The Journey to the West, Books 4, 5 and 6: Three Classic Stories in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin, 600 Word Vocabulary Level (Journey to the West in Simplified Chinese)

I wish I had discovered these books earlier. I wasted a fair amount of money with other publishers where the level or word frequency is not right, the content not as engaging or there is no audio companion.The 600 to 1200 character level combined with the left-right position of pinyin-characters makes it absolutely ideal for a learner at my level. The reading experience just flows, with the pinyin out of the way to avoid falling in the temptation to read it, but handy enough to refer to it if needed without having to flip pages back and forth. This makes you feel like you are reading a "real" book and boosts motivation.I usually ignore the left page while I focus on the right one, and when I want to practice pronunciation of difficult tone combinations or sentences I use the support of the pinyin and read aloud until it sounds as it should. After I am done with the whole book, I listen to the audio and follow along several times.

Exactly what I was looking for in a storybook for study. Meh packaging, but no stickers damaging the book. There is pinyin and mandarin side-by-side with English translations in the back, and room at the bottom of the page for notes if you want.

A really great graded reader that I picked up after Mandarin Companion. Love the 3 in 1 format because that means that each one of these books packs a ton of chinese into it.Cool to read an epic fantasy novel full of chinese history and culture as opposed to other graded readers focused more on contemporary things.

These stories are so much fun to read and a great way to study Chinese. I’ve got apps and other texts, but these are my favorites because the stories keep you interested. The characters have life and the storylines are entertaining while you are reviewing vocabulary. The format has clear characters and pinyin on another page not getting in the way.

Very well organized

Hands down the best graded reader series for learning Chinese, free audio book is a big plus too