Practical Chinese characters

This book teaches you how to use 300 very basic Chinese characters in 60 lessons, taking up 5 characters per lesson. Each lesson provides the Pinyin, defines the characters in English, shows the stroke-order in charts, asks you to rewrite Pinyin sentences in characters, ask you to translate English sentences into characters, asks you to read a passage of Chinese written in the characters you have learned, and then to answer in characters questions about the passage--which are, themselves, posed in characters. There are minimal grammar notes, but the many sentences provide examples to teach the correct forms. The characters are recycled throughout the book. The book, itself, is a paperback created from a typescript with handwritten characters.