Department of Information and Tourism, Taipei City Government

To build up resources for English language education and to encourage more kids to read storybooks in English, the Department of Education (DOE) has distributed an assortment of award-winning publications to local elementary schools on March 4.
Each elementary school in Taipei City will receive thirty sets (330 copies) of the eleven DOE top-picks of the year, as well as bonus teaching instruction manuals and DVDs.
These books won the first city-sponsored children’s English picture book writing/illustration contest in 2008. Only works written/illustrated by local elementary school students and teachers were accepted.
Tsou Tsai-wan, the principal of Wenhua Elementary School, remarked that these works are much “closer” to the young readers when than the works of foreign authors, because the authors themselves are locals. Another elementary school principal noted that these works are comparable to their foreign counterparts in terms of English expressions, story layout, illustrations, and printing quality.
To make the most out of these storybooks, DOE invited the teachers who won the award to devise teaching manuals, allowing other teachers to incorporate the publications into their English programs.