If you are looking for easy reading material for learning Chinese, I recommend the following (based on what I myself have read): -I started with a series called 汉语风 which is translated as Chinese Breeze. These are for real beginners and come in three different levels 250 characters, 500 characters and 750 characters. I bought the entire series (you needn't do that) and read and listened to them (they come with CD's) again and again and again. They are pretty boring, but the stories are something to get you started reading in Chinese characters. -After that, I read a book called 中国文化二十讲 20 Lectures on Chinese Culture. This is an old book published by Yale University Press (part of the "Yale in China" series) written in traditional characters for people that speak bad Chinese and who know squat about Chinese culture and history. I found this book fascinating, and it's not got any annoying grammar explanations - just texts, word lists and a glossary. -After that, I read 小王子 The Little Prince. I had read the book in English before I read it in Chinese, and that really helped! It's a short book, but I think it's really wonderful. -After that, I read 玛蒂尔达 by 罗尔德 达尔 Matilda by Roald Dahl. I loved this book as a kid, and that made it much easier to read in Chinese. The vocab is by and large useful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After that, it was 查理和巧克力工厂 again by 罗尔德 达尔 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. This is harder to read because it's full of names of foods and stuff, but you can get the gist even with glossing over these. I'm currently reading 女巫 yet again by 罗尔德 达尔 The Witches by Roald Dahl. This is a pretty stupid book, but I think it's pretty funny! -格林童话 Grimm's Fairy Tales are very famous in China and these aren't too hard to read -安徒生童话 Anderson's Fairy Tales are also very famous in China and at about the same level! Laurence

See this page for the standard textbooks: http://www.pep.com.cn/xiaoyu/jiaoshi/tbjx/kbjiaocai/ You can search the same site for extra-curricular reading material. You could go completely local and educate yourself completely as a child in the People's Republic of China.

it won't work for learning Chinese coz you don't have the proper cultural environment... try all possible Chinese language texbooks instead

I would like to recommend Chinese female author YANG Hongying 杨红樱. (http://www.yanghongying.com/) Her tales sell in the millions, and some of her works have been translated into English, French, Korean and some other languages as well. She is one of the top-selling authors in Mainland China, and her books have been recommended by many elementary school teachers. Diary of a Smiling Cat 《笑猫日记》 Mo's Mischief 《淘气包马小跳》

I was born in 1990 after the Chinese people, when I was in elementary school read the Tang and Song, which is the language lesson must be learned to recite. Few foreign books, but we will look at children's class program, which will broadcast the translation of foreign cartoons, such as The Lion King狮子王, Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale安徒生童话, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs白雪公主和七个小矮人, the Brothers Grimm格林童话, Pumbaa and Timon彭彭与丁满, Astro Boy wood阿童木, etc., domestic Haier brothers海尔兄弟, the bulk of the first father and son大头儿子小头爸爸, gourd brothers葫芦兄弟, Legend of Nazha哪咤传奇, Journey to the West西游记, and so on (I only remember about that). Of course, these cartoons have related books, but many of our after-school homework, so we prefer to watch cartoons.