We're in Young Parents magazine...again!

Lesley-Anne and I have been featured in the May issue of Young Parents magazine! We're on pages 32-33 as part of the Mother's Day feature on bonding with kids.

This is actually the second time we've been featured in Young Parents, thanks to the very supportive Editor, Stephanie Yeo. The first time was back in January 2010. I wrote about it here.

When Young Parents decides to put you in a feature with a photo shoot, it's the full works - hair, makeup, wardrobe, photography. It's a fascinating experience (for folks like me who generally dress very casually) that can elicit a range of expressions, from wonder "is that really my hair?" to horror "not those spaghetti straps, please!"

But all in all, it's good fun and the people directing the shoot usually go out of their way to make you feel comfortable. I must say the photographer did a great job in getting us to smile naturally and I do think Lesley-Anne looks fabulous :)

So if you want to read about how we wrote Danger Dan together (and the fights that ensued!) do pick up a copy of Young Parents, available at newsstands now.

Incidentally, Epigram Books just published a pretty hilarious interview with Danger Dan on their blog here. An interview with Danger Dan, you ask? Yes! With the boy hero himself! Do check out what he thinks of his female sidekick, his creators (ahem, us!) and himself. I promise you will be entertained!

Making the most of JC life

Before Lesley-Anne entered Junior College, she'd heard loads of horror stories about how hectic JC life is, how some kids can barely keep up and find it so stressful compared to secondary school.

Now that she's been in JC for slightly more than 2 months, she can verify that the rumours on workload are all true. She has lessons until 4pm on most days. On CCA days, she reaches home after 9pm, exhausted. There are lecture tests and class tests almost every week, so many that she has lost count. She often has so much homework that she can't finish it at home and has to complete it during free periods in between classes.

But here's the thing: Lesley-Anne LOVES JC life.

I think it's a combination of three factors: subject combination, class and CCA. Lesley-Anne's subject combination came about not without sleepless nights and having to jump through multiple hoops. Already choosing to go to the humanities stream was considered second rate in a crazy system that still values the sciences (unless you're in the special Humanities Programme which Lesley-Anne chose not to try out for because of its over-competitiveness). She wanted to take Literature, English Language and Linguistics (ELL), Geography, and Maths at H1 level. This met with some concern by the school because they felt that taking Lit and ELL would "limit" her options. As the Epigram Books' editor commented, "aren't they the ones limiting her options? She's a writer!"

The school would have preferred her to take the more conventional subject Econs, in place of ELL. Just to give some background, almost everyone in the humanities stream (and many in the science stream) takes Econs as it's considered a "useful" subject and also one that's relatively easier to score in. Econs has a high percentage of A grades at the 'A' levels, while ELL is considered a straight B subject (negligible number of A grades). But Lesley-Anne went for the introductory Econs lectures and she was bored out of her mind (besides being perplexed by many of the concepts).

Even choosing to take Maths at H1 level (in my time, the 'AO' level equivalent) was a controversial choice. Maths at H2 level is one of those subjects that almost everyone takes because it has one of the highest level of A grades. In a cohort where more than 1,000 kids in Lesley-Anne's JC take Maths, only a paltry 26 take Maths at H1 level. And these are mostly the students who didn't meet the qualifying grade (based on sec4 Maths results) to take it at H2. So Lesley-Anne was an exceptional case because she qualified for Maths at H2 but didn't take it. Her reasoning was that to do well in Maths at H2, she would have to put in five times more effort in a subject that she doesn't care about. She would rather dedicate her time and energy to her other subjects.

I agreed with her assessment. I've always found that looking at the percentage of A grades as an indication of whether you would get an A is so flawed. Plus choosing subjects based on what you think you can score in, not based on interest, has always been one of my bugbears about the education system. So at the time when she was going through multiple subject combinations in her head and trying to think about the ramifications of each choice, I told her: forget about trying to chiong with everyone else. JC is 2 years of your life you'll want to remember - choose the subjects you are passionate about and enjoy the experience.

So Lesley-Anne appealed to take ELL, sat for a qualifying test and was selected. Thankfully, the school granted her request to take ELL and Lit together. It's been only about two months and she is enjoying her subjects tremendously. She loves the classes and I think at JC level, the humanities teachers really welcome divergent views, as long as your arguments are cogent. Lesley-Anne loves that the lessons call for critical thinking instead of merely parroting someone else's opinions, as was often the case in secondary school. It's a lot of work but it's interesting work.

The second factor is her classmates. In the beginning of the year, Lesley-Anne was quite apprehensive as to who her classmates would be. In secondary school, she encountered many, for a lack of a better description, what we call "mugger" kids. There's a difference between being hardworking and being a mugger. Hardworking kids understand the importance of diligence and study hard. Mugger kids take this to a whole new level - they consider grades THE most important thing in life, judge others purely by academic results and are myopically competitive. If they get a B grade, they moan and whine that their life is over (whether they really mean it or do it to get attention, it's annoying). So they're always poring over their books and great at regurgitating content but when you have a conversation with them, you often find that there's no depth to their thoughts or views.

I think God really answered Lesley-Anne's prayers for a good class. Her class is a mix of quirky and bright kids, the majority of whom are hardworking but not muggers. They strive to do well but they don't obsess over their grades. Lesley-Anne loves that they challenge her intellectually and constantly broaden her mindset. They have all kinds of interests, from sports to dance to debating, and add so much fun and personality to the class.

Finally, CCA. Over the past couple of years, Lesley-Anne's passion in dance has blossomed. Even though she has completed her Grade 8 in ballet, she wants to continue lessons, just because she loves it. In JC, she really wanted to get into the modern dance CCA but it's extremely competitive as there are limited spaces (mostly taken by kids who had been in the dance CCA in secondary school). So she prayed very hard for this and at the audition, danced her heart out... and was selected. She's one of only four girls who weren't previously in dance CCAs.

In Lesley-Anne's own words, "this completes my JC life." We're very, very grateful that God has been so gracious in answering all her prayers.

I know it's early days yet and we can't tell what will happen. She may end up not doing that well for 'A' levels, for whatever reason. But I've always maintained that the education journey is never solely about grades - it's about the experience and the learning, regardless of the end result. And I know that I've not seen Lesley-Anne this happy and engaged in a long time, so it's all good.

Spreading the love of reading and writing

I thought I'd post my thoughts on school talks. When Lesley-Anne and I first started getting booked for these talks, our response was something like "yay!" but "yikes!" At first, our goal was modest - to be interesting enough so that the kids won't be bored. But quickly, we realised that school talks pose an invaluable platform for us to share something more meaningful with the kids.

Some authors use these school talk opportunities to purely promote their books but we try not to do that. Sure, we want the kids to know about Danger Dan but we also feel strongly that we have a responsibility to do more as local authors. So in our 25-minute school talk, we also encourage the students to develop the love of writing and overcome challenges to pursue their passion. It's presented in a light-hearted way and mostly by Lesley-Anne, sharing her own personal experiences.

Last week, we conducted a couple of school talks - one at Temasek Primary:

And one at ACS (Junior):

What I've noticed is this: the students love Lesley-Anne's sharing. I think it's because she comes across as very real and sincere, and since she's a teenager, she better understands what the primary school kids are going through and feeling. So her experiences resonate with the kids (plus she has a killer powerpoint presentation!) The response so far has been fantastic - the kids are enthusiastic and laugh at all the jokes.

After the talks, we sometimes station ourselves at a book sale booth to sign copies of Danger Dan. Interacting with the kids truly is the best part. Occasionally, we meet kids who have already read Danger Dan and come up to ask for our autographs on their books. One girl brought a rather tattered copy of Danger Dan book 1 for me to sign and said it was her brother's book - he loved it so much he'd read it over and over. Comments like these really make our day.

Some other updates: We also did a Danger Dan book launch at Kinokuniya Jurong on 22 March.

We loved having James Tan, our illustrator, present to demonstrate his artistic prowess. Here he is showing the evolution of Danger Dan:

James even sketched members of the audience on scraps of paper and some of them were lucky enough to get this unexpected keepsake.

And for those who bought the books that day, his autograph was a drawing of Danger Dan! How cool is that?

Media update: We received some cool publicity in Kids Dailies - a Hong Kong newspaper for kids. The interview was done when we were there for the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival earlier last month.

And finally, here's an interesting tidbit that I've not shared with readers till now:

Back in January, our whole family was at Peirce Reservoir, having just finished a photo shoot when Kenneth spotted Singapore's own football legend, Quah Kim Song, walking towards us. This is amazingly fortuitous because: 

1) our first Danger Dan book was JUST out and we had mentioned Quah Kim Song in it 

2) we actually had the book with us as we'd brought it along for the photo shoot!

So I introduced myself and showed Quah Kim Song the passages about him. He signed our book (right next to the football icon no less!) and posed for a photo with us.

It was a promising start for Danger Dan and now looking back, I can't believe so much has happened in just over two months! Truly exciting times.

 

In defence of the public sector

I recently came across this blog post written by Lucian Teo, saying that it's terribly discouraging to work in the public sector these days. It's a brave post because based on my observation, anti-establishment sentiment is at an all-time high.

In the course of my work, I meet many people from the public sector, from different organisations, and I kinda agree with Lucian - in some ways, it's harder to work in the public sector than private sector now.

Recently I was at KKH and at the payment counter, there was a man making a loud fuss about something or the other. I don't know what it was about but he went around calling all the staff stupid. His teenage daughter, who was the patient, was sitting quietly, looking like she wanted to disappear into a hole as her father ranted and railed. As far as I could see, the nurses tried to attend to him while taking the verbal abuse. I was thinking, thank goodness I'm not in the public service cos I would have told him exactly what i thought of him.

There are many public servants who deal with this sort of thing everyday. I'm not saying they're saints - I'm just saying they do their jobs. And sometimes it can become an extremely unpleasant job. All of us occasionally complain about the people we work with or our customers. But unlike with you and I, if public servants complain about horrible customers, you can bet they'll get no sympathy. Just a cold "that's your job".

I've no doubt that if that father at KKH had later gone online to complain about the "useless public hospital staff and the state of public service", he would have gotten many likes and comments agreeing with him from people who were not present at the scene. It has become fashionable and trendy now to be seen as anti-establishment. Which I've written before, is as unthinking as being pro-establishment.

It doesn't help when online celebrities join in the flame war. The minute they mention something unflattering about a public service experience or person, others will automatically jump in to see who can out-insult the government/public sector/public service officers.  Often exaggerated, mindless and mean-spirited.

I don't see how this is any different from bullying. The popular gang picks on someone, that person becomes fair game. Everyone wants in on the action. Bystanders don't say anything cos it's uncool to disagree, even if the comments are baseless or wild generalisations. I'm often amazed by how little people are interested in the truth. People will spread a rumour as long as it reinforces what they want to believe. If they happen to be proven wrong later, they will justify or excuse their actions in some other way: "Oh, it's because I've been so frustrated or was shortchanged." Really? It's okay to lash out at others just because we're unhappy? Funny, I don't think we'll feel that way if we're at the receiving end. I'm sure that KKH father was very frustrated, maybe even with cause. Still, it didn't give him the right to behave that way.

There are many public sector services that I find excellent, especially in e-services. Applying for utilities or a passport, for example. Very fast and easy. In most other countries, you queue for hours, deal with bored and surly officers, and wait for weeks. Like most folks, I dislike filing taxes but I have to admit the tax e-filing is very convenient and hassle-free.

I frequently interview doctors and healthcare professionals at SGH as part of my work. Their schedules are packed and if they're senior staff, they're often roped in to several committees, while having to juggle clinic duty, research and teaching. Once, I interviewed a senior doctor whose clinic duty load was so heavy that he didn't have time for lunch. Still, he made time for me at 4pm and answered my questions graciously, while wolfing down a cold sandwich. And I almost always leave the interviews with a deep sense of appreciation for these people who can have a much cushier life in the private sector and earn a heck of a lot more, but stay because they have a heart for service.

Is the public sector perfect? Of course not and that's not the point because nothing ever is. But the public sector is not an impassive, monochromatic institution. It is made up of many, many individuals (136,000 from what I know) with a wide spectrum of personalities and life goals. Are there disenchanted, dishonest and disengaged public servants? Of course. I sometimes come into contact with them. But just like in any other sector or company, there are also hardworking, big-hearted people who want to serve even as they try to earn a living. And no, I don't believe these are the exceptions.

So while I'm not advocating that we put the public sector on a pedestal, I would like to see that we treat people, no matter who they are and where they work, with a little more kindness. Because this institution that we belittle so carelessly and easily, either online or in person, is not a faceless, concrete mass. It is made up of people - every single one of them with thoughts and feelings. Maybe you've had a bad experience in one area or with one person. That's no cause to dismiss the entire public sector and the many good people in it.

To the public servants who do their best because they want to serve, we don't often say this enough but thank you for doing what you do.

My son, the copywriter

In our household, it's a no-brainer which kid is the one with the flair for language. Lesley-Anne loves Literature and end of last year, we were terribly pleased to find out that she had topped Literature in the secondary 4 level in her school. It was a bonus in the crown to having the Danger Dan series published.

In contrast, Literature baffles left-brained Andre. When he was in sec 1, he had this exercise which required him to describe a cream bun. It was a 10-mark question. Andre ignored the many lines provided (which clearly indicated the teacher was expecting a substantial description) and wrote: "The bun is soft and creamy."

After I'd admonished him for this less than adequate answer, he replied, rather puzzled, "What else do you want me to say? It's a cream bun!"

After his mid-year Literature exam last year, Andre was asked by Lesley-Anne, "So how was the paper?" 

Andre: "There was one passage I didn't know what it was talking about."
 
Lesley-Anne: "How many passages were there?"

Andre: "One."

Groan. Apparently it was something about whispering clouds and five-fingered ferns. Totally went over his head.

However, that's not to say he's not creative. In January this year, his class was tasked with thinking up a class slogan. Each student had to come up with something and Andre's contribution was: "Nutella is smooth but life is not. So work hard!"

He said the class laughed but nobody voted for his suggestion. Instead, the class went with something safe like "Work smart, work hard." Oh come on, I would have totally voted for his line! It made me laugh so hard, especially when he suggested an accompanying picture of a giant jar of Nutella. Product placement as well! What's there not to love?

And then on my birthday, Lesley-Anne presented me with this: a stuffed hedgehog she made herself, using felt, cotton and cloth. It's beautiful and I was touched by the amount of work and thought that went into it.

There was no way Andre could top that - he just doesn't have that sort of patience or ability. However, what Andre lacks in skill, he makes up for in charm. He gave me a pack of chocolate chip cookies:

And on a scrap of paper, he wrote: "Cookies crumble but my love for you does not." As my friend Lilian said, "win liao lor".

Looks like there's hope yet. Another friend of mine says Andre possibly has a future career in Hallmark Cards. Yes, maybe in the Corny Card section!

So much food, so little time - Hong Kong

The biggest draw of Hong Kong for us was the food but we weren't sure we would have time to scout out all the great eats, since our schedule was so hectic.

But we did! We were very fortunate that the Festival folks put us up in a very conveniently located hotel. We stayed at Lan Kwai Fong Hotel @Kau U Fong which is in Central, Hong Kong (our accommodation was kindly sponsored by NAC). The room is not large but its location can't be beat - walking distance to two MTR stations and many famous eateries.  

We had free buffet breakfast at the hotel everyday, which suited us fine cos we were usually too nervous to eat a lot before our talks anyway. What I like about breakfasts at Hong Kong hotels is that they usually have a very decent local selection.

But dinner is when we head straight for our much-anticipated meals. The first evening after we were dropped back at our hotel, we dumped our bags and made a beeline for Yat Lok at Stanley Street - famous for its roast goose. This is a little shop with limited seating so at peak periods, you may need to sit elbow to elbow with other guests. But since we were there early (5.15pm), we had a table of 6 all to ourselves.

I don't speak Cantonese but my friend, Lilian taught me how to say "goose drumstick" (ngor bei) so I went in, confidently held out two fingers and said, "ngor bei fan!" And lo and behold, the majestic drumstick!

That was some serious greasy goodness. The skin was crisp and the marinade extremely tasty. Lesley-Anne and I wolfed each of our portions down in under 10 minutes. I'm told that they run out of drumsticks pretty quickly so it's good to go early. The waitress said something to me in Cantonese but I gave her a blank look so she probably thought I was PRC. She was very nice though, and smiled at me. None of the hostility I was warned about. Another reason to go during off-peak periods when they're less hassled.

Each portion was HK$72 (about S$12). Not cheap but a must-try when you're in Hong Kong.

The second evening, we headed to the other famous joint near our hotel - Mak's Noodle on Wellington Street. How famous is this place? Well, they've got Anthony Bourdain's face and review plastered all over their tables.

Again, this is a small shop but we were there at about 6pm and it wasn't too crowded. This place is known for their wanton noodles and we could see why. Each bowl has four wantons bursting with plump and flavourful prawns. The noodles were super duper fine and the soup stock very tasty.

Be warned though, the portion is tiny. The bowl is a soup bowl, not the typical noodle bowl you get in Singapore hawker centres. So you might need to order two bowls to fill up. Each bowl is HK$35 (about S$5.80). Again, not cheap but one of those must-try places.

We didn't order double portions because we had another goal - to fill up on egg tarts! Lilian had told us about these egg tarts that are to die for, but we couldn't find the shop the night before. After she had posted a photo of the shop, Lesley-Anne went "ohhh! we did walk past the shop!" The shop is called Honolulu Cafe and it's on Stanley Street. The reason we couldn't find it was because it looks NOTHING like a place that sells egg tarts. As you can see from the picture, it looks like a restaurant and there are roast meats hanging in the display. Furthermore, there's no English name on the sign.

But walk up the stairs and you'll see a counter with pastries on the right...and the egg tarts! And glory be, they're as good as my friend Lilian says they are. The pastry is feather-light and the texture of the custard is perfect. As good an egg tart as I've ever tasted. We bought four to bring back to the hotel and after gobbling them down, we wished we'd bought more! I think the four egg tarts cost only HK$28 (about S$4.60).

The third day, we had a free day to ourselves and decided to wander around the vicinity after breakfast. Unfortunately, it was Sunday morning and everything was closed.

By the way, I find it absolutely terrifying that there seems to be little regard for safety here. Just check out the two men balancing on the scaffolding!

For lunch, we decided to try out Wah Fung restaurant, which was recommended by the Festival consultant. Three minute walk from our hotel and what caught our eye when we had walked past it previously was the tantalising picture of roast pigeon. Yes, pigeon! That's something we always try to eat in Hong Kong as it's hard to find in Singapore.

This is a proper restaurant where they serve you water and it was packed for Sunday lunch. We ordered a portion of suckling pig rice and two roast pigeons.

I think this was both Lesley-Anne and my favourite meal this Hong Kong trip. The suckling pig slices came with a thick layer of fat which I usually don't like but these were sooo delish I ate every bite. The pigeons were perfectly roasted and super tasty. What we like was that this restaurant had a lot of variety. Scores of youngsters ordered set lunches and we saw a tray of roasted meats that looked wonderful. Go in a group so you can try more food!

They have an English menu and one of the young waitresses spoke pretty good English. When I cancelled my extra order of rice (cos the suckling pig dish came with a large bowl of rice that was enough for Lesley-Anne and me), I expected a scolding or at least a scowl but no, she was very nice about it. And the best part was, the whole meal set us back only HK$145 (about S$24)! No service charge. That's really a fantastic deal.

After lunch, we went to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to catch a contemporary dance performance. We were fortunate enough to be invited for this event, thanks to my ex-boss and long-time friend, Tisa Ho, who is executive director of the Hong Kong Arts Festival.

She bought us dinner at Peking Garden which is known for their Peking duck. Not the type Singaporeans are used to where you just wrap the skin and the meat is cooked some other way. This one, they slice the meat and you wrap it all in the pancake. Yummz.

Tisa is one of those people who never fail to amaze me. She has boundless energy (which puts me to shame), and is so witty and sharp, she always makes me laugh. After the waiter helped us take this photo, she looked at it and said, "It's great! You can see the duck!" Lol

We had a fabulous time catching up.  Wish we could do so more often.

That was our last night in Hong Kong and the next day, we caught the Airport Express to return to Singapore. Airport Express Hong Kong station, we attempted to have one last memorable meal at Tim Ho Wan but this was the crowd outside the restaurant:

Lesley-Anne refused to fight for her food so we ended up at Itacho next door. So it's not local but it was reasonably decent, all the same.
 

Our verdict of Hong Kong - its best attraction is its food. Just for that, it's worth visiting and re-visiting.

Public speaking baptism by fire in Hong Kong

So, as you all probably know by now, Lesley-Anne and I were in Hong Kong for a few days as part of the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival. It was a whirlwind speaking tour - four talks and one workshop within two days! Part of the reason why it was such a rush was because over-achiever Lesley-Anne has a ballet exam this week and she insisted on flying home in time for the last lesson before the exam.

I decided to write about Hong Kong in two posts - this one is on the talks we did and the next one will be about... the food! (Cos we all know that's a very important aspect of travel and deserves it own post).

We flew into Hong Kong late on Thursday night. By the time we reached the hotel, it was almost midnight so all we did was take a shower and hopped into bed.The next morning, we were up bright and early for breakfast as I had to be at Radio Television HK for a 9am interview. This was followed by an interview with Sing Tao, one of HK's main Chinese newspapers.

Then we were chaperoned to our very first talk. This was a lunch talk sponsored by Mayer Brown JSM, a posh law firm at Central, HK. Mayer Brown JSM had invited their clients to hear me talk about my book The Good, the Bad and the PSLE and writing with Lesley-Anne. Together with some of their staff, the attendees numbered 40 or so.

Can I confess how intimidated I was? There they were - all these high-powered corporate folks in their suits and heels, many of them expats. They were coming to hear me speak? Gosh. As you can imagine, I didn't eat much at the luncheon (also because it was a stand-up buffet and I was afraid I would do something stupid like drop my fork or my food. My kids will tell you this is a common occurrence with me.)

The host, Gabriela was very sweet and reassuring but I was a nervous wreck. Lesley-Anne was seated at the head table with me and she saw my hand shake as I was holding the microphone. Glory of glories, I got through the presentation and no one fell asleep. In fact, they all seemed rather interested and laughed at my jokes. Many of the audience members were parents and they started asking questions about the difficulties of navigating the education system (HK's system is remarkably similar to Singapore's) and parenting in general.

And then... something miraculous happened. For some reason, I wasn't nervous when answering questions. I shared my views and philosophy, and how we often have to hold on to our beliefs even when society tells us otherwise. I shared my own experiences with Lesley-Anne and Andre. The audience listened. And when the session ended, Lesley-Anne whispered to me excitedly, "You made them cry! I saw three people cry!"

Whaaatt??

A man stood up and asked, "Is there a recording of this session? I ask this because my wife is a Tiger Mum and she needs to hear this."

Another lady to whom I'd earlier confessed that I hated public speaking told me, "If you're a bad speaker, then your book must be really incredible cos that was a wonderful talk!"

Oh wow. Cannot believe it. The reason I write this is to share with you (and remind myself) something a friend said to me before I'd left for Hong Kong - "God equips the called." Indeed. I think it's extremely comforting to know that if God has a reason for wanting you to do something, He will enable you to do it. It's truly a lesson in faith.

Mayer Brown JSM had generously bought The Good, the Bad and the PSLE for all the attendees. Here I am, autographing the books. (I deliberately chose a photo where you can't see faces, for privacy reasons).

The outcome of that talk did wonders for my self-belief and that much needed cos the very next talk was at a local school - Po Leung Kuk Ho Yuk Ching (1984) College, where we spoke to 270 13-15 year-olds.

We were warned that local students in Hong Kong are very reserved but we were not prepared for just HOW reserved they are. I mean, I was so thankful that we had just done a similar talk at St Hilda's Primary the day before and we got lots of laughter and applause so we knew the content of the talk was just fine. Cos what we got at the HK school was... silence. It's a little unnerving to not receive a response to any joke. Possibly it was due to their command of the language (English is their second language). Maybe they didn't really understand us even though we spoke slowly and didn't use complex words. Or maybe they're just very shy.

Anyway, the eagerness of the teacher made up for it - she was very welcoming and even bought a copy of Danger Dan for us to autograph.

That ended the first day of talks and the next day, we gave a few more, which I'll just list:

We conducted a creative writing workshop for kids and it's a world of difference when you deal with international school kids. These kids were vocal, participative and extremely imaginative. We were astonished at how imaginative they were and how much they could write within a short period of time! We had so much fun conducting that workshop. A parent later told us it sounded like the kids really enjoyed themselves cos she heard a lot of laughter from the room.

Lesley-Anne was a panelist in a public session called Becoming A Writer which featured young writers. The moderator was Jennifer Wong, a poet and on the left is Anna Ginsburg.  

I was part of a panel discussing parent-child relationships called Growing With Your Children, with Reenita Malhotra and Theadora Whittington, moderated by Crystal Kwok of Radio 3.  

Reenita Malhotra and Theadora Whittington

Finally, we were also interviewed by Daily 7/Daily 10 which is a kids' newspaper. The Hong Kong press has really been very supportive of us and our books, especially The Good, the Bad and the PSLE. South China Morning Post did an extensive interview with me that was published on 11 March 2014. You can read the article here.

Perhaps in time, our books can be distributed beyond Singapore's shores. A dream to hold on to!

First school talk at St Hilda's Primary

Lesley-Anne and I are back from our speaking trip to Hong Kong but more about that later! The morning before we flew off to Hong Kong, we were actually booked for our very first school talk at St Hilda's Primary School.

To say we were jittery would be an understatement. This was our first school talk and we had to address 800 p5 & 6 kids in the school hall. Nerve-wrecking much? The bulk of the talk was sharing by Lesley-Anne on how she developed her love of writing and how she overcame personal challenges to hone her abilities.

The response was far better than we had anticipated. The kids were eagerly alert, and laughed and clapped at several points during the presentation. When we ended, instead of receiving polite applause, the kids CHEERED for us! It was the most heartening experience ever. It would have been enough to know that we don't suck as public speakers but to have such a warm response reassured us that people might actually enjoy listening to us talk. What a revelation!

We had a short break before having to give a one-hour sharing session to the GEP p4-6 students on how to write better.

This was a more interactive session. Like the talk in the hall, the kids were excited and engaged. They raised their hands and volunteered ideas. In fact, we had to shush them a few times to be heard but it's all good cos it meant that they were interested in what we were saying.

After the sessions, we went to the book sale booth set up by Closetful of Books at the canteen where we signed Danger Dan copies bought by students.

We really enjoyed our time at St Hilda's Primary and are very grateful to the SHPS teacher (we won't name her due to privacy issues) and principal for inviting us. Our very first school talk and we're very glad that it went as well as it did!

Afternote: I've gotten a couple of messages from parents asking if we will be speaking at their kids' schools. Short answer: YES! We would love to speak at your kids' schools and share our love of reading and writing. However, our book agent is the one who makes the requests at schools and schools don't always give permission, for some reason or the other. So if you really want us to visit your school, it would help if you let the school Principal or a teacher know, so that they can send us an invite. Our book agent can be contacted at denise@closetfulofbooks.com.

Talks, more talks and Hong Kong!

Did I mention that things are heating up? School for Lesley-Anne is now in full swing and the latest news is that she got into the CCA of her choice - modern dance. She wasn't sure she would get in as it's one of the most competitive CCAs in her JC but she went for the audition, danced her heart out and I guess got the instructor's thumbs up.

That's Lesley-Anne for you - when she really wants something, she chases it down with the determination of a hungry python. (Sorry, this analogy popped up cos I was just reading about how a python tried to eat an alligator.)

So that's school but of course, you know I'm referring to Danger Dan when talking about things heating up. More specifically, I'm talking about talks. The irony is that both Lesley-Anne and I love to write partly because that's often a preferred medium of expression for introverts (wrote about this previously). Speaking comes much less naturally for us and public speaking especially, has always been the bane of my life.

Danger Dan has other ideas. Speaking engagements for us have been popping up left, right and centre ever since he came into our lives. After the All In! Young Writers Media Festival, Lesley-Anne spoke again at the Arts House - at the New Word Order series yesterday.

She was part of the Youth Writers panel with Gabby Tye and Rachelle Toh. The session was moderated by Kenneth Quek of the Singapore Book Council.

Three photos above taken by the Arts House.

My sister and brother-in-law came down to give moral support and we discovered that we were the blue brigade:

One of my blog readers attended the talk with her daughter and spoke to Lesley-Anne, I only found out about it after. Whoever you are and if you're reading this, thanks for coming down!

Back to public speaking, I've long come to terms with God's sense of humour and how He likes to put us in positions where we're not the most comfortable but necessary for us to grow. Maybe He feels that we have something to share that others can benefit from. We don't really know but we've got to go on faith cos the biggest news so far is that Lesley-Anne and I have been invited to speak at the Hong Kong International Young Readers Festival next week!

It's been a flurry of preparations, trying to get everything in order and be ready to give four talks and one workshop in two days. No easy task considering Lesley-Anne has been coming home late from school almost everyday. So we've had to work around her schedule, allocating any free time she has to preparing slides, scripts and other paraphernalia. Meanwhile, I've been handling all the administrative tasks like travel arrangements and giving media interviews to the Hong Kong press, including South China Morning Post and Sing Tao.

I have to credit Epigram Books - they're solidly behind us and have done everything they can from liaising with the Hong Kong booksellers to ensure our books arrive in time, to helping us print placards and worksheets. Having a great publisher makes a writer's job that much easier (and more pleasant).

We excited and apprehensive all at the same time but also terribly grateful for the opportunities that have come our way. To me, Hong Kong will be public speaking baptism by fire for me - if it doesn't kill me, hopefully it will make me a better speaker!