The Adventures of Max and Mei

A rat that steals mooncakes…a chance encounter with an ox at the beach…a visit to the Dragon Boat Festival with a baby dragon… a lost goat on the Great Wall of China…

Children attending our preschool programs got a very special surprise this month.

Half the Sky supporter and author Martha Keswick recently donated an entire Max and Mei Chinese Zodiac Series book collection to every one of our centers in China!

The Max and Mei series consists of 13 bilingual storybooks that chronicle the delightful adventures of a British boy named Max and a Chinese girl named Mei – best friends and neighbors who go everywhere together. In each of the stories, they meet one of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals.

It didn’t take long for us to start receiving photos from our caregivers across China, telling us how much they love the books and how enchanted the children are with the illustrations and stories. The caregivers especially appreciate that the books are helping them teach new English words and Chinese characters to the children.

We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to author Martha Keswick and illustrator Mariko Jesse for their very generous gift.