Danger Dan gets a dose of culture

On Sunday, Lesley-Anne and I held the launch of our book, Secrets of Singapore: National Museum at...where else but the museum, and it was wonderful.

Frankly, we didn't expect such a great turnout. There were about 40 kids plus their accompanying parents - the place was packed. The museum told us some of them turned up specifically for the event, while others recognised the Danger Dan standee and registered for the event on the spot. How very heartening to know that Danger Dan has gained traction among kids!

We explained how we got to writing the book and cited examples of artefacts that were featured. There were at least a couple of kids in the audience who had already read the book cover to cover because they could tell us about the artefacts and even spouted back Danger Dan jokes to us!

Photo: Epigram Books

A treasure hunt was conducted where kids were given clues and had to run wildly wander around the museum and locate artefacts. The kids made us laugh a lot. "Can we take home the artefacts?" was one of the questions, which immediately made me imagine them doing a Mission Impossible-type heist.

Photo: Epigram Books

Elvin Ching, the illustrator of the book, did a live demo of the teams that won the treasure hunt. He is amazing.

Photo: Epigram Books

Winners got to take home a personalised drawing:

After that was the autograph session and again, I was astonished - there was a line! I feel almost...famous.

We signed lots of books and took many, many pictures.

Posting this one because Elvin is hilarious. He makes everything that much more fun.

At the end of the day, that's what writing the Danger Dan books mean to me - it's about making kids happy, and we met lots of happy kids that day. For all of those who came down, thank you for the support!

And here's something from a serious hardcore fan:

This is Sophie. 

Sophie is 7 and she loves spaghetti. 

But not as much as she loves Secrets of Singapore. 

Sophie has read Secrets of Singapore about a million times (she has lost count). 

She is an expert on facts about Singapore. 

She knows all the jokes by heart. 

She is Danger Dan’s number one fan. 

Be like Sophie.

National Museum Children's Season: Meet us and see illustrator in action!

It's the school holidays and I'm sure all your parents have given your kids one month off to play and relax! No? Okay lah, I understand. Singaporeans parents mah, must include something educational during the school hols.

Well, here's an activity that will be both fun AND educational for your kids these holidays. And the best part is...it's FREE!

On Sunday, 25 June 2.30pm, make a date with Lesley-Anne and me at the National Museum for a launch of our latest book - Secrets of Singapore: National Museum.

Here are five reasons why you should attend the event with your kids:

1. Lesley-Anne and I will share interesting stories about some artefacts in the museum and why we wrote them the way we did.
2. Elvin Ching, illustrator of the book, will make a rare appearance and do live demonstrations of his drawings (trust me, you don't want to miss this - he's amazing!) 
3. There will be mini games with prizes - winners will get a drawing from Elvin...wah!
4. If you have a copy of the book or buy a book at the event, all three of us will autograph your copy (yes, we will sign your other Danger Dan books as well!)
5. After the event, you can do a tour of the museum using the book as a guide.

The event is held in conjunction with the National Museum's Children's Season. Here are the details:

Secrets of Singapore: National Museum – Uncover the Secrets behind the Pages
Reading and Illustration Session by Authors and Illustrator

Sun, 25 Jun | 2.30pm (45 min)
Singapore History Gallery, Level 1
Free (but you must register on-site at 2pm)

Hope to see you there!

Mothers' Day feature and special offer for new Secrets of Singapore book

Happy Mothers' Day to all readers who are mums! Whether your kids are little ones or not-so-little-ones, being a mum is a privilege — to be able to raise and nurture another human being.

The Straits Times arts beat had a feature last Tuesday on "Mothers pass their artistic passions on to their children", and Lesley-Anne and I were interviewed as one of the mother-child pairs. Click on the link above to read the article (we're the third story).

Photo: SPH

My favourite quote in the article is Lesley-Anne's description of how we envisioned Gadget Girl in our Danger Dan series:

"I was always annoyed at kids' books with stereotypical girl characters who were ditzy or boy-crazy or always shopping and painting their nails," says Tan. "I couldn't identify with them at all."

Which brings me to a Danger Dan update. Those of you whose kids follow the Danger Dan and Gadget Girl series may have been wondering why we've been so quiet ever since the release of The Gruesome Garden last October. The reason is this we've been working hard on this book: Secrets of Singapore: National Museum.

This book is very close to my heart and is possibly one of my favourites. Like the original Secrets of Singapore, this book similarly tells the story of the history of Singapore, but this time, the narrative is woven around the artefacts at the National Museum. We wrote it with the view that kids would take the book with them on their visit to the museum and use it as a guide to reference the artefacts. The artefacts described in the book are numbered and you can find the gallery where each is located in a list at the back of the book.

As with the original Secrets of Singapore, we use very simple language and we try to explain everything, even the word "artefact":

The point is to make the museum (and history) easily understandable and even interesting, by breaking down the facts and artefacts into digestible, bite-sized chunks. Then we throw in loads of humour and Danger Dan-style puns. The National Museum was very helpful in providing info, especially where we thought we would need to bring in trivia that appealed to kids. Such as this one on the very first NS uniform.

Of course, Elvin Ching's fantastic illustrations also helped bring the artefacts to life. We ♥ his drawings. Here's an early review of the book:

"What a wonderful book to teach children (and adults) about the history of Singapore!  Danger Dan and Gadget Girl deliver so much information in a fun, humorous and interesting way with lively images and information about many of the artefacts in the National Museum. Parents, teachers and students will all want to have their own copy because it brings so much life into the fascinating history of Singapore. A visit to Singapore, and the National Museum, would be incomplete without this book!" - Sarah Mounsey, teacher librarian, Dulwich College, and children's book author

I hope you're as excited as I am about this book! It will be available in bookstores by end May/early June, but you can be one of the first to get your hands on it with this special pre-order offer of $14 by Closetful of Books. (There's free delivery with a minimum order of $25, so get another for a friend!) Order now and you will receive an autographed copy of the book by 29 May 2017.

Do support our efforts to keep writing for kids - appreciate this lots!

Art, science (and math) in full glory

Every year-end school hols, we try to make an excursion to either a museum or an attraction of interest. This year, we made a trip down to the Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands for three ongoing exhibitions - Journey to Infinity: Escher's World of Wonder, NASA - A Human Adventure, and Future World.

The Escher exhibition was the one we were really keen on. In case you don't know, M.C. Escher was an artist who combined mathematical concepts in his art, playing with perspective and architecture. One of his most well-known contributions was the artistic interpretation of tessellations to a completely new level. In Singapore, primary school kids still learn about tessellations today.

This was one of his earlier works on tessellations...

Sky and Water 1

which gradually became more complex.

Reptiles

Angels or demons?

Circle Limit IV

From 1954, Escher began working on optical illusions and concepts of infinity, which resulted in some pretty captivating and today, iconic artworks. 

Relativity

Ascending and Descending

All four of us loved the Escher exhibition, which probably says something about how OCD we are as a family 😆

As an undergraduate, I chanced upon a book of Escher's artworks and was immediately hooked. The geometry and poetry of his lines spoke to me so much that I attempted to recreate a colour version of one of his works. This was one of his early woodcuts during the period when he was consumed by the architecture of buildings:

Inside St Peter's

My not-quite-exact replica in coloured pencil.

 
Our main purpose was to visit the Escher exhibition but since there was a special all-access ticket to all three ongoing exhibitions, we decided to cover 'em all.

The NASA exhibition is good for kids and adults interested in all-things space. You get to see models of different space shuttles...

Saturn V

and gawk at space food...

 and space toilets.

You can also pay $6 to get a ride on G-Force - Astronaut Trainer Ride. It's a contraption that tilts you back and forth and spins you around. We watched for a bit to see if anyone came out of the ride walking sideways or throwing up. Nope, nobody did!

Finally, there's the Future World exhibition. In my opinion, this exhibition is great but more for younger kids (primary school and below). It takes interactive art and play to a whole new level. For example, you can draw your own a sea creature, scan it in a machine and see it swim on the digital wall. What's amazing is that the picture doesn't come out static - it moves and squirms like real sea creatures.

Something around every corner to enthrall the little ones.

The Crystal Universe with 4D technology and a heckuva lot of LED lights was quite spectacular.

I know this post might come a little late since it's nearing the end of the school hols (parents say "yay!" kids say "boo!"). However, the exhibitions are still on so you might want to book one of the upcoming weekends to take your kids.

Future World is on till 8 Jan, Escher exhibition till 26 Feb and NASA exhibition till 19 March. Special all-access pass to all three exhibitions available.

Art and architecture at the National Gallery

One of the first things we did as a family after Lesley-Anne's 'A' levels was visit the newly opened National Gallery.

Andre thought this was National Geographic-familiar, lol.

The National Gallery houses the Southeast Asian modern art collection but a big part of its appeal to us is that is is housed in the former Supreme Court and City Hall. The architecture of these historic buildings is absolutely gorgeous.

Walkway linking Supreme Court and City Hall

City Hall Chamber

Holding cell for those awaiting trial

Chief Justice's chambers

Rotunda Gallery

There's also a roof garden gallery where you can have possibly one of the best views of Singapore's skyline.

Panoramic shot taken by Lesley-Anne

Oh yes, the art, haha!

One of the earliest uses of batik technique in modern art

LOL

This piece caused a minor schism in the OCD segment of our brains.

There were some pretty interesting art installations too.

There was a guard in front of this one. Every time a young child ran into the room, I had a nervous twitch.

If I'm being perfectly honest, I enjoyed the architecture of the National Gallery more than the art. That's not to say the collection isn't impressive - it is. Just that a lot of SE Asian art seems to veer towards gory and nightmare-inducing themes, probably due to the tumultuous history of our region. Aesthetic-wise, not my favourite.

However, the gallery is totally worth a visit. To celebrate its opening, admission is free from now till 6 December, but you have to book tickets as entry is limited to a fixed number of visitors per day.

Enroute to our dinner destination, we walked through Fullerton Hotel, which was all decked out in yuletide glitz.   

Dinner was at Over Easy at One Fullerton where we had an indulgent meal of mac and cheese, burgers, fried chicken and waffles, milkshake, mohito and a plateful of sliders!

The reason Kenneth chose this spot for our dinner was because of the special fireworks display right outside...
 

...followed by the Marina Bay Sands light show.

'Tis a beautiful city, Singapore.