500 Basic Chinese Characters

An excellent introduction to the daunting task of becoming literate in Chinese. 500 basic characters are presented in an organized fashion with information including: pinyin, simplified form, stroke order, how the character appears in various script styles, tips on usage, radical, frequently-used words or phrases, and an exercise to practice the new characterAfter having reviewed over 30 books on learning basic Chinese characters, this is by far the most complete and user friendly. My wife and I searched Chicago, Boston, Toronto, and Shanghai, and finally decided on this volume to add to our collection. Worth the price? It depends on how badly you want to learn Chinese. There are so many different similar volumes out there; this one just contains the most complete info. Better to buy it in Shanghai if you have that option, but a great book to have even if you can't.