My Day

This is the cover of a book I published with the help of a grant from the Media Development Authority under their First Time Writer's and Illustrator's Publishing Initiative. It's a picture book about a day in the life of a child living in Singapore. The illustrator, Vincent Twardzik-Ching, did a great job depicting the various scenes in various locations - the playground, the streets, the parks, the people. It's just how I hoped it would turn out.

"My Day" was launched recently at Bookaburra and copies should be in most shops by now. If not, just head down to Bookaburra and get your copy there!

Well, "My Day" also marks the end of my days with Bookaburra as I am packing up and heading home to Australia after 26 years here. I first arrived in 1981, got a job teaching English at the British Council, then left to raise my two children and did voluntary work and freelance writing and editing for many years before starting Bookaburra with my good friend Cheryle Hum ten years ago. I think we have helped contribute to the growing book-reading culture among children in Singapore and I am happy that Cheryle is continuing with the business so that there will still be an independent children's bookstore in Singapore!

Please continue to support us as it is really a labour of love. Without you, our loyal customers, we wouldn't have survived this long. Help us make it to 20 years with your continued patronage!

I hope you will enjoy the book, too! I wrote it at a time when there were few, if any, books featuring a familiar landscape for children growing up here. Then of course, Shamini Flint helped redress the balance with her Sasha books, Adeline Foo is writing books about children and nature and now about her Peranakan heritage, and Ho Lee-Ling has written short contemporary novels featuring Singapore's folk heritage. There are many now venturing into publishing locally books with a local flavour - and it's about time!

As I contemplate leaving Singapore, and look back at all the changes, I can't help but think it is a place that has so much more to offer in the way of children's education, development and enrichment activities. One thing will never change, however, and that is that children need us to spend time with them - and sharing good books will always provide an incredibly rich means of fostering that bond we have with them.

Good reading!

50 Favourite Books

So many books, so little time!

But here's a list of some favourite children's books voted by British readers. Most are still in print and many are still up there on the best sellers lists. All worth a read.

I don't remember having very many picture books when I was growing up but I gladly entered the worlds beyond the wardrobe, down the rabbit hole and inside secret gardens when I started reading. Even thinking about them now, I can recreate the feelings of wonder and delight. It's no wonder books still manage to whisk us away into other realms when we are given a first taste of it when our imaginations are young and fertile!

Once Morris Gleitzman came to Singapore

It's always interesting to meet an author because they never seem to match the image you have made of them! Morris Gleitzman writes laugh-out-loud kind of books, so I expected an outwardly funny joke-a-minute person to turn up. Never trust your imagination! Not that I was disappointed. Not at all. Mr Gleitzman is a calm presence, extremely obliging and I suspect as wonderful a person as you could expect to meet. I say that not from a cursory chat, of course, but you surely can tell something about a person's character from their writing. Some of the themes he writes about are very sensitive - moving home, people with terminal illness, displaced refugees, victims of tragedies - and his protagonists are full of an inner resilience and hope that carries them through the tough times. So you might end up shedding a quiet tear or having your heartstrings pulled as well. That makes his books worth more than the few $$ it will cost you to fork out. And yes, I do suggest you read them along with your kids.

Check out his website for more information about the man and his work. And, if you are reading this, Mr Gleitzman, I will make sure your books have equal shelf space to that given to books about boy wizards!

Maisy Mascot at Bookaburra!

Look out for our August Maisy giveaway! Every purchase of a featured Maisy book will entitle you to a cute 6” plush Maisy toy!

Come down to our special Meet Maisy session from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m. on Saturday 18^th August 2007. Stories, activites and a photo opportunity with everyone’s favourite mouse!

Diving into Ingo

From the moment I picked up the book 'Ingo' by Helen Dunmore, it pulled me in, just like Sapphire and Connor are pulled like a magnet to the undersea world of Ingo where time flows as quickly as the currents that surround them.

There is something irresistible about old legends and the way they still resonate in our contemporary world. The legend of the merrymaid (or mermaid) of Zennor is a compelling one. Dunmore uses the legend to highlight the complex relationship between 11 year old Sapphire and her older brother, between her and her mother, and her feelings for her father whose mysterious disappearance holds so many similarities to that of the Matthew Trewhella of the legend and this provides depth to what might otherwise be a simple tale of adventure and fantasy.

Read it for yourself and then pass it to your children!

And, if the pull of the ocean is really strong, you might also like other stories about Cornwall - the beautifully illustrated 'The Mousehole Cat', the equally beautiful 'Can You Catch a Mermaid?' by the talented Jane Ray and 'The Merrymaid of Zennor' written by the late Charles Causley and illustrated in inimitable style by Michael Foreman or another recent mermaid tale 'The Tail of Emily Windsnap' by Liz Kessler.

On into the briny deep we go!

Bad = good

Why is it that books that are hugely popular with children seldom get the nod from parents or teachers or other arbiters of "good writing" for the younger generations? Books like those written by the bad boy of Australian children's literature - Andy Griffiths - are a good example.

Quite often, school libraries play safe and have them on restricted loan even before parents have lodged a complaint. But what exactly are they complaining about? Bad writing? Poorly put-together sentences? Incorrectly punctated prose?

If that were the case, much more would be relegated to the bin than books containing mildly offensive language like bum, fart and gas.

The fact is that Andy Griffiths' books are liberally peppered with such words, but at the same time they are very cleverly written and children love them. It is probably because of such books that many children get interested in reading in the first place. The titles and content are shamelessly designed to get children to pick up the book: "The Day My Bum Went Psycho" inevitably causes a smile to appear on a child's face.

Even his "Just ..." books invite closer inspection once the reader has completed the quiz on the back cover. When I first picked up a copy of "Just Annoying" in a bookshop, I embarrassed myself by laughing so much that tears ran down my face.

So it is with great delight that we are able to welcome Andy Griffiths into our shop at Forum on Tuesday 30th May at 6 p.m. If you have children aged 9-12, particularly reluctant readers, bring 'em down and get a book signed by this stupendously talented writer!!

And, here's a good article from a recent edition of an Australian newspaper.

Mourning the loss of an extrordinary writer

It is always a cause of sadness to hear of an untimely death, and somewhat poignant too when it involves someone of talent. So when I heard that Jan Mark had died at only 62, I did a little research on her life and her life’s work. I read what I considered an extraordinary and somewhat unsettling book a couple of years ago, Eclipse of the Century, but it intrigued me that this was an author of quite considerable imagination to have been able to write it.

Now I have discovered an article she wrote that encapsulates so exactly what I feel about books and the discovery of certain books and the way bibliophiles love to clasp certain books to their chests with that look that says, “Mine!”, or how there’s that spark of excitement when you find someone else who shares your enthusiasm for a certain author, or how you don’t want some books to end because the experience of being immersed in it is just so precious and delicious. And it is all so different from the run-of-the-mill kind of book that somehow, even though it is immensely popular, just doesn’t enthrall or captivate in quite the same way (or maybe it does that for some people but its appeal just doesn’t work for others).

So I identify with the sentiment when she says, “Certainly everyone ought to be able to read but most people are not going to become voracious bookworms who need regular fixes of print and who so enjoy the experience of reading that they actively seek novelty and challenge rather that safety and swift satisfaction. For that minority casual observance will never be enough especially if we, the adults, are the observers. I sometimes feel like hanging out a sign: I read books so you don’t have to, but nothing, even now, compares to the excitement of discovering that gramme of radium in tonnes of pitchblende, the same excitement I felt as a child on finding a book that was surely meant for me, not 50,000 others.”  

(see the full article here

Read obituaries at The Times or this one from the Guardian