This is an English translation of an article that appeared in Lianhe Zaobao on 26 April 2011. The original article follows.
Introducing children into the world of Singapore history
Although 40-year old Ho Lee-Ling is single and does not have children, her ambition is to become a children’s historian – to write books based on local history, people and events for them.
Lee-Ling discovered that most of the local history books are all written for adults; such books for children and few and far between. She hopes her books can inspire children to become interested in history. She also hopes that the children, when they know more about the people and events of the past, will learn to treasure what they have today.
Interestingly, Lee-Ling did not like history as a student. She majored in English and Political Science in University, and became a teacher when she graduated. Since Political Science was not taught as a subject, she had to teach History. To attract students’ attention during class, she had to re-tell historical events as history. The students were attracted, much to Lee-Ling’s relief. It was a great encouragement, and she began to fall in love with history.
Later Lee-Ling worked at the Singapore History Museum as a public educator introducing activities based on Singapore’s history for the little visitors. She later did her PhD in Sydney. After graduation, she chose to write children’s books to introduce children to the fascinating world of history.
Lee-Ling’s first book, Samsui Girl, was published 5 years ago. The second book, Wayang Girl, was published in 2009. A few months ago, she published Gasing Boy. All the books are in English. Many people said children are not interested in history. Lee-Ling begs to differ: “If you can teach histories through stories, and introduce it from the perspective of children’s lives, they will like it.”
So Samsui Girl and Wayang Girl started from Amber’s dreams. The first book tells the story of Amber wanting to be a Samsui Woman, through which the history and contribution of Samsui women are highlighted. Through Amber’s adventures in Wayang Girl, children are introduced to street opera and what it takes to be an opera performer.
As for Gasing Boy, it was inspired after Lee-Ling’s trip to Malacca a couple of years ago. She came upon a shop that sold gasings (spinning tops) and she could not resist buying a handful of them. The shop owner even spent an hour teaching her how to spin them, sowing the seeds of interest in Lee-Ling. Trawling through tomes and videos, Lee-Ling discovered the many ways of spinning gasings, which are far more interesting than the modern Bey Blades and computer games.
Gasing Boy tells the story of how a computer game addict became hooked on gasing. Lee-Ling hopes to use this book as a channel to introduce her readers to the traditional game and that they will learn to find joy in the latter.
As a female author, Lee-Ling says it was easier to write Samsui Girl and Wayang Girl, each taking her only a few months’ time. It was harder in the case of Wayang Boy, which tells the story from the perspective of a boy. She spent nearly a year on the book, a sign of her desire for authenticity.
Although she’s published three books, Lee-Ling admits it was not always easy. Public reception was not overwhelming. Some parents said the books were not interesting, and the local bookshops placed the books in obscure corners. In addition, the small print run meant that the price was relatively higher than other similar publications.
The lack of support somewhat dented Lee-Ling’s enthusiasm. “I had wanted to quit after publishing Samsui Girl and Wayang Girl. I would have given up if not for the support from school teachers and students.” Lee-Ling struggled with whether to pursue her ambition.
“What are you going to write next?” “Will you write a story on India?” “Will you write about Israel? “What about Bulgaria?” Lee Ling says what motivates her are these genuine expectations from her little readers.
Publishing her books was a valuable lesson to Lee-Ling. She loves to write but she hates publicity. After the book is published, her duty is over. Or so she thought. Later she realised that children’s books also needed publicity and marketing before sales take off. In the past she had only marketed her books at one or two schools. But in the past four months, she had already visited 10 schools and the support is getting stronger. Lee-Ling finds it heartening. She said she is not eschewing the idea of expanding her writing to include other areas in the region.
