My first boy book: Gasing Boy!

Gasing Boy is the first chapter book I wrote with boys in mind. Because of that I had to make the story extra exciting!

The main character in the book is 9 year old John Chow. He loves playing games on his PSP, so much so that he doesn't spend enough time on his studies. His mother takes away his PSP. He cannot have it back unless he passes all subjects in his exams. Unfortunately, he fails one subject! (I'm not telling you which one...) And this sets off a chain of events where John is sent to Malacca. He gets involved in a boys vs girls competition involving the Malay spinning top known as the Gasing. It's a high stakes competition -- loser eats dirt -- who do you think wins?

Gasing Boy is a chapter book suitable for children ages 8 to 11 years old.

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

P1 & P2 Social Studies Readers

Last year I was happy to write 4 Social Studies Readers for use in Primary 1 and 2 classrooms. Classroom teaching is so different today compared to when I was in school. Children get to learn from big books with lively pictures and local content! For Primary 1 students, I wrote two stories: Siti's New Home and Don't Cross the Line! These two books feature a sister and brother team who have fun but sometimes get into trouble with each other. The first story Siti's New Home was inspired by Queenstown -- the neighbourhood I grew up when I was a child. For Primary 2 students, I wrote another two stories: New Girl in Town and We are Singapore. In the latter book, we meet a pair of twins -- Emma and Ethan. These characters were inspired by my own niece, Emma and nephew, Ethan. Like the character in We are Singapore , my niece Emma asks a lot of questions. Overall I enjoyed writing these stories and I hope students and teachers will enjoy reading them!

Ho Lee-Ling

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