Tell a story, read a book, share a moment!

I have been spending some time every Thursday at the library of my daughters' primary school since term 2.  My new mission: to bring the joy of reading for pleasure and share my passion for picture books with children at the school.

I am entrusted with a small number of boys and girls who need to read more or need help with reading (according to their teachers). These children, whom I read to once a week, declared that they love books and try to read.  However, they are not read to at home and have little time and exposure to a wider range of picture books and children's literature.

Thus, as a storyteller, I will find books and stories that will first engage them.  Meaning, 'content' that will get them interested in reading and motivate them, eventually, to read on their own in their spare time.  How do I choose the books?  I ask each child what interest them and the kind of books they enjoy reading.  I give each one an opportunity to pick a story that he or she likes me to read.  I also choose good picture books that I believe they will enjoy reading together with me and as a group.

While I understand that the teachers are probably hoping that these children can read fluently through this reading programme, I feel that it is much more important to first nurture and cultivate the children's passion for reading rather that getting them to go through a phonic lesson with me.  I think once reading becomes a habit and hobby, the child will learn to become better reader - at least that's how I become a reader.

I have been studying discourses and books written on children literature and reading. I believe:

"The first engages the eye, the second the mind and the third the heart. Engagement of the heart distinguishes a reader from someone who is merely able to read. A good teacher of reading ensures that, right from the start, children learn not only how to read but about being a reader." (Understanding Children's Books, Prue Goodwin)

I can't wait to meet my little friends and take them on another story adventure again.

Painting - The Reading Lesson by Paul Seignac (1826-1904)

PS: An amazing stop-motion animation created for New Zealand Book Council to inspire New Zealanders to read more.  This short film, which uses an excerpt from Maurice Gee’s novel Going West, has won an international prize for paper cut animation awarded by New York’s Museum of Art and Design. Book Council chief executive Noel Murphy says the aim of the film is to excite people about books and reading - “The idea that lies at the centre of this project is that reading is an activity that surprises, delights, challenges and ignites the imagination.”  So ... enjoy!

School visit

I had the privilege to give a talk to the children and teachers of Good Shepherd Kindergarten. I shared with them my process of making a picture book from scratch (sketches) to finish (printed book). I also showed them some drawings for my new book which I am currently working on and, of course, reading Guai Wu The Chinese Elf.

Here are some photos from the visit.

Happy Diwali with Amos Lee

Wishing you in advance Happy Diwali or Deepavali as we call it in Singapore.

Adeline Foo, my author for my picture book Guai Wu The Chinese Elf, will be launching her third Amos Lee book entitled 'I'm twelve. I'm tough, I Tweet!'  this Saturday 6 November at Kinokuniya Bookshop at Takashimaya (Orchard Road). Do join her and her 'animated' Singapor-ish character Amos Lee to find out what both of them are up to this time!

You can also catch them a second time at Borders on the 13th November.

Have fun!

Book launch at Borders Books

Last weekend was a busy one for me and my family. There was launch events for my picture book Guai Wu The Chinese Elf and Kowling's book Georgette's Mooncakes at Borders Books, as well as a wedding of a dear friend of mine (Cindy) on a beautiful Sunday morning at Beaufort Sentosa.

(Click on the images to enlarge)
Our book launch at Borders Books went well on both days. Many thanks to all of you who came to support us. Thanks Jamie, Effendy and Melissa at the Parkway bookstores for their logistic assistance. I think I did better than the first time when I did my presentation at Little Lit. At least not as nervous. I also enjoyed coming up with my own craft activities for the children.


















I want to especially thank my girls Hannah and Heather, my husband Jon (who came despite being under the weather), Mariko and Wen for stepping forward to give me a hand with the events. Mari helped me to cut some of the templates for my shoe making session and brought for me my paintings while I went to the wedding before the event that morning while Wen helped me out with photography.

I held my tears when my mum and dad came to the bookstore until the end of the event. I am very touched by their support all along despite of their poor health. Thank you mum and dad for everything.

















Double book launch
In celebration with the release of Georgette's Mooncakes and Guai Wu The Chinese Elf, Ethos Books will be hosting a double book launch during the Singapore Writers Festival, on the 31st October 2009, 6.30pm to 7.30pm at The Arts House. For more info, please go to my Facebook Pages or visit the official website of Singapore Writers Festival.

I look forward to catching up with you again. In the meantime, wish me luck with a few new sets of paintings for OIC.

Reading For Pleasure - Nurturing Lifelong Learners

Dear friends and readers, how have you been? I hope you have been kind to yourself. I am happy to announce that my book Guai Wu is now in the reproduction stage. There are still lots of things to do - colour corrections for the scans, touching up, colour proofing, cover design, text layout, final press check, etc, before the book goes to the bookstores.

In the meantime, I just want to share with you on the topic of reading for pleasure.

The Strait Times published an interview with Dr Ken Spillman, an Australian author of over 20 books including Blue and Love is a UFO, both acclaimed novels for teenagers, about "Getting the young to read for pleasure".

(Please click on the image to read the article.)

An evangelist of reading for pleasure, Dr Spillman visited Singapore on 24th August to gave a talk on literacy in the interactive world at a conference that is part of the 5th Read! Singapore campaign.

As a parent, I would like to thank Dr Spillman for reminding us the benefits of reading for pleasure. He recently published his new juvenile fiction entitled Jake’s Gigantic List*, which is especially dedicated to Children’s Book Council of Australia for being “so tireless in promoting the wonder of books”.

Jake’s Gigantic List
Jake’s Gigantic List is about discovering the magic of a great story. The protagonist is a little boy who wants it all. Like most kids, he loves birthdays and presents. He has pretty much everything a kid wants, though not enough. So for his coming birthday, his father tells him to make a wishlist which includes everything he has imagined to have - real spaceships, pet crocodile, friendly pirate, remote control football, a good mood tablet for teachers, etc. The list grew longer and longer, and more and more inventive. Luckily for Jake, Auntie Lyn knows just where to find them all. Filled with cute pencil sketch illustrations by Chris Nixon, Jake’s Gigantic List makes a fun book to read at anytime.

I personally had enjoyed reading Jake’s Gigantic List to Hannah, Heather and Yuri (my Japanese neighbour’s child) at bedtime. They all love the story to bits, especially the idea of creating their own adventure packed birthday list. Chris Nixon’s cartoonish, black and white drawings added extra playfulness to the lighthearted story.

You can find out more about Dr Ken Spillman on his website: www.kenspillman.com
Jake’s Gigantic List is published by Fremantle Press. ISBN 978 1921 361 71 5. You can purchase online http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1111

Why reading for pleasure is so important to a child?
The world was once a place where books were not only for knowledge, book were also for entertainment, therefore for pleasure. Reading for fun was a favourite pastime of most children, teens and adults before the 50s. Then TV struck. Back then it was thought that TV would replace movies. Little did they know that movies would survive and reading for pleasure would fall by the wayside.

As TV watching increased, reading for fun decreased in direct proportion. With the birth of computers, popularisation of Internet and portable games gadgets in the 90s, as well as education system reform that stresses on academic achievement, people started to turn away from books to other form of activities for pleasure.

In UK, The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) showed that the amount of reading overall outside school continued to plummet since the last study, six years ago. Only 33% of children in England and Scotland read for pleasure, compared with the international average of 40%.

The children's secretary, Ed Balls, said: "This study shows that our highest achieving children are reading less, with children's busy days leaving less time for books at home. As parents we have to get the balance right and as a society we have to send the right messages about the value of reading to our children."

Liberal Democrat shadow children's secretary David Laws said "Despite the success of books like Harry Potter, there is still a worryingly large group of our young people who have absolutely no interest in reading. We have to ensure that youngsters can not only read and write but that schools and parents breathe enjoyment back into what otherwise can be a rigid programme of learning."

In another interview, an award-winning children's author has suggested the current schooling system is putting kids off reading for pleasure.

While some independent schools may be exceptions to the rule, Frank Cottrell Boyce, told the Telegraph that continuous assessment and a focus on literacy may have improved the skills of some, but has taken the joy out of reading for many.

The author was awarded the Carnegie Medal for children's writing after the success of his book Millions, but told the newspaper he feels the focus on how children read is damaging.

"It is like comparing health to sport," he said. "One is something functional - the other is something you do because you enjoy it." Mr Cottrell Boyce told the newspaper children who read for pleasure should naturally do better at school.

New Children’s Laureate encourages reading picture books for pleasure
Anthony Browne, the new Children’s Laureate, has recently called for greater emphasis on reading for pleasure. Accepting the Laureateship in June he said, “I hope to encourage more children to discover and love reading, but I want to focus particularly on the appreciation of picture books, and the reading of both pictures and words. Picture books are for everybody at any age, not books to be left behind as we grow older. The best ones leave a tantalising gap between the pictures and the words, a gap that is filled by the reader's imagination, adding so much to the excitement of reading a book.”

And, “if children are not encouraged to read for pure pleasure, if they are dragged away from reading books they enjoy – including picture books – and pushed into reading educationally worthy books, then we are in danger of creating a generation of non-readers.”

He also encouraged educators and teachers to revisit picture books. “Picture books are special – they’re not like anything else. Sometimes I hear parents encouraging their children to read what they call proper books (books without pictures), at an earlier and earlier age. This makes me sad, as picture books are perfect for sharing, and not just with the youngest children. As a father, I understand the importance of the bond that develops through reading picture books with your child.”

‘We have in Britain some of the best picture book makers in the world, and I want to see their books appreciated for what they are – works of art.”

Schools have been ordered to overhaul their English teaching after a three-year study by the education watchdog, Ofsted, found that 30% of lessons are not good enough and little attempt is made to encourage teenagers to read for pleasure.

The report was based on inspectors’ visits to English lessons in 242 schools from 2005 to 2008. Although recent developments were praised, test results on the whole have hardly improved since 2004.

Singapore children asking for more time to read for pleasure
In Singapore, children in primary schools are engaged daily for at least 30 minutes of silent reading, which is usually carried out in the assembly hall; although the activity is recently held in classrooms instead due to H1N1. Students are allowed to read anything other than text books, comics and other academic materials such as composition handbooks. As to whether a child is truly reading a book, or simply glancing at the words in it, is probably still a question only he or she can tell you.

A study made by an associate professor at Nanyang Technology University on the reading habits of Singapore children revealed that 62% of the students said that they read to get better grades in their tests and examinations or taking reading as a way to improve language skills as their motivations for reading. Slightly over 20% of the students said that most of the time they read because their parents or teachers asked them to do so.

Clearly, only a limited number of the students were reading for relaxation. This could only possibly be due to stressful Singapore education system which places high emphasis on meritocracy and good grades. Students, including those in the lower primary level (6 and 7 years of age), often face pressure from their parents and teachers to improve their academic performance. Many expressed the wish to have more time for fun reading.

It is, therefore, desirable that Singapore Ministry of Education (MOE), schools as well as parents should consider reducing workload of primary school children so that they may find sufficient time and energy for fun reading.

The other dimension of this issue is that often children of Generation Z have a fixed amount of time and energy for leisure activities and, in addition to fun reading, many activities are competing for their time and attention. With more and more children being technologically savvy, books may perceived as less appealing and exciting in comparison to, say, a cutting-edge handheld game gadget, a fashionable mobile phone or the latest computer activities. Afterall, it does take a bit more brain cells and patience to digest a good story than watching a DVD or playing games on the Internet.

However, we already know that at the end, their imagination and intellectual curiosity is more likely expand hundred times more with books. Through the power and music and magic of stories and poems that children can also develop the empathy and awareness that they will need to tackle the complexities of their own emotions, of the human condition in which they find in themselves.

What can you do to encourage reading for pleasure?
Teachers and parents can play an important role in educating children how to keep a balance in their leisure activities, including reading for pleasure.

Children model after their parents’ lifestyle. I think that how do you instill in a child not to pick their food is similar to how you instill the joy of reading in a child. With eating, you, as a parent, must not be choosy or overly bias (with exception to junk food) and encourage your child to try out a good variety of healthy food. With reading, you must first make sure your child sees you reading for pleasure other than at read-aloud time that you and your child can do together before sleeping. Sharing with your child your enthusiasm for whatever you are reading is also a good way to cultivate his or her interest in reading.

My story:
I think I am personally a fairly late convert. My parents speak only Mandarin, Hokkien and Teochew. They were born during post occupation. They came from poor family and had only a few years of education. My mum learnt Teochew (a chinese dialect) through Chinese opera performing, which was her career for many years from the age of 12 until she married my dad. She learnt to read Chinese characters in the opera script. Mandarin was picked up probably in the 80s when television became popular in homes. My dad had to work since very very young, probably about 6 years old. He helped in the farm, grew vegetable and crops, raised pigs, chicken and ducks. My grandmother, who came to Singapore from China in a junk with her mother and sister, was a single mum to nine children, including those of my grandaunt’s own and adopted. All of them lived together under one scrap-metal roof where the toilet was a few yards outside the house. My grandaunt worked as a samsui woman (labour worker at construction sites) while my grandmother ran the household and a farm at home. My father had to give up school before he became a young adult to work as a carpenter, a chicken rice seller and a hawker to live. He had never given up learning languages and acquired sufficient reading skill to comprehend the newspaper and written materials that he finds interesting to read.

During my primary school days, if I am honest, I read to get through book reviews and exams. I didn’t do well in English because there was no help from home and school. And because English was my weakest subject, I find myself struggling with chapter books, which were the only kind of books we were allowed to read and review. I can’t recall much of what I read other than some of Enid Blyton’s and Hans Christian Anderson’s books, and Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien, a story about life after a nuclear disaster. No one introduced me to AA Milne, Beatrix Potter, Dr Suess or Roald Dahl, whom I believe I would have love to read if I had known them.

Time flew and I was in secondary school. I don’t know how or why I became very interested in literature and turned out to be good at it. Shakespeare was my favourite. I even bought the whole collection of his works later on in life. I guess it was probably then I began to like books a little more. I also signed on as a student librarian at my school for a year or two. As I grew older, books became my life companion. I even worked in a bookshop for a while. After meeting my husband, who is an avid reader, I was introduced to some more world’s best authors including J R.R Tolkien, CS Lewis, Issac Asimov, and many more.

I feel very fortunate to be in the children’s book industry. Not only that I get to read for knowledge and pleasure, sharing stories with children, I even get to meet and work with authors and be the first few to read their stories that can add sparkles to a child’s life (and mine too). Every night, I also get to read aloud to my daughters all the best books ever written. What a blessing … all from my love for reading.

So, it’s really never too late to become a bookworm or raise one.

And it’s definitely not too late to experience every little heartfelt magical moments that you can discover between the lines in books.

Dr Seuss in I can Read with my Eyes Shut said: “The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” While Roald Dahl in Charlie and Chocolate Factory beseeched: “So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, a lovely bookshelf on the wall!”

To end, I would like to quote from author Emma Walton Hamilton, author of Raising Bookworms: Getting kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment:

“Let’s help our kids to access the innate joy and empowerment in exploring the ideas and insights of great writers, thinkers, artists, and philosophers. Let’s imagine a world in which they actually participate, with active voices, informed opinions, and the real hope of being heard. Let’s get started right now.”

I am off to read John Danalis' new novel Riding The Black Cockatoo before I hit the sack. He said to me: "There is healing smokes within the pages. Breathe and enjoy!"

Sources and links:
Telegraph UK
Guardian UK
Independent UK
Timesonline UK
Children's Laureate UK
Children's Book Council of Australia
Wall Street Journal Online

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28 October 2011 - Myra Garces-Bacsal did an extensive series of interviews with Ken Spillman on his works at Gathering Book: Intro, Part 1, Part 2, Part3 and Part 4.