Many of us ABC's grew up with content that was rather "stuffy." We didn't have access to books and stories that were more modern. Sun Wu Kong, or the Monkey King stories were the most fun we could get. And he was a riot, no doubt.
But the classical canon for Chinese literature then feeds the problem of putting all things Chinese into a box. I think this explains why you might hear a few too many Chinese Americans who claim they "hate" things that are Chinese or can only shudder and shake their heads when they think about Saturday Chinese School. I have even heard from native Chinese who come to America as teens or adults, that they have met (with horror) Chinese Americans or ABC's who just outright don't want anything to do with anything Chinese or anybody who is Chinese. Their memories of how they grew up were that bad. Very sad.
Taking it out of a box is what will get you to the 3B's. That experience can go in many different ways - out of the classroom, out of the family, out of the usual touristic adventures, out of the textbooks, out of the flash cards... just out. Anything that expresses spontaneity or a much more organic interaction, rather than one that is contrived, can help you. And while I am a fan of the classical Chinese canon, I can also see why it can be limited, especially if that is all that you learn about what it means to be Chinese. And certainly, many have taken things too far in throwing it all away. That is not the solution either. People need to find a healthy dynamic in balancing the old with the new.
Humor is the topic of this post. I mentioned the readers Learning Chinese Through Stories as a great help in learning to drop Pinyin. These stories are also really funny. But it's probably for about 3rd grade when your kid has the developmental maturity to understand the more subtle irony that is communicated.
Prior to that, the Diary of a Kid readers are great. The first two books chronicle 小屁 Xiao Pi's adventures in kindergarten. They capture the innocence and naivete of a child's earnest but mischief-making perspective on the world that my kid found very easy to relate to and enjoy. It made bedtime reading fun and not a chore. 小屁 is silly just in the way that 5, 6 and 7 year olds are silly. Sometimes, his reasons for why he does things is exactly how your child would think, but then we find out how that child-like reasoning creates more of a mess than anyone imagined.
Plus, all the pinyin helped me as a parent with imperfect Chinese reading skills. And now, my child can largely read it on her own with all the pinyin support. Along the way, your child's vocabulary will increase with less effort through the stories of these situations that s/he will be able to relate to directly, since they all have to do with being at school or at home. This series continues up through the elementary grades. Nanhai Books only have the first 2 in the series. We have bought them to follow 小屁 through 6th grade from DangDang.com.
Another similar series is to follow a child named 小朵朵 Xiao Duo Duo, and another named 小豆豆Xiao Dou Dou. These stories are similarly cute and hilarious, and you and your child can follow these kids while they go through the elementary years.
As I've mentioned again and again, content matters. The brain doesn't want to go through boring drills and droning memorization work. If that is your child's only experience of a language, then it does not mirror what s/he experiences with the English language. Not even close. The "immersion" method is supposed to mimic what one experiences with one's native language. Full engagement. But just like kids around the world who fully enjoy the content from Sesame Street in their own language and with their own cultural content, then your kids need appropriate content engagement in the Mandarin Chinese language. And sure, not all the content is going to match the American and Western culture with which your child is familiar, but modern Chinese life is really not that far off from what your kid experiences. S/he will see that through these stories.
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