MJ's Classroom: The Boy with a Tree on his head

"There's something different about Mark. When he joins the class, everyone laughs at him. Can MJ help Mark get along with the others?"

The Boy with a Tree on his Head is the first of a series of four picture books written for the Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS). This book is based on Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC):

Children must not suffer discrimination "irrespective of the child's, or his or her parent's or legal guardian's race, coloir, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status".

Book for kindergarteners: Shall I take a bite?

In 2011, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to write two stories for kindergarteners for the Ministry of Education's (MOE) Preschool Branch. Shall I take a bite? was a story inspired by my own experience with durians. I dislike them although my whole family adores the fruit. I have tried it many, many times but somehow I just don't get it. This book is about a boy who has a similar attitude to durians, but has a different result. This book is one of six commissioned to support MOE's learning dispositions for preschool children. It is based on the disposition of reflectiveness and encourages children to think back on their experiences, learn from them and do better the next time. Personally I feel this is an important disposition that will help children become effective lifelong learners. I enjoyed working on the book with illustrator Drewscape. He was able to capture the spirit of the story and more. The illustrations are lively, colourful and imaginative...just w...

Book for kindergarteners: The best party ever!

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 ...

It was not surprising for me to read about a recent survey that found that less than 20% of Singaporean women had local female role models. Even without the survey, this was something we had known for a long time. It was also the reason for my first starting to write stories for children. I wanted Singapore children, especially girls, to have local ladies of inspiration to look up to. Being historically-minded, I thought to the past. Thus, my first book was inspired by the independent and strong Samsui Women. The inspiration for my second book, "Wayang Girl" is less obvious. While one can guess that the inspiration was the traditional Chinese opera known as "Wayang" in Singapore, there was actually a specific woman in mind. When I was working at the Singapore History Museum, I had the opportunity to meet Beijing opera singer, and Cultural Medallion winner Phan Wait Hong. Even though she was in her late 80s when I met her, she had a loud resounding voice and an energ...

Ho Lee-Ling

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