The Hanmoji Handbook: Your Guide to the Chinese Language Through Emoji by An Xiao Mina, Jason Li, Jennifer 8. Lee
Published by Miteen Press on August 30, 2022
ISBN: 1536219134
Pages: 160
Genres: Non-Fiction
Format: Chapter Book Nonfiction
Goodreads

This accessible book teaches the basics of the written Chinese language using the parallels of Chinese characters and emojis. It not only successfully explains how logographic language works, it is a terrific book on linguistics in general. It’s a clever way to teach a language that seems so different from an alphabetic language; most of use emojis and can combine several to create meaning so this book opens our minds to learning in a whole new way. I would absolutely recommend this for a high school language class (not even necessarily a Chinese class-it’s an all around fun read about language). It is a little intense, so I’m not sure how well it would circulate outside of being used as part of a class, but if your library or classroom has a language instruction shelf, it will fit right in.

Reviewed by Sarah Maciejewski, Patten Free Library, Bath