Back in the studio

It is lovely to be home again and surrounded by love ones and warm neighbours who fed me delicious prawns even before I set my foot into my own house. I am so blessed.

I am now back in my home studio after 4 intense, invigorating and inspiring days at the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore and The Arts House last week.

Big thanks to the organisers as well as the advisors, speakers and presenters who put in their heart and sweat to put together this wonderful event that bring together people who are passionate about children's books. Great appreciation to the speakers who travelled a long way across the oceans with all means (including cycling ...  not joking) and feed us with so much information despite being jetlag, attacked by the ferocious Singapore heat and pestered by sales people of exotic food along the quay.

Like Sangeetha, a friend and the author of A Blue Cat's Tale (a beautifully illustrated picture book published by ST Press under the First Time Writer and Illustrator scheme), I was information overloaded! My head too was buzzing with ideas and excitement. I certainly had lots of fun catching up with old friends and meeting new ones whom I hope will grow into old friends the next time we meet again.

While I am compelled to write a long post about the festival, I would like to direct you to Tarie's blog for now. I had the pleasure of meeting Tarie Sabido during the last session which was an open dialog between Asian and Australian publishers, writers and illustrators. Tarie, who lives in the Philippines, has an interesting blog that talks about books set in Asia and books with Asian characters regardless of where they are from.

Tarie's enthusiasm and love for children's literature is infectious of course. Whether you are a writer, an illustrator, a publisher, a mother, a teacher, or simply someone who loves to read, definitely check her blogs out. The names - Asia in The Heart (http://asiaintheheart.blogspot.com) and Color Online (http://coloronline.blogspot.com - a blog focuses on women writers of color for adults, young adults (YA) and children.) Super efficient in journaling, Tarie posted her experience at AFCC quicker than anyone in the media! I am blogrolling you!

One more lady whom I had great pleasure meeting is Daphne Lee. Daphne is an advocate in reading in Malaysia. She started blogging about books for children and teens in 2004. You can imagine the sheer amount of resources, researches and information that Daphne had put her heart and soul into, in the name for love for children's literature. It's a must for parents and teachers to spend time at her blog. (Seriously, I command you to!) Her blog is The Places You Will Go (http://daphne.blogs.com). Be ready to be enlighten!

Before I sign off to do more thinking and get more drawings done (I am so behind schedule, it's scary), I would like to share a little bit about my experience with the Asian Parents Forum, which I think is the best way to end the event on Sunday. Why is it the best you may ask? Let me tell you from the perspective of a parent.

I managed to attend two sessions in the morning. One with Dilip Mukerjea of Braindancing International and another with Vikas Malkani of SoulKids and SoulParents.

Both are dynamic speakers who spoke with great wisdom. They are the people who knows children (I would say better than many of us). I have learned so much from them on Mother's Day. Indeed, what a privileged to have children and be around them.

At the end of the sessions, I asked myself one simple question which I think it will take me a lifetime to find out, which is the beauty of it too - What do we understand about children?

Email me if you have any thoughts. I would absolutely love to hear from you.

Have a great week ahead.

Asian Festival of Children's Content

Just a quick update here. I will be attending the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC) organised by The Arts House and the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS, also know as The Book Council) this week, from 6th to 9th May 2010.

AFCC aims to foster excellence in the creation, production and publication of children materials with Asian content in all formats and facilitate their distribution and access to parents, teachers, librarians and children in Asia as well as the world. For the past 10 years, NBDCS has been organising the Asian Children Writers & Illustrators Conference (ACWIC) to develop new materials for children. With the launch of AFCC, both organisations now aim to expand ACWIC's reach by including new initiatives. The Festival, with a series of innovative programmes, seeks to fill the direct need for quality Asian children content worldwide, particularly in Asia.

I am very excited about it. And so really looking forward to learn new stuff as well as making new friends and catching up with some old ones.

On the 9th May, which is Sunday, there will be a special forum for parents. You can check it out on the website.

Two of my illustrations from Guai Wu The Chinese Elf had been selected for the Book Illustrators’ Gallery (BIG) exhibition, which will be held during AFCC. BIG aims to showcase illustrations from artists from around the region, and is a platform for the promotion of local and regional artists. Their works go beyond genres and borders and contribute towards creating awareness of traditions and heritage. It also helps to publicise the great business potential in creating and distributing Asian content throughout Asia and the rest of the world.

BIG will run from 6 May to 14 May at the Film and Print Galleries, and Box Office Foyer of the festival venue, The Arts House.

Have a great week ahead everyone! Maybe see you at the conference.

Where to buy Guai Wu The Chinese Elf

Been a long break from my blog. I took some time with my family in November and December, getting recharged. We went to New Zealand for three weeks (thanks to Frequent Flyer Miles) and I have to say I enjoyed every minute of it and I love the countryside. I want to go back again. We did a lot of things that we don't get to do in Singapore. All of us had so much fun.











School started 3 weeks ago. My girls and I are getting used to our new routine. I have lesser time to work in the afternoon since both will be home from school between 11-ish to 1-ish. Two days a week Hannah goes bowling hence I have to fetch her from school in the late afternoon. Everyday, I will spend a few hours helping them with school work. Hannah is mostly supervision while Heather does her phonics, reading and Chinese with me. Besides study, I also have to do grocery, cook, book keeping and do house chores (which I do leave out some days when my schedule is full).

Morning is the only good stretch of time for me to draw. I have about 4 hours to glue myself on my chair and keep my pencils moving. Some days I do get distractions.

I have a couple of new projects line up this year. I started doing research for one this week. Gonna be fun working on it. I will update again.

Meanwhile if you want to buy Guai Wu The Chinese Elf online, you can go to SELECTBOOKS or KINOKUNIYA bookstore. Links embedded. Thanks for your support!

Meeting Neil Gaiman and other awesome literary figures at the Singapore Writers Festival

I can't believe that another week has gone by without a new post.

Last week at the Singapore Writers Festival, I met several people whom I "met/knew" online. One of them is Sharon Bakar who writes about books (and authors, and publishing events, and reviews, and interviews, among many other interesting stuffs related to the literary world) on her blog, Bibliobibuli - Woman Battles Book Dependency Problem. So book lovers, head off to the bookaholic's blog to share your views about books, and Second Life if you have one.

Another person I enjoyed meeting (a lot) is Wena Poon. Yes, she is the author whose first book, Lions In Winter, was longlisted for the 2008 International Frank O'Connor Short Story Prize, nominated for the Singapore Literature Prize and shortlisted for Popular Reader's Choice Award in Malaysia. The friendly and quick-witted writer was here to speak and launch her new books - The Proper Care of Foxes, published by Ethos Books, and The Biophilia Omnibus, a collection of her first four literary science fiction/fantasy adventure works which she published through BookSurge. She brought in limited copies and I was very happy to get hold of one from BooksActually, the official bookstore for the festival. More of Wena, go to her website www.wenapoon.com.

Jen Hamilton-Emery, director of Salt Publishing (UK) who is responsible for the international edition of Wena's Lions in Winter, was also in town. She was one of the panelists for the publishing industry symposium to talk about poetry, short stories and translation. Jen was very very humble despite having the award winning authors as well as long- and short- listed titles with the publishing firm she run with her partner. Check out their website and buy a book or two to support their Just One Book campaign this Christmas.

At the symposium, I also met Tunku Halim, a Malaysian author based in Tasmania, who, like me, has a deep love for history. He had published several "dark fantasy" stories and a children's encyclopedia on History of Malaysia which was inspired by his late father and took him five years to put together. More information on this well researched book can be found on the author's blog.

It was a pleasure meeting Mr Abdon M. Balse, Jr. (Jun), an award winning novelist and poet from the Philippines. During the symposium, he shared with me the problems of distributing books created by Asean writers and provided insightful information on reading and buying habits in Philippines. It was interesting to learn that books are delivered like pizzas over there! Thank you sir for your time and I too hope that there will be more opportunities to foster better understanding in the area of writing and distribution as well as to establish closer ties between writers, artists, publishers, distributors and booksellers in the two countries.

I attended Felix Cheong's launch for Sudden Youth, a collection of new and selected poems, published by Ethos Books. Felix shared with us his journey as a poet and generously read us almost the whole book. He said this maybe his last poetry book and is working on short stories. I wish you well with whatever you are endeavouring next.

This year, Neil Gaiman, the creator of Sandman, Coraline, Stardust, The Graveyard Book (which won this year's Newbery Award) along with picture books such as Blueberry Girl and The Day I Swapped My Dad with Two Gold Fish, was invited to give a series of talks/dialogs during the Singapore Writers Festival. I managed to get tickets to attend two of the three sessions - Little Lit! at the Arts House and Graphic Novels and Fantasy at the Victoria Theatre. And here's my account.

On Saturday, he talked about writing Coraline, his first novel for children which he started writing in 1991 for her daughters Holly and Maddy. After working on it on-and-off for the next few years, he finally completed the book in 1999 and have it released in 2000. On how kids react to horror story, he felt that children are better at taking scary stuff than adults. He compared Coraline to Hansel and Gretel, which he described as a tale of abandonment and starvation and mass murder. He reckoned that both stories are similar to some extend. So if children aren't afraid of the horrible things in such fairytales, then they will enjoy the chills that run down their spines as they read his story (as proven by Morgan, Gaiman's editor's son). I suppose afraid as they may be, they will also nevertheless be grateful that there is finally an author who refuses to patronise a young audience hungry for an absorbing horror tale.

During the second half of the session, he moved unto more adult stuff. He revealed enthusiastically about his new China inspired project. I am utterly impressed for the fact that he had actually read several Chinese Classics including Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦), Outlaws of the Marsh (水许传), Journey to the West (西游记) and Romance of the Three Kingdom (三国演义). He was particularly fascinated by Tang San Zang (唐三藏) and his epic 10000 miles round trip to India to bring back to China the scriptures of Buddhist during the Sui and Tang Dynasty (A.D. 620, 7th century), which basically formed the story of the Journey to The West written by Wu Cheng'en (吴承恩) in the Ming Dynasty, 16th century of China.

Someone asked for his views about book sectioning at bookshops, working on Good Omens with Terry Pratchett whom he referred to as someone with very similar head, and on him releasing the beast in him through writing. He answered each question insightfully. On working with various media, Gaiman hopes to conquer the stage in the future. He didn't talk much about The Graveyard Book but read a good whole chapter from it.

One hour was really short. So on Sunday, I went to listen to the man talked once more, with Hannah. This time, Neil Gaiman, who was cladded again in black, made his appearance in front of 800 fans at the Victoria Theatre. After an introduction, he thanked everyone for "braving the long queue, braving heat and braving whatever mysterious secret messaging system that you know that tickets were available for getting in here". He talked about how "ok" he felt about turning 50 because he has had an amazing life, has written a lot of things he wanted to write, has raised a couple of really cool kids and has the world's coolest girlfriend (Amanda Palmer). He claimed that the only time he was afraid of the plane crashing down was in 1988 when he had to take 100 pages of Dave Mckean's original artworks for Black Orchid from UK to America. He said that he had to work very hard to keep the plane afloat with his mind throughout the entire journey.

The other thing that Gaiman seemed to enjoy talking about during both sessions was Singaporeans' crazy obsession with eating and food. Imagination ran wild with his really humorous theory about an unique viand called "stuffed authors - where you take a nice English author who spends a lot of time in America, about 50, feed him wonderful food until he's completely stuffed, and then slice him up and make him up into little pink packages." He also described Singaporeans as "very enthusiastic, but in a quiet, polite and very organised way" and made a terrible joke about Philippinos, which he quickly apologised.

He also chatted away gleefully, like the way a child talks about his first exotic pet, about his bees, on his mission to save the bee colony, and about how he got into bee-keeping and the second blue ribbon in the county fair that he and his bee-keeping team (Loraine and Birdchick) won for Extracted Honey and for Comb Honey. For him, that was the third best award ever. It beat a dozen of others literary prizes including the new 2010 Les Grands Prix de l’Imaginaire Award for translated short fiction of Des choses fragiles (Fragile Things, collection), he said. The top two are Newbery and Hugo.

Of course again, he told us about his new nonfiction project inspired by the Chinese Legend Journey to the West (西游记) and bits about his day with Mr Liu Xiao Ling Tong (六小龄童) - the Chinese actor who acted as Monkey King (I watched him on TV when I was 9 or 10, can't believe it was so long ago). He also commented that his new books will contain stories about his near impossible meeting with the fourth high-level monk and all the peculiar encounters he had during his various adventures in China including the one about a hawker trying to sell him a human elbow.


I am not surprise with what one can find and experience in a country with a history of over five thousand years. I personally discovered quite a bit online when doing my research for my book Guai Wu The Chinese Elf. As for the subject of Monkey King, in fact, two months ago Lak Khee, an illustrator-friend of mine who is currently based in France, and I had a discussion about this Chinese folktale character whom almost everyone knows. And in my Little Lit! talk at The Arts House in May, I mentioned, in connection to incorporating Asian elements to children's book, Professor Ma WenHai, another illustrator-friend of mine, who created a series of children's books based on the tales of the monkey god for the American market. In his 4th, which is also the latest, book Monkey King Defeats Red Boy, he had put my kids in as characters for his watercolour paintings. His books had been translated to other languages. That goes to show the popularity of this mythical character that most Chinese grew up with. So I look forward to read Gaiman's take on the legend.

Someone in the audience also ask him to talk a bit about his visit to the amazing Studio Ghibli. He said, as he looked back, meeting Mr Hayao Miyazaki, the prominent Japanese filmmaker of many popular animated feature films including Totoro, Spirited Away and, most recently, Ponyo, and spending an afternoon in his studio was one of the best day ever for him. With regards to Totoro's appearance in the background of the illustrated version of Stardust, Neil's answer was that the idea was from the artist but he would have done that too if he had thought of that.

Despite being a rock-star in the literary scene, Neil Gaiman is an amazingly open, unpretentious and down-to-earth person who take time for each one who patiently queue to meet him in person. He is also a very witty and incredibly charismatic storyteller. Hannah shook hand with him (nervously) and had her book signed. As for me, I am thankful to him for an opportunity to revisit my childhood memory through Sun WuKong, the curious and fearless monkey, whose dream to become immortal, brings to life a series of awe-inspiring adventures as the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who continuously creates havoc in the celestial world, had kept me amused and entertained when I was little, and still does even as adult.

If you like to hear from Gaiman himself, go to www.razortv.com. There is a series of interesting interviews from the press conference that happened during his visit.

In one of the recordings, he talked about bribing a watchman to enter a closed down monkey amusement park that ended with seriously disturbing scenes of hell where sinful people were tortured. I can totally relate to the same terrifying experience he described about a young child who walked through the eldritch tunnels. The trip to Haw Par Villa with my parents when I was six or seven at that time had haunted me for years. After walking out of "18 levels of hell", I remember saying to myself that I want to find another religion (or change god) so that I can go to heaven. I later discovered that it is "possible" with the "western" god. Seek and ye shall find!

Ok. With that, I shall end my long post and thank the hardworking team at National Arts Council, The Arts House and the Singapore Books Publishing Association for organising such a wonderful festival.

I wish you (mummies and children) a good school break. My family and I will be taking an adventurous three weeks holiday in New Zealand. Can't wait to breathe the clean crisp air.

Singapore Writers Festival 2009 - Undercover

For writers and budding writers and anyone who loves books, Singapore Writers Festival kicked off last Friday at The Arts House and will be running till 1st November. Check out the official website (www.singaporewritersfestival.com) for programme information.

HIGHLIGHTS

26 October 2009, 7:30 pm
Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul by Shamini Flint

Come celebrate the launch of the new Inspector Singh book by author Shamini Flint. You just might discover why Daily Telegraph (United Kingdom) has described Inspector Singh as “a crime series hero like no other”. In this thrilling second book of the series, the Inspector is sent to Bali to help with anti-terrorism efforts, after a bomb blast has been set off on the island.

27 October 2009, 6:30 pm
Literary Pioneer Series: An Evening with Edwin Thumboo

Every society has its pioneers. Without Singapore's literary pioneers laying the foundations, Singapore literature would not be where it is today. Following a tradition started in 2007, SWF takes pride in focusing on SWF 2009 Literary Pioneer, Emeritus Professor Edwin Thumboo. Aside from exploring his works through the years with Jonathan Webster and Thiru Kandiah, there will be heartwarming moments aplenty as friends and family join the man himself in this evening of poetic melodies and anecdotes.

31 October 2009, 12:30 pm
Sudden in Youth: New and Selected Poems 1998 – 2009 by Felix Cheong

Expect inventive wordplay that cuts through the skin of language in Singapore poet Felix Cheong's new book, which brings together his best poems from the past decade as well as his recent writings. Whether assuming the voice of serial killers or strippers, or musing on love or God, he offers an insight as equally provocative as evocative.

31 October 2009, 03:00pm & 04:30pm and 1 November 2009, 02:00pm
Talks by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman, English author of graphic novel Sandman, novel American Gods, and children's books The Graveyard Book and Coraline will be making his way to the festival. For the first session on the 31st, find out if he writes in a different mindset when positioning his stories for children and teens, followed by reading extracts from Who Kills Amanda Palmer, a new photo book from the author based on a macabre collection of Amanda of American music duo The Dresden Dolls, in death poses. On the 1st, he will share some of his experiences and inspirations behind his many graphic novels and writings in the fantasy genre.

Also check out Wena Poon's new books The Biophilia Omnibus and The Proper Care Of Foxes.

It is a pity that I have missed a couple of talks and book launch due to family events - Heather's school performance last Saturday and classes on Sunday - so I am looking forward to this coming weekend.

LAUNCH OF OUR BOOKS - Guai Wu The Chinese Elf and Georgette's Mooncake

And don't forget Adeline Foo, Lee Kowling and I will be launching our new books Georgette's Mooncakes and Guai Wu The Chinese Elf this Saturday, 31 October, 6.30pm, at The Arts House. RSVP here on Faceboook. See you there!
GUAI WU ON THE RADIO

Guai Wu The Chinese Elf was reviewed by Michelle Martins on her Talking Books segment on 938Live. Check out this video below with the radio recording.

Book launch at Borders Books

Last weekend was a busy one for me and my family. There was launch events for my picture book Guai Wu The Chinese Elf and Kowling's book Georgette's Mooncakes at Borders Books, as well as a wedding of a dear friend of mine (Cindy) on a beautiful Sunday morning at Beaufort Sentosa.

(Click on the images to enlarge)
Our book launch at Borders Books went well on both days. Many thanks to all of you who came to support us. Thanks Jamie, Effendy and Melissa at the Parkway bookstores for their logistic assistance. I think I did better than the first time when I did my presentation at Little Lit. At least not as nervous. I also enjoyed coming up with my own craft activities for the children.


















I want to especially thank my girls Hannah and Heather, my husband Jon (who came despite being under the weather), Mariko and Wen for stepping forward to give me a hand with the events. Mari helped me to cut some of the templates for my shoe making session and brought for me my paintings while I went to the wedding before the event that morning while Wen helped me out with photography.

I held my tears when my mum and dad came to the bookstore until the end of the event. I am very touched by their support all along despite of their poor health. Thank you mum and dad for everything.

















Double book launch
In celebration with the release of Georgette's Mooncakes and Guai Wu The Chinese Elf, Ethos Books will be hosting a double book launch during the Singapore Writers Festival, on the 31st October 2009, 6.30pm to 7.30pm at The Arts House. For more info, please go to my Facebook Pages or visit the official website of Singapore Writers Festival.

I look forward to catching up with you again. In the meantime, wish me luck with a few new sets of paintings for OIC.

Chinese Embroidery Patterns for Illustration Friday

It has been a very very long time since I participated in Illustration Friday, where I first discovered the possible opportunity to illustrate for children's book. This week's topic is PATTERN and I happened to have some illustrations that fit in rather nicely.

These illustrations are from my new picture book Guai Wu The Chinese Elf, a story set during the Qing Dynasty. The book tells a story about a boy in China who looked different from other children and a seamstress who took him into her house and gave him shelter and food. In those days, the Han Chinese wore elaborately embroidered silk costumes and handmade shoes with beautiful patterns inspired by nature, folk culture and folk tales.

More article on the book can be found here, here and here.

…
Book information
Author: Adeline Foo
Illustrator: Christine Lim Simpson
Publisher: Ethos Books
Format: Soft Cover Trade
ISBN: 9789810828981
Medium: watercolour

Hot off the press!

Labour of love
25 September 2009, Friday - I have been waiting for the moment to write this post for nearly 365 days. My parents had taught me well the virtue of patience.

This morning before I dashed off to meet my bookseller, Wai Han my publisher at Ethos Books, was so sweet to send over some copies of my newly printed books Guai Wu The Chinese Elf. For the first time, I feel relieved. I flipped through the book but didn’t scrutinise my paintings and the printing like I normally will do. Today, I told myself it’s time to walk tall. My work is done, or at least I am down with only the marketing aspect for my book. That’s right, illustrating and getting published is only part of the book business.

Almost an entire year of hard work is in this picture book. Is it worth it? YES, and I will do it again and again and again. I have learned so much from my author-partner Adeline Foo, my incredibly patient publishing team (Wai Han, Hoe Fang, Adeleena, Alvin and Merlin), Thomas and Hao You at PICA Scans, Steven and Ah Man at Utopia Press and everyone else whom had shared with me their wisdom in creating picture books. Thank you all for all your efforts.

Special thanks to Professor Ma Wenhai at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who had shared with me his personal pictures of China. His constant notes of encouragement are like cushions. My gratitude to Dr Ken Spillman for all his inspirational and uplifting words.

Also, thanks in advance to the team at MarketAsia for distributing my books, all the staff of Borders Books for their support for the upcoming event on next Sunday, 4 October, 2pm at Borders Parkway, other book sellers, as well as each and everyone who will come and support me.

Last but not least, the biggest thanks to my husband Jon (for enduring my obsession with children’s books), my children Hannah and Heather (for everything that no adults can give and teach me), my mum and dad (who has never once force me to become a doctor or a lawyer) and my sister Dawn (for looking after my mum and never once ask me to go get a properly paid job), my trustworthy neighbours Mariko, KiSeung and little Yuri (for your friendship, support, kind acts and for saving me time after time), my generous friends including Selena and Boo Kian (who never fail to bring out a smile on my kids’ face), Miko (who regularly buy me coffee to keep me awake on Sunday), May (who sends me love regularly from Toronto) and ALL my little friends (who love to say “wah, your painting is so nice” while peeping over my shoulder when I paint - each one of you is an inspiration behind my work.)

So, with further ado, I would like to invite you and your child to celebrate with me and Adeline for the launch of Gu Wu The Chinese Elf on the following dates:

4th October 2009. Sunday. 2pm. BORDERS BOOKS (Parkway Parade) There will be storytelling, guided shoe making session*, exhibition of original artwork and book signing.

* Parent/guardian's assistance for younger children is required.

You can find more info on my Facebook Page.

31st October 2009. Saturday. 6.30pm EARSHOT at THE ARTS HOUSE
Singapore Writers Festival event Joint book launch with Lee Kowling, illustrator for Adeline’s Peranakan series, for Georgette’s Mooncakes and The Beaded Slippers, also authored by Adeline Foo.

Kowling will also be launching her new book Georgette's Mooncake and The Beaded Slippers at Borders Books (Wheelock) on 3rd October 2009, Saturday from 2pm to 3pm.

Please see the image for details.

We look forwards to seeing all of you.

If you are a bookseller, a school teacher, a parent looking for have us over to do a talk, workshop, storytelling, please drop me an email.
…
Almost there!
22 September 2009. Tuesday - I am glad that my book is finally printed. Last Friday, I went all the way to Tuas with my publisher to do the press check. Ah Man, the press operator at Utopia Press, patiently took me through the process and taught me how colours can be adjusted to make the final appearance more pleasing to the eyes. Binding should done on today. The books should be delivered to the publisher by Wednesday ... I can’t wait to see my labour of love in print. Stay tuned for updates regarding book signing and activities!

…
Book information
Format: Soft Cover Trade
ISBN: 9789810828981

Reading For Pleasure - Nurturing Lifelong Learners

Dear friends and readers, how have you been? I hope you have been kind to yourself. I am happy to announce that my book Guai Wu is now in the reproduction stage. There are still lots of things to do - colour corrections for the scans, touching up, colour proofing, cover design, text layout, final press check, etc, before the book goes to the bookstores.

In the meantime, I just want to share with you on the topic of reading for pleasure.

The Strait Times published an interview with Dr Ken Spillman, an Australian author of over 20 books including Blue and Love is a UFO, both acclaimed novels for teenagers, about "Getting the young to read for pleasure".

(Please click on the image to read the article.)

An evangelist of reading for pleasure, Dr Spillman visited Singapore on 24th August to gave a talk on literacy in the interactive world at a conference that is part of the 5th Read! Singapore campaign.

As a parent, I would like to thank Dr Spillman for reminding us the benefits of reading for pleasure. He recently published his new juvenile fiction entitled Jake’s Gigantic List*, which is especially dedicated to Children’s Book Council of Australia for being “so tireless in promoting the wonder of books”.

Jake’s Gigantic List
Jake’s Gigantic List is about discovering the magic of a great story. The protagonist is a little boy who wants it all. Like most kids, he loves birthdays and presents. He has pretty much everything a kid wants, though not enough. So for his coming birthday, his father tells him to make a wishlist which includes everything he has imagined to have - real spaceships, pet crocodile, friendly pirate, remote control football, a good mood tablet for teachers, etc. The list grew longer and longer, and more and more inventive. Luckily for Jake, Auntie Lyn knows just where to find them all. Filled with cute pencil sketch illustrations by Chris Nixon, Jake’s Gigantic List makes a fun book to read at anytime.

I personally had enjoyed reading Jake’s Gigantic List to Hannah, Heather and Yuri (my Japanese neighbour’s child) at bedtime. They all love the story to bits, especially the idea of creating their own adventure packed birthday list. Chris Nixon’s cartoonish, black and white drawings added extra playfulness to the lighthearted story.

You can find out more about Dr Ken Spillman on his website: www.kenspillman.com
Jake’s Gigantic List is published by Fremantle Press. ISBN 978 1921 361 71 5. You can purchase online http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1111

Why reading for pleasure is so important to a child?
The world was once a place where books were not only for knowledge, book were also for entertainment, therefore for pleasure. Reading for fun was a favourite pastime of most children, teens and adults before the 50s. Then TV struck. Back then it was thought that TV would replace movies. Little did they know that movies would survive and reading for pleasure would fall by the wayside.

As TV watching increased, reading for fun decreased in direct proportion. With the birth of computers, popularisation of Internet and portable games gadgets in the 90s, as well as education system reform that stresses on academic achievement, people started to turn away from books to other form of activities for pleasure.

In UK, The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) showed that the amount of reading overall outside school continued to plummet since the last study, six years ago. Only 33% of children in England and Scotland read for pleasure, compared with the international average of 40%.

The children's secretary, Ed Balls, said: "This study shows that our highest achieving children are reading less, with children's busy days leaving less time for books at home. As parents we have to get the balance right and as a society we have to send the right messages about the value of reading to our children."

Liberal Democrat shadow children's secretary David Laws said "Despite the success of books like Harry Potter, there is still a worryingly large group of our young people who have absolutely no interest in reading. We have to ensure that youngsters can not only read and write but that schools and parents breathe enjoyment back into what otherwise can be a rigid programme of learning."

In another interview, an award-winning children's author has suggested the current schooling system is putting kids off reading for pleasure.

While some independent schools may be exceptions to the rule, Frank Cottrell Boyce, told the Telegraph that continuous assessment and a focus on literacy may have improved the skills of some, but has taken the joy out of reading for many.

The author was awarded the Carnegie Medal for children's writing after the success of his book Millions, but told the newspaper he feels the focus on how children read is damaging.

"It is like comparing health to sport," he said. "One is something functional - the other is something you do because you enjoy it." Mr Cottrell Boyce told the newspaper children who read for pleasure should naturally do better at school.

New Children’s Laureate encourages reading picture books for pleasure
Anthony Browne, the new Children’s Laureate, has recently called for greater emphasis on reading for pleasure. Accepting the Laureateship in June he said, “I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I want to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words. Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.”

And, “if children are not encouraged to read for pure pleasure, if they are dragged away from reading books they enjoy – including picture books – and pushed into reading educationally worthy books, then we are in danger of creating a generation of non-readers.”

He also encouraged educators and teachers to revisit picture books. “Picture books are special – they’re not like anything else. Sometimes I hear parents encouraging their children to read what they call proper books (books without pictures), at an earlier and earlier age. This makes me sad, as picture books are perfect for sharing, and not just with the youngest children. As a father, I understand the importance of the bond that develops through reading picture books with your child.”

‘We have in Britain some of the best picture book makers in the world, and I want to see their books appreciated for what they are – works of art.”

Schools have been ordered to overhaul their English teaching after a three-year study by the education watchdog, Ofsted, found that 30% of lessons are not good enough and little attempt is made to encourage teenagers to read for pleasure.

The report was based on inspectors’ visits to English lessons in 242 schools from 2005 to 2008. Although recent developments were praised, test results on the whole have hardly improved since 2004.

Singapore children asking for more time to read for pleasure
In Singapore, children in primary schools are engaged daily for at least 30 minutes of silent reading, which is usually carried out in the assembly hall; although the activity is recently held in classrooms instead due to H1N1. Students are allowed to read anything other than text books, comics and other academic materials such as composition handbooks. As to whether a child is truly reading a book, or simply glancing at the words in it, is probably still a question only he or she can tell you.

A study made by an associate professor at Nanyang Technology University on the reading habits of Singapore children revealed that 62% of the students said that they read to get better grades in their tests and examinations or taking reading as a way to improve language skills as their motivations for reading. Slightly over 20% of the students said that most of the time they read because their parents or teachers asked them to do so.

Clearly, only a limited number of the students were reading for relaxation. This could only possibly be due to stressful Singapore education system which places high emphasis on meritocracy and good grades. Students, including those in the lower primary level (6 and 7 years of age), often face pressure from their parents and teachers to improve their academic performance. Many expressed the wish to have more time for fun reading.

It is, therefore, desirable that Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE), schools as well as parents should consider reducing workload of primary school children so that they may find sufficient time and energy for fun reading.

The other dimension of this issue is that often children of Generation Z have a fixed amount of time and energy for leisure activities and, in addition to fun reading, many activities are competing for their time and attention. With more and more children being technologically savvy, books may perceived as less appealing and exciting in comparison to, say, a cutting-edge handheld game gadget, a fashionable mobile phone or the latest computer activities. Afterall, it does take a bit more brain cells and patience to digest a good story than watching a DVD or playing games on the Internet.

However, we already know that at the end, their imagination and intellectual curiosity is more likely expand hundred times more with books. Through the power and music and magic of stories and poems that children can also develop the empathy and awareness that they will need to tackle the complexities of their own emotions, of the human condition in which they find in themselves.

What can you do to encourage reading for pleasure?
Teachers and parents can play an important role in educating children how to keep a balance in their leisure activities, including reading for pleasure.

Children model after their parents’ lifestyle. I think that how do you instill in a child not to pick their food is similar to how you instill the joy of reading in a child. With eating, you, as a parent, must not be choosy or overly bias (with exception to junk food) and encourage your child to try out a good variety of healthy food. With reading, you must first make sure your child sees you reading for pleasure other than at read-aloud time that you and your child can do together before sleeping. Sharing with your child your enthusiasm for whatever you are reading is also a good way to cultivate his or her interest in reading.

My story:
I think I am personally a fairly late convert. My parents speak only Mandarin, Hokkien and Teochew. They were born during post occupation. They came from poor family and had only a few years of education. My mum learnt Teochew (a chinese dialect) through Chinese opera performing, which was her career for many years from the age of 12 until she married my dad. She learnt to read Chinese characters in the opera script. Mandarin was picked up probably in the 80s when television became popular in homes. My dad had to work since very very young, probably about 6 years old. He helped in the farm, grew vegetable and crops, raised pigs, chicken and ducks. My grandmother, who came to Singapore from China in a junk with her mother and sister, was a single mum to nine children, including those of my grandaunt’s own and adopted. All of them lived together under one scrap-metal roof where the toilet was a few yards outside the house. My grandaunt worked as a samsui woman (labour worker at construction sites) while my grandmother ran the household and a farm at home. My father had to give up school before he became a young adult to work as a carpenter, a chicken rice seller and a hawker to live. He had never given up learning languages and acquired sufficient reading skill to comprehend the newspaper and written materials that he finds interesting to read.

During my primary school days, if I am honest, I read to get through book reviews and exams. I didn’t do well in English because there was no help from home and school. And because English was my weakest subject, I find myself struggling with chapter books, which were the only kind of books we were allowed to read and review. I can’t recall much of what I read other than some of Enid Blyton’s and Hans Christian Anderson’s books, and Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien, a story about life after a nuclear disaster. No one introduced me to AA Milne, Beatrix Potter, Dr Suess or Roald Dahl, whom I believe I would have love to read if I had known them.

Time flew and I was in secondary school. I don’t know how or why I became very interested in literature and turned out to be good at it. Shakespeare was my favourite. I even bought the whole collection of his works later on in life. I guess it was probably then I began to like books a little more. I also signed on as a student librarian at my school for a year or two. As I grew older, books became my life companion. I even worked in a bookshop for a while. After meeting my husband, who is an avid reader, I was introduced to some more world’s best authors including J R.R Tolkien, CS Lewis, Issac Asimov, and many more.

I feel very fortunate to be in the children’s book industry. Not only that I get to read for knowledge and pleasure, sharing stories with children, I even get to meet and work with authors and be the first few to read their stories that can add sparkles to a child’s life (and mine too). Every night, I also get to read aloud to my daughters all the best books ever written. What a blessing … all from my love for reading.

So, it’s really never too late to become a bookworm or raise one.

And it’s definitely not too late to experience every little heartfelt magical moments that you can discover between the lines in books.

Dr Seuss in I can Read with my Eyes Shut said: “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” While Roald Dahl in Charlie and Chocolate Factory beseeched: “So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall!”

To end, I would like to quote from author Emma Walton Hamilton, author of Raising Bookworms: Getting kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment:

“Let’s help our kids to access the innate joy and empowerment in exploring the ideas and insights of great writers, thinkers, artists, and philosophers. Let’s imagine a world in which they actually participate, with active voices, informed opinions, and the real hope of being heard. Let’s get started right now.”

I am off to read John Danalis' new novel Riding The Black Cockatoo before I hit the sack. He said to me: "There is healing smokes within the pages. Breathe and enjoy!"

Sources and links:
Telegraph UK
Guardian UK
Independent UK
Timesonline UK
Children's Laureate UK
Children's Book Council of Australia
Wall Street Journal Online

Good book, good food, good company

The first week of the school holiday has gone so very quickly. Jon and I managed to get out of the house this time to do something fun. This week is all about books, food and company of friends.

Last weekend, Adeline, Kowling and I hosted two little workshops at the National Museum of Singapore. Hannah and Heather had a great time playing with Kowling's daughter Ashley on Saturday. After the workshop, we lunched at a cafe restaurant at Dhoby Exchange. I think it's called Just Acia. We enjoyed our afternoon there as there is a little play corner for kids while the adults get free flow of coffee tea and ice cream. But having said that, we all had only one each. After a nice meal, we dropped by the World Book Fair to meet our distributor.

(L to R: Adeline, Me, Stephanie and Kowling at MarketAsia booth)

On Sunday, Selena and Boo brought Gareth and Gawain to the museum. While I was doing the workshop, the girls went exploring the museum and had lots of fun with their friends. After that we spend a splendid afternoon with Selena and her family.

On Monday, I attended a thank you dinner organised by the very nice people from the museum with my usual coterie. Hannah had a good time hanging out with Ashley and Ben. It was a pleasure meeting others who participated in the Children's Season 2009.

Thursday was interesting. We were invited to the opening of Namiko Chan's solo art show "Divergence" by her husband Aaron Lee, a newly found friend I met at Little Lit. Namiko's exhibit will run from 5th to 27th June at the Fost Gallery (near Mohd Sultan Road). That evening, we took the opportunity to experience a taste of French. We dined at Brasserie Wolf by the river bank at The Pier. The girls enjoyed tucking into their gourmet ham and seafood pasta while Jon and I savoured our Roasted Rabbit. After an incredible feast, we strolled down the river to Clarke Quay. We stopped by the Crazy Elephant before we called it a night.

The next day, we slept in till 10. Jon took a day off work to bring the girls to the Science Centre while I joined the Little Lit gang at a Filipino art exhibit at the Royal Plaza and a pretty good local fare at The Canteen at Shaw Scott. Thanks to Eugene!

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Behind a Picture Book - From Ideas to Words and Art
Kid's workshop at The National Museum of Singapore
Adeline, Kowling and I would like to thank everyone who came and join us at the National Museum last weekend. We had fun and look forward to seeing everyone again.

An afternoon of enriching the creative minds at Little Lit

The inaugural “Little Lit: Enriching Minds & Igniting A Writer’s Spark”, a Pre-Festival Event of the Singapore Writers Festival held at The Arts House on 24th May 2009, was a huge success.

Many heartfelt thanks to our sponsors and organisers - National Arts Council, The Art House, Monsters Under The Bed and Singapore Press Holdings, our publishers Ethos Books and Epigram, our distributor Marketasia everyone who helped out as well as ALL who attended the event.

The panel of speakers including poet Aaron Lee, authors Adeline Foo and Felix Cheong, together with illustrators Joshua Chiang, Lee Kowling, Stephanie Wong and myself were greeted by 200 odd attendees including children, parents, teachers, writers, aspiring writers and illustrators, plus many others who are keen to learn more about writing and illustrating for children.

All of us had lots of fun sharing with everyone our knowledge, journey and passion for children’s literature.

Adeline Foo, author of 13 children’s books, talked about the various career choices for a writer, and other aspects of writing such as book marketing, as well as sharing her process of writing The Diary of Amos Lee, a new book she collaborated with illustrator/book designer Stephanie Wong, who talked about the process in designing the character for Amos Lee and how to create illustrations and book cover for a novel that works.

Aaron Lee, a prize winning poet, an excellent speaker who was also the brilliant moderator for the event, talked about his love for poetry. He shared with us many inspiring poems that touch the hearts of children and adults.

Felix Cheong, an award winning poet and novelist, shared his wisdom on writing fiction for the tweens (children between 9 to 14 years old)and tips on penning the first word. A former TV producer and studio director,with the help of three youngsters, he demonstrated the use of sound to dramatise storytelling.

For me, it was a great privilege to speak at “Little Lit”. This is the first time artists are featured as part of the Singapore Writers Festival, which is Singapore’s most prestigious and only national literary festival.

My talk about Asian Influence in Children's Books covered a brief presentation of my work and illustration style for children’s books,a showcase of children's book illustrators in Asia, an introduction to Asian heritage, a peek into my childhood as a child to a Chinese opera performer and how I incorporate Asian elements, in terms of Chinese values and arts, in my new book “Guai Wu The Chinese Elf”, a story set in China during the Qing Dynasty, which should be in major bookstores by July.

Joshua Chiang, an all rounded animator and illustrator, shared his experience, tips and tricks on how he goes about creating his characters for cartoons and his first children’s book. His philosophy “Remain a child at heart always” conveys the message from every children’s book writer and illustrator.

Lee Kowling, a veteran in the book illustration scene, took us through her journey as an illustrator from the 90s till now. She explained how she developed a wide variety of illustration styles to meet the needs of the stories she worked on. It was a visual feast for the audience.

We look forward to bringing back the event again.














Little Lit, grooming Singapore's next generation of writers
From 8 to 16, they came and absorbed everything about writing and publishing

Mr Phan Ming Yen (Director of The Arts House) gave an opening speech.













Speakers Felix Cheong, Adeline Foo, Stephanie Wong
Illustrators panel - Joshua Chiang, Christine Lim Simpson, Lee Kowling

Poet, emcee and moderator Aaron Lee















The crowd of 200 plus parents and children (Many others had to be turned away, our sincere apologies)

We are in the Sunday Times!

Author Adeline Foo and illustrators Lee Kowling, Christopher Martin, Joshua Chiang and myself were interviewed by Singapore press on Wednesday. The interview was featured on Sunday Times today.

To read, click on the image.