A Visit to the Zoo - Mus Saib Lub Tsev Tu Tsiaj

Suab Zoo and Peev Xwm go to the zoo, and the animals are the vocabulary lesson — lions, tortoises, monkeys, each with a fact or two, in Hmong and English together. It is the third book in a small self-published bilingual series and it does exactly what it says: a walk through habitats, built so a child picks up animal words in both languages without being drilled. Animal names are among the first words most children learn and among the first a heritage speaker loses, which is what makes a book like this more useful than its modest production suggests. Read it with My First Day of School and My Look and Find Book, which share the same characters. For ages 3 to 7, and for parents keeping Hmong going at home.