Adeline Foo, illustrated by Stephanie Wong,
The Diary of Amos Lee: Girls, Guts and Glory
Epigram (Singapore), 2009.

Ages 8-11

The Diary of Amos Lee: Girls, Guts and Glory is the second of three stories (so far) in Adeline Foo’s immensely popular series that charts Amos’ last three years at primary school. Amos writes his diary when he’s in the toilet, “to get away from my troubles”. Among other things, his troubles involve a bully Michael; what he considers betrayal in his friend Alvin making friends with a new girl, Somaly, who has recently arrived from Cambodia; and his annoying little sister WPI (that’s Whiny, Pesky and Irritating) bringing home a stray cat.

Of course, these and all the other situations disentangle themselves satisfactorily – Michael finally recognises the value of his team-mates, including Amos; Somaly not only becomes a friend but also an inspiration; and far from wanting rid of Tom the cat, Amos ends up as “official guardian of the world’s first three-legged cat” – it’s a long story! Along the way, Amos welcomes a new brother into the family. Amos and another friend, Anthony,also put together a science magazine: the first issue about reproduction in spiders and humans sells out; the second, about Tom’s adventures, is not quite so universally popular but certainly has its fans, too. And throughout, there is swimming training.

Amos Lee’s voice is both credible and hilarious, his concerns real and often touching. As well as the date, each entry has a heading, which emphasises the short, chapter-like bites of text. This would be a great book for reluctant readers, especially boys. Amos is curious and at times deliberately naughty, but he is also a very motivated child, and this motivation may well rub off on readers. No matter how hard he tries, Amos can’t keep his diary hidden from his mother, so her voice comes through intermittently, with comments and spelling corrections. Rather than being interfering, this helps to establish the solidity of Amos’ relationship with his family.

The book is well laid out, with different fonts and text sizes. Stephanie Wong’s expressive, often comical illustrations are dotted throughout, adding sparkle and further dynamism to the story. Wong’s facial expressions are very funny, and their variety is neatly offset by the very cute Tom’s repertoire of two – awake and asleep.

Adeline Foo has created a laugh-out-loud, un-put-downable book. Young readers will love Amos Lee’s Diaries, and their parents will like them too – if they can get a look in!

Marjorie Coughlan
August 2011

Adeline Foo is the best-selling author of the Diary of Amos Lee series, as well as many picture books, inluding Guai Wu:The Chinese Elf and a series of heritage books that highlight the unique Chinese-Malay-Eurasian hybrid culture of the Singapore Peranakans. Here are a couple of tasters from our new interview with Adeline:

I know in five years’ time, the scene for e-books or e-publishing is going to change drastically. People are talking about audio books and books on iPhone. Even kids as young as two are able to navigate around an ipad, so there may come a day where only classics get re-issued in print, because they have justified their shelf life in the children’s book market, but for first time authors, the direction might be to jump straight into e-publishing, thereby bypassing the need to incur cost in printing.

I was very pleased when I found a book on mating behaviours of spiders. I found it very funny that a spider’s courtship ritual is so similar to a human’s! Because my publisher warned me that I couldn’t use anatomically specific words, I had to look for alternatives, and I thought naming an arachnid’s mating organs would not get me into trouble!

As you know, most authors do not get to meet or talk to the artists in America, but in Singapore, we do things more consultatively, and the community of authors and illustrators is small.

You can read the whole interview here…

Adeline Foo, illustrated by Christine Lim Simpson,
Guai Wu: The Chinese Elf
Ethos Books, Singapore, 2009.

Ages 4-9

Adeline Foo’s retelling of Grimm’s The Elves and the Shoemakers not only gives the story a Chinese setting, but it introduces themes such as bullying, loneliness and a search for love and acceptance, which throw into relief the already familiar theme of poverty. Guai Wu is taunted by the other children because of his unusually pointed ears: “Guai Wu! You look like an elf!” Soon his only way to deal with the teasing is to respond as though he really is a monster, thereby isolating himself even further.

Guai Wu, an orphan who depends on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter, is taken in by a lonely widow, a seamstress whose business is not going well and who is also grieving the loss of her child. One night, the widow leaves out a piece of cloth she intends to sew the next day – but in the morning she finds in its place a pair of exquisitely embroidered slippers, which are bought almost before she has a chance to admire them. The same thing happens for a while before she discovers who has been making them…

The engaging narrative conveys the many emotions that emanate from the story, without being overly explicit – but without glossing over them either. So Guai Wu is “sad and lonely” and the widow “didn’t like to think too much about the past. It only brought pain to think of the child she had lost to sickness.” The unhappiness of the two protagonists is exposed without overburdening young readers, who are immediately caught up in their plight and come away at the end not only with a warm glow, but also with a feeling of relief that all is now well.

The beautifully detailed illustrations bring the historical Chinese setting to life, with plenty of domestic features such as furniture or accessories to catch the eye. Rich, intricate embroidery contrasts with the simple interiors. The emotional shifts in the story are equally transparent in the different characters’ faces, and will help readers relate to Guai Wu especially.

Young readers will be carried along by the love and kindness that spill out from the pages of Guai Wu, and perhaps the story will help them to remember to be kind themselves.

Marjorie Coughlan
July 2011

It was a day chock full of amazing presentations and meeting wonderful people. Today promises to be another exciting day and starts soon so for today’s blog post I will just upload some images from yesterday.  Once I return home from Singapore I promise to expand on some of the panel discussions I attended.

The Venue: The Arts House is Singapore’s first court house and former parliament house which is now and an arts and heritage venue.

Keynote speaker Stephen Mooser (USA) delivers the keynote speech “What is the Future of Children’s Publishing”?

Author and literacy advocate Christopher Cheng (Australia) “It Takes Two (or More) to Tango: Collaborating with an Illustrator, Musician, or Animator

(more…)

Cha is an on-line literary journal based in Hong Kong.  It was started in 2007.  Their most recent issue contains these essays on children’s writing by four childrens’ book authors:  Brazen Ignorance and Balls of Steel: A Recipe for Survival as a Children’s Writer and Publisher by Sarah Brennan, Writing Singapore: A Children’s Author’s Perspective by Adeline Foo, Picture Books say a Thousand Words by Emily Lim, and Portrait of a Children’s Book Author as a Young Reader by Margaret Hui Lian Lim.   Check these out as well as the fine editorial given by Cha co-editor Jeff Zroback  and other great writing in this new and vibrant on-line forum for Asian writing in English.

Several weeks ago I posted about The Singapore Book Club’s July event: In Conversation with Adeline Foo, Lim Fong Wei and Sangeetha Madhavan. Panelist Adeline Foo recently emailed me and told me that Myra Garces-Bacsal’s attended the event and blogged about it at Gathering Books. Read Myra’s review (which includes pics and video!) and not only will you feel like you attended the event  but you will really get to know best-selling children’s author Adeline Foo as she talks about her work ethic, where her ideas come from and what lessons budding authors must know.

Myra sums up the evening by saying:

Generally, I thought it was a good evening. It was a long travel from my home  but it was well worth the trip. One possible add-in perhaps that may be considered if there is going to be another “book club” is that an actual specific “book” would be discussed by the attendees in greater detail…Strictly speaking, it was more a panel discussion with book authors than an actual “book club” where you discuss specific targeted books and argue about the characters’ motivations, affect, and personalities in the “club.” Considering though that it was the first children’s book club ever organized, I thought it was a success. Kudos to Adeline, Sangeetha and Fong Wei and the National Book Development Council for organizing the evening. I am avidly looking forward to more evenings filled with discussion about children’s books and themes with aspiring writers, book authors, illustrators, and lovers of children’s literature.

One thing that clearly shone through from last night’s book club, and my earlier coffee and conversation with David Seow, another prolific children’s book author in Singapore – is how tenacious and passionate these writers are despite the seemingly-insurmountable odds stacked against them, being situated in a comparatively small country in Asia. Cheers indeed to the fantasy, magic, and enchantment of children’s books. Keep the faith, everyone.

Georgette's Mooncakes

On July 16th The Singapore Book Club is hosting “In Conversation with Adeline Foo, Lim Fong Wei and Sangeetha Madhavan”.  All are welcome to attend this free event which starts at 7pm at the Earshot @ The Arts House (1 Old Parliament Lane). Discussion will centre on Adeline’s latest children’s book Georgette’s Mooncakes which was translated in to Chinese by Lim Fong Wei.

Adeline Foo has written 15 books  including the acclaimed Peranakan series (Chilli Padi, The Beaded Slippers) and The Diary of Amos Lee which made Singapore’s top ten best sellers’ list.

Sangeetha Madhavan’s picture book A Blue Cat’s Tale (Straits Times Press) was published under the First Time Writers and Illustrators Publishing Initiative 2008. Five of her short stories, commissioned by the Ministry of Education Singapore, will appear on a web portal for children in 2010.