 3, 2007 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

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Mandy and Pandy creator Chris Lin and illustrator Ingrid Villalta were at the Toy Fair 2007 in New York City February 11-14 for the debut of Mandy & Pandy's first book.

Award Winning Children’s Author Chris Lin Will Be in Chicago For the Chinese East Meets West Chinese Adoption Conference April 19th

Chris Will Make Several Book Signing Appearances While in Chicago

AnnArbor, MI April 8, 2008 – Chris Lin, author of the iParenting Award winning Mandy and Pandy Series will be participating in the East Meets West Chinese Adoption Conference, April 19th at the Embassy Suites, Chicago – O’Hare / Rosemont. The conference, featuring the best of the Chinese adoption world, hopes to bring adoption education to as much of the country as possible. While in taking part at the conference, Lin will be doing several book signings in the Chicago area beginning April 16th, 2-6 pm at the Chinese Cultural Bookstore, 2145-B S. China Place, 2nd Floor, Chicago; April 20th, 1-3 pm at the Café Express, 615 Dempster Street, Evanston; April 26th, 1-3 pm at the Chicago Kids Bookstore, 3453 N. Southport, Chicago.

Mandy and Pandy is an exciting series of twelve educational children’s books, teaching parents and their children to speak Chinese starting with Mandy and Pandy Say “Ni Hao Ma?” and Mandy and Pandy Play Let’s Count. These two wonderful books not only include an accompanying CD, they also display Chinese characters as well as pin yin phonetics, which help the reader pronounce the Chinese characters.

“Mandy and Pandy quickly became a part of my family’s household as well as many of my friends, family and neighbor’s,” said Melissa Golden, Sales Director of Mandy and Pandy. “I believe in these books and their purpose so strongly that I wanted to be a part of Mandy and Pandy so that others could experience the joy and education in their homes as Mandy and Pandy has brought into mine.”

Author and creator Chris Lin says he sees the importance of learning Chinese as a good foundation for the future so that now more than ever we all have a reason to learn even a little bit of Chinese. Books 3 and 4 are due to be released in July to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. These are Mandy and Pandy Visit China and Mandy and Pandy Play Sports.

“Mandy and Pandy look forward to helping teach Chinese to children and those who are young in their hearts,” said Lin. “Our year is full of appearances across the country and we are excited to be in Chicago as we continue on our journey.”

Mandy and Pandy has already been recognized as outstanding product by iParenting Media in the category of educational books for children as well as being nominated for several upcoming book awards. The iParenting Media award is considered one of the most prestigious awards for products for families.

Chris Lin is originally from Troy, Michigan where he played football on the State Finalist “Giant Killers” in 1985, and graduated as class president in 1987 from Troy High School. Lin went on to earn a BA in Economics and an MBA in marketing from University of Michigan and spent several years studying Chinese. When he brought his adopted daughter, Mandy, from China to Chinese class over a year ago, he realized that there was a need for fun books that made learning Chinese easy.

On Mandy & Pandy

June 11, 2007 - Kathryn Hutson, Daily Tribune (Royal Oak, MI)

There is an African adage that says, “It takes a village to raise a child.”    And no truer words were ever spoken.   Two middle school-aged boys were scuffling in the parking lot at the mall.  An adult stranger stepped in and broke up the fight.  The instigator looked at the man and snarled, “You’re not my father.  You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Well,” I just did,” said the man, putting his hands on his hips.  The kids ran. 

As the man and I continued to our cars, I had one of those moments of clarity:  One of the problems with the world today is that kids don’t respect older people in the village. So, as soon as they’re out of sight or earshot of their parents--and sometimes that doesn’t work--they can run as wild as they want. 

Thank goodness that never happened in our neighborhood when the kids were growing up.   The kids around here knew that when a parent--anyone’s parent--told them to do something, they’d better do it.  We were a village.

And with the exception of one kid who’s had a few brushes with the law, the kids turned out pretty well.  In fact, they turned out really well.   And as they turned into adults, the village has hung together.

One of the village kids is a young man named Chris Lin.  Chris was a star athlete at Troy High way back when the football team had a grade point average over a 3.0.  In his junior year the team played in the state finals.  He went on to the University of Michigan and got both a B.A. and M.B.A.   One of his first jobs took him to China, where he had a chance to polish the Chinese he studied at U of M--as well as learn that his parents had been right about insisting he go to Chinese school on Saturdays!

Two years ago, Chris and his wife, Kristi, adopted a daughter from China.  Her name is Mandy.   While he and Kristi knew that Mandy would change their lives, I’m sure they never realized how. 

Chris called me a couple of months ago to tell me about a new Mandy-inspired project.  He has formed a company called, Mandy and Pandy, and written a series of books designed to delight kids and teach them Chinese.  The first one is titled, Mandy and Pandy Say, “Ni Hao Ma?” 

Now, I know what “Ni Hao Ma” means because it’s the only Chinese phrase I was able to master on two trips there.  It means, “How are you?”   It’s pronounced:  knee-how-ma.  And that’s the way I remembered it:  “How’s your ma’s knee?”   Okay, but it works.

Now, Chris sees the market for his books as Americans like him who have adopted children from China and want the children to learn the language of their country, but he also sees the books as being great for Chinese-born parents who want their children to learn Chinese, as well as any parent or grandparent who wants to help a child learn another language like Chinese.

And let me tell you, as someone who taught a foreign language, you can’t start them too young. 

There are six books in the present series.  All are also available as audio books.  The illustrations are wonderful, and the books are perfect for even the smallest child.  They’re printed on cardboard and are very sturdy. 

The books are available in Ann Arbor at Nicola’s Book (734-997-0707) and at Learning Express (734-662-0600).   They’ll be on the shelves at Borders soon.  If you’d like to learn more or order books on line, you can go to www.mandyandpandy.com.  
Pandy, by the way, is a darling stuffed Panda. You can get him on line, too.

This member of our little village is very proud of Chris.  “He done good.” And I know everyone’s going to love the books and tapes.

(Kathryn Hutson is a Troy resident and freelance writer.  Her column appears in The Daily Tribune every Monday.)

Early Impressions students learn Chinese

March 1, 2007 - C & G Newspapers - Southfield Sun (MI)

SOUTHFIELD - While some toddlers are still trying to master the English language, it's hard to imagine that preschoolers and kindergarten students at Early Impressions School in Southfield have already received their first lesson in Chinese. Students were given their first glimpse of the language as the school hosted first-time author Christopher Lin to present his book"Mandy and Pandy Say Ni Hao Ma?" to the students on Feb. 20.

Inspired by his 2-year-old daughter Mandy, Lin created the book for children to learn some basic words and phrases of the Chinese language. Lin started the book project in September last year.

Mandy and Pandy ask "Ni hao ma" - which translates in English to "how are you?"- as they visit family members and friends, and take part in various activities.

"The book is not only unique to Mandy, but to all different children," said Lin, who was raised in Troy and now resides in Ann Arbor. "I like the kids to come away with some key phrases. It's a great way to learn because it's fun and they're excited about learning something new."

Short sentences are on each page in English, while the Chinese translation sits just below for readers.

Lin hosted a slide show of the book, which is due for publication in April.As Lin taught the students new words in Chinese, Brad Hall, vice president of Infinite Web Design and Lin's marketing director, dressed as a life size panda bear to entertain the kids.

"If they're excited about learning, then they'll have a passion for learning new things." said Lin about his readers.

Lin also played a nursery rhyme CD and led the students in a sing-along to popular songs that the children were familiar with - but the words were in Chinese.

Nancy Sallen, director of curriculum at Early Impressions and a kindergarten teacher, said Lin's book is a start to helping the students embrace unfamiliar surroundings.

"This makes them more aware of people in the world and understanding differences in the world," said Sallen. "Understanding different cultures is paramount in our world."

Sallen added that the students have created their own books, complete with diagrams, and have incorporated math, science and geography in some projects.

"It's a logical approach to a variety of subjects," said Sullen.

Lin's book will be available in bookstores in April. To reserve a copy of the book, visit www.mandyandpandy.com.

You can reach Jennifer Brock at jbrock@candgnews.com or (586) 498-1058.