The best party ever! was the second book for kindergarteners I did for MOE. There were two main inspirations for this story. The first were my cats. I have two (now three!) cats at home and have always wanted to write a story inspired by them. My cats are not pedigreed, they are Singapore street cats who are intelligent, playful and so much a part of the Singapore landscape. The second inspiration was my niece who, at three years old, was very bossy. She was always playing "teacher" and telling others what to do. So I decided to write a story about a bossy cat and how others reacted to him. The kitten featured in the story is inspired by my calico cat, Diva. Here is a picture of her.
This book supports the learning disposition of appreciation that encourages children to respect everyone, value what others say and learn from all. This disposition is important in helping children get along with others and work well in teams.
For this book, I had the privilege to work with Mike Foo (MOOF) who is a talented illustrator. He managed to make the cats in the book look cute even though he is more of a "dog person". He has one of the most adorable dogs I have ever seen. Even better he has a fabulous picture bookstore, Woods in the books, which anyone interested in picture books must check out.