This is part of my series on Building Your Chinese Library.
I didn’t really want to write this post for years. Everyone else has written a list, why should I waste my time repeating info you can find already elsewhere?
But I’m trying to complete my Building a Chinese Library series, so it doesn’t seem right to not have a list. However, I think my list will just have the bookstores I would actually direct my friends to, if they were to ask me where to buy certain books. So I automatically filter out for them expensive bookstores or ones that don’t have the selection.
Essentially, I won’t direct friends to places I won’t buy from. Ha.
Before I start, a little whining. There doesn’t seem to be a website for someone like me. I want the website to be in English, even though I do read Chinese. I want a website that doesn’t just sell the popular books that parents in Taiwan buy, because those books often don’t appeal to my needs (zhuyin when the kids are young, good Charlotte Mason style Living Books when the kids are older, not too many translated books, very good Chinese writing, blah blah blah).
And I don’t want need a website that appeals to people who are learning Chinese more as a second language. Those books are too low of a level for what I’m trying to accomplish.
Yeah, I’m Goldilocks.
Anyways, here are some of the Traditional Chinese bookstores I know of that exist in the US. I have not used any of them except Mr. & Mrs. Books, for the above reasons (I want an English website!) or because by the time they existed I already bought all of my books.
Sorry, I don’t know much about simplified except that they’re SUPER CHEAP! compared to Taiwanese books, so it’s easy to just buy directly from China or find ebooks. No need to spend all that time finding that cheapest bookstore……
Cost
Before I talk books, let’s talk cost.
One of the reasons I don’t tend to buy from US based bookstores, other than the fact that they don’t have the books I want now, is its cost. It’s cheaper to just get it when one goes back to Taiwan.
That said, the US Chinese book market has been maturing for the last few years. Now adays, you know that a book is a good price if its sales price, not including shipping, is close enough to the list price in TWD.
So for example, if a book costs $250NT, and they’re selling it for $9.00 USD, when you could have bought it in Taiwan for $6.69 /$7.14（75%/80% of), you’re getting a super good price. Hey, someone went to the trouble of hoarding inventory and paying for shipping to the US, and then paying for cost of damaged or returned books, all that and they’re selling at close to list price? That’s just crazy.
Anyways, I hope that gives you an idea of how to price compare. Just look at Taiwan’s list price.
Book Sellers Geared Toward Children’s Books
These 4 mainly sell children’s books,
Mr. and Mrs. Books
- Website: http://www.mrandmrsbooks.com
- Language: Traditional Chinese
- Sells: Traditional Chinese books, kids furniture, magazine subscriptions
They’re first on my list because they’re the only bookstore I’ve used. I started by doing group orders with this vendor before they even had a website. And I was sold because of the owner’s non-business attitude towards books. I mean, who wraps their books so water tight with air bubbles when it makes no sense cost wise? Who flies books out via mail as replacement sometimes? I like giving business to people who love books as much as I do.
As for book selection, they had imported quite a few set of books that are more upper elementary level when I was group buying with them. Though I don’t know if they’re really selling those now adays.
The store has listings for over 9+.
Yo-Baby Shop
- Website: https://www.yobabyshop.com/
- Language: Traditional Chinese
- Sells: Traditional Chinese books, kids furniture, magazine subscriptions, baby products
This is an interesting store. To me, it’s super Taiwanese because it sells items Taiwanese parents group buy online, like chic baby products. So books is only one of the things it sells.
The book selection is a bit toward the younger side. I only see books up to 6+, and those are mostly lower elementary.
Gloria’s Bookstore
- Website: https://glorias-bookstore.com/
- Language: Traditional Chinese
- Sells: Traditional Chinese books, kids furniture, magazine subscriptions, Sagebooks, Montessori materials, HK books
This bookstore has a bit of everything. Much like Yo-Baby and Mr. and Mrs. Books, its inventory is influenced by what its members want, including teaching zhuyin, kangxuan, Sagebooks (Many have their own FB group where info is disseminated.)
Inventory-wise, they definitely seem to have the most listing? Like Yo-Baby and Mr. and Mrs. Books, it can be disconcerting to see many of the books you’re looking for be out of stock since they do a lot of pre-orders and sea ship their books. So while there can be tons of book listings, the actual book inventory fluctuates.
The books are mostly up to the middle elementary age, with a little bit of upper elementary buried in there. (The website only lists age 6-9 category).
Humanbooks USA
- Website: https://www.humanbooksusa.com/
- Language: Traditional Chinese
- Sells: Traditional Chinese books, Simplified
This vendor is the US branch of Taiwan’s Human Books publisher. They used to sell other publisher’s books in their group/website, but it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.
Most of the books are on the younger, baby side.
I guess because the publisher also publishes simplified books, you can see a tiny simplified selection on their website.
C-STEMS.COM
- Website: https://www.c-stems.com/
- Language: Traditional Chinese
- Sells: Traditional Chinese books, some simplified, Sagebooks, Magazine subscriptions
This website is kind of strange because it redirects to a different hosted name, doesn’t seem too professional. But they’ve got Sagebooks. Otherwise there isn’t a lot of book selection.
They seem to be the place to go for Taiwanese magazine subscriptions. They have 巧虎 Qiaohu, 小行星, 康軒 KangXuan, 未來兒童/少年.
General Booksellers
Amazon
- Website: http://www.amazon.com
- Language: Traditional, Simpified
- Sells: Everything
Must not forget Amazon. In the last 2 years, they’ve finally introduced Traditional Chinese books, which makes life so much easier. The picking is still a bit slim. But much better than before and the first bookstore I check when I’m looking for a Chinese ebook, since you can easily add zhuyin font to any of their non-pdf ebooks.
As for simplified, there’s so many children’s books available, Narnia, Harry Potter, you name it, they probably have it. What you have to watch out for is really the edition of the book. Some look sketchy, more bootlegged looking. There’s often multiple publishers publishing the same ebook. So do you homework before you buy.
Chinese Books Online
- Website: https://www.chinesebooksonline.com
- Language: Traditional, Simplified
- Sells: Everything
Think of this as your US based version of Books.com.tw. Or a dropshipper.
They’ve got a lot of books that the other 4 bookstores won’t carry, like I found 少年廚俠 on their website. But the prices are in the range of more traditional prices in the old days; expect about 2-2.5x of book list price. For example, this book sells is $8 from books.com.tw, and $19.50 here, the same price as if you ship from books.com.tw!
So I guess I’d refer people here to get on their mailing list and wait for their sales. Otherwise not worth it. Plus they don’t have that many children’s books.
China Sprout
- Website: https://www.chinasprout.com
- Language: Traditional, Simplified
- Sells: Everything
I wasn’t going to list China Sprout. My impression of them from years ago was, typical expensive books, often related to culture, sells those books with your super ‘Asian’ looking kids.
Cultural books have its place, and it can be hard to find in your bookstores geared toward native speakers. But the cost and the picture book selection meant I never bought from them.
However, a recent look shows that they have a much better selection now. I guess all those new competition? Definitely worth a browse now. Unlike YesAsia, their English descriptions make sense, they have a variety of books, clearly categorized for educators, even a good looking adolescent section.
I guess if I had to sum up this website for a friend, it’s an “American” website, with the book selection appealing to a Western audience. So it’s a good places to look for resources you can’t find in the Chinese bookstores.
Their collection is mostly simplified, and there’s no easy way to sort by script.
Others
There are a few others that are geared toward none-heritage learners. But since the cost is high I would never recommend them to a friend. So I’ll just mention them: Yes Asia (I don’t get the pinyin titles), Asian Parent (back in my day…..the first bookstore I knew about! Seems to be kind of out now), Kinokuniya USA (too expensive), Chinese Books for Children (clearly for second language learners, they categorize Magic Treehouse as High School reading)
