WHEN Martha Keswick's son Sidney, six, started studying Chinese last year, the 33-year-old Briton wanted to find some storybooks she could read to him at night.

The former sales and marketing manager, who has been living with her family in Asia for about nine years, had taken an intensive elementary Chinese course at the National University of Singapore in 2002.

'It was so hard. On the first day, I was totally humiliated,' she says with a laugh.

Her family had been based here for a year while her husband Ben, group managing director of Jardine Cycle & Carriage, pursued an MBA at Insead. They then went to Hong Kong, where they lived for five years, before returning to Singapore last year.

While looking for reading material for her son, she felt that there were not enough books out there for children learning Chinese as a second language.

'I started thinking about how I could use my knowledge as a Westerner learning Chinese to produce something children learning it as a foreign language could relate to,' she says.

The result is Max And Mei, a series of 12 books about two five-year-olds who live in Hong Kong and who meet the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Published by Hong Kong publisher P3, the series, aimed at readers aged two to seven, is divided into three box sets, each with four books and an audio CD.

Each book is written in both English and Chinese, and also comes with hanyu pinyin. The illustrations are by London- based artist Mariko Jesse.

The first box set, released late last year, is available at major bookstores for $36 without GST, while the second box set will be out next month and the third in June.

'It is my dream that my kids will be bilingual in English and Chinese' - Martha Keswick

Why do you want your children to study Chinese?   

My husband grew up in Hong Kong and has family there, and our kids will always either live in Asia or have ties to Asia, so it is important for them to learn the language.

Although my husband doesn't speak Mandarin and I am just learning it myself, it is my dream that my kids will be bilingual in English and Chinese.

The nature of the language also makes it difficult to pick up at a later age, so it is better to start them on it when they are tiny. If they want, they can pick up a European language like French when they are older.

I try to expose my children to Chinese as much as possible. Both my kids are at Nanyang Kindergarten. My daughter Sylvie, two, just started this year. We also have a Mandarin tutor with whom we converse regularly, and when we watch the Disney Channel, we listen to the Mandarin audio track.

How did you come up with the stories for Max And Mei?

The characters of Max and Mei are based on my son and his best friend in Hong Kong, a little girl named Bubble.

I wanted interesting stories that would teach something of Chinese culture, so I thought of getting the zodiac animals involved.

What is most difficult is not getting a good story but using words simple enough for children who are learning the language.

I write the stories in English, which then get translated into Chinese by the publisher. I also check the translations with some friends who are teachers and native Mandarin speakers. So I'm learning along with my kids.

Do your children like the stories?

My son is a little annoyed that I changed the names. It was supposed to be Sid and Bubble, but I couldn't find equivalent Mandarin names that sounded good. When I read the books to him, it has to be Sid and Bubble.

My daughter loves them. She likes to read them only in Mandarin, though, which is quite funny. She has a good ear for language.