It has been an overwhelming, exciting, scary, what-did-I-get-myself-into kind of experience for me, especially being the technology challenged person that I am.  Seriously.  I’m the person who bribes friends with a homemade dinner so they’ll show me how to back up my computer or download new software.  It’s embarrassing.  I should have kept up my apple One to One classes.

Ok, back to the app.  I chose to turn my book, Gordon & Li Li: Learn Animals in Mandarin, into an app because it’s my sons’ favorite.  It will be available only for the iPad.  As much as I love my iPhone, the app just works better with the bigger screen on the iPad, especially for the tracing screens.   The tracing option is where the child learns to write the Chinese character.  I’m secretly smiling when my boys ask if they can keep practicing their characters.  It’s like when they ask for seconds of the ginger bread I made with an entire head of pureed broccoli in it.

Nam Doan, my über talented illustrator for Learn Animals in Mandarin and Count in Mandarin, is an animator by trade, so it was a breeze for him to bring Gordon & Li Li to life.  The first time I saw the animations on my iPad, I was like a kid on Christmas.  I was clapping, oohing and ahhing, and basically just giddy.

The goal was to launch my app on January 23rd, Chinese New Year.  The elves are working around the clock to see it happen, so stay tuned!

It made my day when I received a wonderful email from a mother, whose son had written an entire page of Chinese numbers!  He attends a tri-lingual school that teaches, English, Mandarin & Japanese.  (How amazing is that?)   His mother asked whether he learned to write the numbers at school.  He said, “No Mommy, Gordon & Li Li taught me!”  Now, if only I could get my boys to be that industrious!

What’s fun about my book events is, I never know who is going to show up.  So when I met a family who traveled all the way down to Chinatown from the Upper West Side to be there, I was thrilled.  Believe me, living in Manhattan, it’s a big deal to venture all the way uptown or downtown for an event, especially with children!  Their son brought his copy of my first book, “Gordon & Li Li: Words for Everyday” because he wanted me to autograph it for him.  Awww!  And to top it off, this little boy’s Dad’s name is Gordon and his Aunt’s name is Lily and they’re from California, like me!

After my readings of “Gordon & Li Li: Learn Animals in Mandarin” and “Gordon & Li Li: Count in Mandarin”, the children had their choice of making a puppet of paper doll of Gordon and Li Li.  It was a fun afternoon for all!