Chinese Zodiac 十二生肖

Justin Tsin - award winning recipient for the 2009 Mom's Choice Award Outstanding Young Author/Illustrator and Children's Picture Book - Bilingual - is a young Chinese author with vivid imagination. His new book, The Chinese Zodiac - Who Am I?, takes us through his colorful world of origami, fused with Chinese cultural implications about the 12 zodiac signs. Each sign animal has specific traits. Knowing the traits, you may be able to guess the animal. For example, do you know of anyone who is: dependable, hardworking, and persistent? Likely, he or she was born the year of Ox, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009. The books is bilingual in both English and Simplified Chinese. A great book for any parent who wants to teach their children about Chinese culture. ------------------------------- A letter from Justin Dear Readers, Thank you for reading the Chinese Zodiac: Who Am I? Allow me to give you a brief introduction about myself. My name is Justin Tsin and I was born in San Jose, California. my First published book is called What Would You Imagine? I was the recipient of the silver medal for the 2009 Mom's Choice Award Outstanding Author/Illustrator and Children's Picture Book - Bilingual. I first became interested in origami when I experienced folding at an art fair in 2004. Since then, I have developed a hobby of folding challenging origami figures. In this book, you might notice the unique background of the scenes. My artwork was inspired by Antonio Gaudi, a Spanish architect, whose style was characterized by using colorful mosaics. For example, the lively and colorful "pig" scene in my book consists of pink, purple, and white crystal-like shapes. If you were wondering how I made the origami animals, see John Montroll's Mythological Creatures and the Chinese Zodiac in Origami. The models are extremely difficult for beginners. In fact, the ox, pig, and dragon are the hardest to fold. I would not be able to make the animals without the amazing origami coaching skills of Linda Tomoka Mihara and the incredible support from my parents. Thank you all for your support! Thank you again for reading my book. I hope you really enjoy it. Sincerely, Justin Tsin ------------------------------- A few words from Yee Wan, Ed.D, Justin's Mother. (A dual language learner educator for 19 years) This book was created as a result of Justin's passion to create artwork to share with others through support from his parents and Mandarin language teachers. Justin's paper folding talent grows daily, and he is continuously encouraged to express his creative ideas through art and language. Justin's story is an example of how parents and teachers can ignite children's interest in language learning through building on their talents. Language learning can be turned into fun, creative, and engaging projects. This book integrates the six traits: story, design, symphony, play, empathy, and meaning, which were discussed in Daniel H. Pink's book, A Whole new Mind. Additionally, I share some ideas on how to utilize this book to help children to develop 21st century skills. The author's goal is to inspire other children to take pride in the language(s) they speak and their cultural heritage. Justin also wanted to share his joy of working on a fun, yet challenging project with his mother.