Who is Cheong Soo Pieng?

I've always been interested in art, so I was excited when I had the opportunity to research and write a book on pioneer artist Cheong Soo Pieng for the National Art Gallery, Singapore. At first I only knew Soo Pieng as the artist of the Salted Fish painting that is found on the back of our $50 bill. By the end of the project I knew much more!

This book was also interesting in that it was my first attempt at a graphic novel or rather "tovel" -- a textbook cum novel. I really liked how the illustrator Ann Gee was able to translate my suggestions into lively, colourful illustrations and appreciate the efforts of the book designers in playing with the design such that every page was interesting and a delight to the eyes! If you have the chance, check out the book. It is different from my other books but it has inspired me to do more biographies of Singapore personalities in the future.

Find out more about Soo Pieng at the Art Gallery website. This book is available at Select Books.

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!

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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