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In Star Mag's Reads Monthly pullout, I'll be highlighting the books I want on my shelf for that month.

Kinokuniya Bookstores is offering a 25% discount on these books.

Tots to Teens, Reads Monthly, Star Mag

25th March 2007

Make room on the shelf

If you’re wondering what to invest in for your child’s bookcase this month, read on.

TOTS TO TEENS BY DAPHNE LEE

By Susan Patron

Illustrated by Matt Phelan

Publisher: Atheneum/ Richard Jackson Books, 144 pages

(ISBN: 978-141-690-1945)

WHEN Lucky’s mother is killed in a freak accident, the little girl’s errant father asks his ex-wife, Birgitte, to help out. She obliges, coming all the way from France to care for the child. 

But two years later, Lucky is worried that her guardian might be tiring of life in Hard Pan (population 43), California. Any day now, Birgitte will leave Lucky in an orphanage and take off back to Europe. 

That’s what the 10-year-old thinks anyway, and being practical-minded as well as a little (and understandably) afraid, she packs a survival kit and eavesdrops on 12-step-programme meetings in the hope of learning how to harness a “higher power” that will see her out of her predicament. 

Lucky is daring, curious and determined, a rather unusual heroine whose best friends are boys and favourite subject, science. 

The other characters are equally engaging, surprising, even odd, but thoroughly believable. And the Mojave Desert setting is gorgeously, vividly described by Patron, while Matt Phelan’s line drawings give delightful shape to the text. 

This quirky, thought-provoking story won the 2007 Newberry Medal.

By Trenton Lee Stewart; illustrated by Carson Ellis

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers, 485 pages

(ISBN: 978-031-605-7776)

REYNIE, Kate, Sticky and Constance pass a test for “gifted children looking for special opportunities” and are recruited by the ebullient and erudite Mr Benedict to work against Mr Curtain, a master criminal who is using children to help him conquer the world. 

This novel stirs the imagination from the first page and I couldn’t find out fast enough how the four children would handle things. 

The kids, from the cocky but kind Kate to the nervous wreck of a walking dictionary Sticky, are interesting in different ways, but I found Mr Benedict’s assistants even more fascinating, especially Number 2, who resembles a pencil and suffers from insomnia and constant hunger! 

Reynie and his new friends are plunged deep into danger and adventure as they attempt to discover Mr Curtain’s secrets and foil his evil plans, and you will find yourself as involved as you attempt to solve the clues and puzzles set out before the foursome. 

This is a fat book but the exciting plot twists make it a breezy read. I hope Stewart will write a sequel.

By Diana Wynne Jones

Publisher: Puffin Books, 192 pages

(ISBN: 978-014-240-7189)

JUST outside of Earth’s atmosphere lies another world, a fairytale mythosphere in which magical creatures lurk. This is what Hayley, an orphan, discovers when she is sent from her grandparents’ home in London to live with relatives in Ireland. 

Hayley’s cousins introduce her to “the game”, in which the players must fulfil certain tasks in the mythosphere. 

One day, she meets her parents, trapped in this other world, banished because their love did not meet with the approval of the family patriach, Uncle Jolyon. 

When Jolyon, sadistic and power-mad, finds out about “the game”, he goes on the rampage, determined to destroy Hayley and her loved ones. 

Diana Wynne Jones is always original and even her use of classical mythology as the basis of her plot is inventive. This is definitely another bright star in the DWJ universe.

Here are some of my favourite illustrated children's books. It would take too much space and time to list them all, but I will keep adding to the list.

1. Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
Illustrated by Ruth Jervis who, coincidentally, was Streatfeild's sister. When she was hired, Streatfeild's publisher had no idea of her connection to the author.

2. The Candlemas Mystery by Ruth M. Arthur
Illustrated by Margery Gill

3. Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
Illustrated by Pat Marriott

4. Another Lucky Dip by Ruth Ainswroth
Illustrated by Shirley Hughes

5. Winter Holiday by Arthur Ransome
Illustrated by Arthur Ransome

6. The Gardens of Dorr by Paul Biegel
Illustrated by Eva-Johanna Rubin

7. Uncle Cleans Up by J. P. Martin
Illustrated by Quentin Blake

8. Minnow on the Say by Philppa Pearce
Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

9. The Edge of the Cloud by K. M. Peyton
Illustrated by Victor G. Ambrus

10. The Glass Slipper by Eleanor Farjeon
Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard

11. The Adventures of Chunky by Leila Berg
Illustrated by George Downs

12. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrated by Garth Williams

13. The Little Book Room by Eleanor Farjeon
Illustrated by Edward Ardizone

14. The Glassblower's Children by Maria Gripe
Illustrated by Harald Gripe

An illustration from The Glassblower's Children.

18 March 2007, Star Mag

Illuminating illustrations

TOTS TO TEENS
By DAPHNE LEE

I’M happy to see some really nicely illustrated, newly published children’s books in the stores. I don’t mean picture books, which, obviously, have to be illustrated, but storybooks, what the Americans call chapter books.

Once upon a time, most storybooks were illustrated. If you’re in your 30s or 40s (and older) you may remember wonderful books published by Puffin (always edited by Kay Webb) with black and white drawings. 

Probably the most famous illustrated children’s storybooks are Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. 

When I spoke to writer/illustrator John Burningham a few years ago, he said that the main reason storybooks are no longer illustrated is because it adds to the cost of production (in terms of printing and having to pay the illustrator).

He also thought that, somewhere along the line, publishers decided that children, having made the transition from picture books with minimal text to full-length books, no longer needed their stories illustrated.

Shirley Hughes, an award-winning illustrator who has worked on both picture books and storybooks, says, in her autobiography, A Life Drawing, “It is sad that the black and white illustrations once so common in books for older children are now often cut out and the jump from full-colour picture books to an unventilated page of solid text is such an abrupt one.

“We are depriving the child reader of the intense pleasure of opening books, even penalising them for having mastered the magic skill of reading”.

Is there anyone who doesn’t love looking at beautiful pictures? I think even adults would welcome illustrations in the books they read. A picture is sometimes what is needed to unlock the magic of a book, pique the reader’s interest, prod his imagination into action, as it were.

Mervyn Peake’s Gormeghast trilogy features a few black and white line drawings (by the author) that are, to say the least, intriguing. And one of the reasons I loved Reader’s Digest Condensed Books was because they were illustrated. I would pore over the pictures when I was little. The stories didn’t interest me until much, much later.

When people complain about wanting to be left alone with their own ideas of what characters and scenes are like, my response is, “So you’re saying you have a limited imagination?” This usually leads to an argument, sometimes rather heated.

Some say the presence of illustrations interfere with the pictures that pop into their heads when they read a book. They are annoyed when the artist’s portrayal of a character doesn’t match the author’s description. Actually, I understand how they feel as that is my response to movie adaptations of novels.

But somehow, to me, a static drawing, no matter how lively in feel, never intrudes on one’s imagination in quite the same way as a walking, talking actor does (ie, Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma and Possession). Illustrations simply capture moments and interpret emotions. I like to think of them as reflections of the author’s words. They do not consume and assume his ideas like bad acting or a miscast actor can.

The next time you’re in a second-hand bookshop, look out for children’s storybooks published in the 1970s and earlier. Browse through them so you can choose the ones with illustrations. And look out for illustrators like Pat Marriott, Shirley Hughes, Peggy Fortnum, Margery Gill, Garth Williams and Edward Ardizzone.

If you’re shopping for new books, check out The Mysterious Benedict Society (by Trenton Lee Stewart, ISBN: 978-031-605-7776), The Invention of Hugo Cabret (by Brian Selznick, ISBN: 978-043-981-3785), The Valley of Secrets (by Charmian Hussey, ISBN: 978-068-987-8626) and The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs (by Betty G. Birney, ISBN: 978-141-693-4899).

They are just some of the beautifully and imaginatively illustrated children’s books that are now available. Perhaps publishers are beginning to realise that most people are never too old or serious for pictures. 

I attended MPH Kidz Club's party for The Cat in the Hat's 50th birthday this afternoon.

Put on the hat and you turn into some sort of psycho, I swear ...

I-Shan gets into the spirit of the Cat ... or maybe it's the Grinch ...

Tots to Teens, Star Mag

11 March 2007

Fete that hat cat!

TOTS TO TEENS
By DAPHNE LEE

THE Cat in the Hat turns 50 this year. And I’ll be 40 in April. But I didn’t grow up with this book or anything else by Dr Seuss. My first encounter with the author was when I read The Sneetches and Other Stories to my eldest, Elesh. 

I admit I was quite surprised. I didn’t quite know what to make of Dr Seuss’ odd-looking, eccentric characters. Elesh loved them, though.

He would squeal with delight and horror whenever his dad read him the story called What Was I Scared Of? It’s a tale, in verse, of “a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them”. The narrator (one of Dr Seuss’s strange creatures of indeterminate species) keeps encountering the pants and is terrified of them. The first time he sees them they’re just standing there, motionless. And then they move! Elesh used to shriek whenever we came to this bit. It’s still my favourite story by Dr Seuss.

His books are a joy to read aloud because of the meter he uses. You don’t think of it because you’re busy being distracted by his crazy characters and nonsense words, but Dr Seuss usually wrote in anapestic tetrameter. 

I don’t want to get technical here but the point is, Dr Seuss had rhythm! When you read a poem and you don’t stumble and it doesn’t sound clumsy, you know the author has rhythm!

Children (especially very little ones) love it when the story is written in verse with even, regular beats so that the words sort of gallop off your tongue and theirs. 

Rhythm helps the words stick in their heads too, just as rhymes do. You know, like, 30 days has September, April, June, and November – now you’ll never forget which months have 30 days!

What I didn’t know about Dr Seuss and The Cat in the Hat until recently is that the story is written using just 236 unique words.

Also, of the 236 words, just one has three syllables, 14 have two and 221 are monosyllabic! As I like to tell my students: keep it simple. Simple works!

The Cat in the Hat was written in response to a Life magazine article criticising the boring primers used in schools. In it, the writer, John Hersey challenged Dr Seuss to write a story “first graders wouldn’t be able to put down”.

The book was, of course, a huge success. It was used to supplement school reading programmes, as were many of the author’s subsequent books. 

Today, it’s as popular as ever and is the inspiration for Project 236, an American literacy initiative organised by Dr Seuss Enterprises, Random House and First Book, an organisation that provides children from low income families with new books.

Getting into the spirit of things is MPH Kidz Club, which is organising a 50th birthday party for the Cat at MPH 1Utama (Petaling Jaya, Selangor) this afternoon at 2pm. The plan is for some members of the club to read aloud an excerpt of The Cat in the Hat at 2.36pm! 

I’m going to be there and will encourage every adult present (as well as anyone reading this column) to buy a copy of the book or any Dr Seuss book (or any children’s book for that matter) and donate it to a children’s charity of his choice. 

Maybe you can help start a library at your local orphanage or the children’s ward at your local hospital. Or you could volunteer to read to the children at these places.

What I love best about The Cat in the Hat (and all Dr Seuss stories) is their irreverence and exuberance. Even the odd characters with their strange quirks are a challenge to think out of the box and open your imagination to things new and different. 

Will the Cat still be swaggering down the book aisles in 50 years’ time? I think he will. As long as children (of all ages) are eager to take the sort of exciting journey that can only be experienced within the pages of a good book, they’ll find that the Cat makes an excellent travelling companion. 

In her introduction to The Little Bookroom (a collection of her own favourite short stories), Eleanor Farjeon talks about her book-filled childhood home:

"Our nurseries upstairs were full of book. Downstairs my father's study was full of them. They lined the dining room walls, and overflowed into my mother's sitting-room, and up into the bedrooms. It would have been more natural to live without clothes than without books. As unnatural not to read as not to eat."

She goes on to describe the room called the Little Bookroom: "There was no selection of order here. In dining-room, study and nursery there was choice and arrangement; but the Little Bookroom gathered itself a motley crew of strays and vagabonds, outcasts from the ordered shelves below, the overflow of parcels bought wholesale by my father in the sales-rooms. Much trash, and more treasure. Riff-raff and gentlefolk and noblemen. A lottery, a lucky dip for a child who had never been forbidden to handle anything between covers."

Farjeon was a lucky child whose parents did not restrict her reading. I too was as lucky and I believe that being given free-reign in my choice of reading material helped turn me into a voracious reader and develop my own taste in books.

And not only was I allowed to read whatever I liked (or rather, never questioned about what I was reading), I had choice and the freedom to read whenever I liked.

Not many children are as fortunate. Often they are allowed to read only parent-approved books and then only at prescribed times. Story books (or anything read purely for pleasure) also tend to take a backseat to school text books.

I daresay my parents were even more enlightened than I am now. They never practised censorship and I, sad to say, have done so (but in the past, when I was a new mother). It's something I make a conscious effort to avoid these days, but I do know how easy it is to panic and start restricting and dictating our children's reading, just because we think we know better ...

Tots to Teens, Star Mag

4th March 2007

Fed up with Grown-up Hang-ups

THE mother of a 13-year-old whom I tutor got a little upset when she discovered her daughter reading Lust, one of the books in Robin Wasserman’s Seven Deadly Sins (Young Adult) series. I hastened to assure her that the book doesn’t quite deliver what the cover picture or back cover blurb suggests. 

Parents should realise that covers and blurbs are meant to “sell” books and might not accurately reflect their contents. The only way to know what a book is like is to read it. You may find that it’s not as “shocking” as you believed. You may even find you like it.

But what if you don’t, and what if you think the book is really as provocative/ controversial/ sexy/ violent as you suspected all along? 

Well, in my opinion, you should let your child read it anyway. You have to because you know that if you say “no” she will want to even more and she will find some way of reading it without you finding out. 

If it makes you feel any better, you might negotiate some time to discuss the story/language/issues after your child has finished reading the book. Or you might like to express why you don’t approve of the book and then ask her why she likes it. 

It’s important that you don’t shoot down any of her opinions. She’s entitled to them and if you acknowledge that, she’s more likely to share them with you next time round.

Last week, I came across this comment from Roger Sutton, editor-in-chief of The Horn Book Magazine: “Just because parents have the legal right to control their children’s reading does not mean that we should encourage them to do so.” 

Sutton was talking, in a blog post, about the uproar caused by Susan Patron’s Newberry Medal winner The Power of Lucky, all because the word “scrotum” appears in it! 

I agree with Sutton, but, as a parent, I realise that it’s often hard to control the urge to “protect” our children from everything. So, we all practise censorship, whether or not we want to admit it.

When my eldest was a toddler, someone gave him a set of Peter and Jane books and I’m ashamed to say that, in an effort to avoid exposing him to sexual stereotypes, I stapled some of the books’ pages together. However, I later removed the staples, deciding that exposure to and frank discussion of the issue was better than total avoidance. 

Speaking of censorship, it seems that Maurice Sendak’s In the Night Kitchen is often “banned” by libraries in the United States. This is primarily because Mickey, the main character in this picture book, appears without his clothes on! I hasten to add that Mickey is a child. 

I don’t know why anyone would think that a naked image of a child would offend other children (who the book was written for), but then parents, myself included, do tend to impose their own values onto children. (I make a conscious effort not to, but frequently slip up.) 

Well-meaning, older relatives are always crying “Shame on you!” on seeing my children running around topless. 

And when Elesh was four, the little girls in his ballet class were told that the reason he was getting dressed in full view of everyone, while they had to do it behind a curtain was, “He’s a boy and you’re a girl ... girls must hide their bodies!” (I’m happy to say that my little girl loves running around without a stitch on, all the while patting her tummy lovingly and chanting, “Cantik, cantik, cantik.”)

Irked by the controversy surrounding Patron’s award-winning novel (several libraries in the United States have pledged to ban it), Sendak told Sutton, “This is such a putdown to those of us who spend our lives creating art for children. It’s acutely embarrassing to adults, and shows a complete lack of respect for children and their books, especially when you know children’s fascination with and candour about the body.”

Personally, I think adults are often just protecting themselves. They want to avoid explaining what “scrotum” means. They want to avoid having to dissuade little Ming or Musa that, unlike Mickey, they can not take a milk bath or prance around naked. For children, it’s all just about exploring fascinating new worlds and new words ... and being comfortable in their own skin.

Tots to Teens, Star Mag

18th Feb 2007

I HAD the thrill, last Saturday, of attending the launch of my picture books. Now, before I go on, let me just say that I’ve been ribbed endlessly by friends and family about my “shameless self-promotion”. What can I say? Who else is going to blow my trumpet, right?

Anyway, back to the launch. It was fun. It was also nerve wrecking. I imagined no one turning up: How embarrassing! And then I imagined throngs of people: How even more embarrassing!

About 10 people showed in the end. Most of them were friends and family, and there was a girl who said she read this column, and a little boy who just smiled and took lots and lots of pictures….

esAnyway, thanks to my publisher, distributor and the bookstore for organising the launch. It’s cool to see more events being organised by MPH Bookstores. Today I went for the “press tour” of the latest store at Bangsar Village II in Kuala Lumpur.

Two interesting groups are being launched at this store this month. One is the Breakfast Club for Litbloggers, where bloggers who write about books can network; and Kidz Read! a reading group for children.

The Breakfast Club will meet on the first Saturday of every month from 11am to 1pm. Author Ooi Yang-May (The Flame Tree, Mindgame) will attend the first session on Feb 24.

Kidz Read! will be held on the last Sunday of each month. Each meeting will focus on two to four books, linked in some way, for example by theme, author or subject.

The books that will discussed at the first meeting on Feb 25 are Kate DiCamillo’s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane; The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams; The Mouse and His Child by Russell Hoban; and Frances Hodgson-Burnett’s The Racketty-Packetty House.

At each session, children will explore themes and discuss questions and issues raised in the featured books. They will also be encouraged to talk about how they feel about the books, why they like or dislike them; and to even recommend similar books to each other.

By the way, I’m the facilitator for this group and I decided that there should be more than one book for each session so that children at different reading levels can join the discussion.

So, you don’t have to read every single book on the list ... unless you want to, of course! If there’s a book you (or your child) would like discussed at Kidz Read! do write and tell me about it.

I’d also love to hear from readers about books that they love. A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail, from 17-year-old Justine Lee, raving about Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Justine says it’s “a beautiful story ... in a depressing kinda way ... full of wit and sarcasm”.

“I think this book will appeal to a lot of people, especially young adults,” she says. “I hope you can highlight the book in your column.”

Done!

Happy reading and Happy Chinese New Year!

One of the books I'm reading and loving Forever and Ever Amen: becoming a Nun in the Sixties by Sister Karol Jackowski.I love books about nuns ... fiction and non-fiction. Maybe it's because there's always been a part of me that thinks of becoming one (I'm Catholic, lapsed). I don't think I could give up my books though, which I would have to with the vow of poverty.

Does My Head Look Big in This, by Randa Abdel Fattah, is featured in my column this week. It's not about nuns, but it involves a similarly important, religious-based personal decision.

Judging a person by her (head)cover

TOTS TO TEENS
By DAPHNE LEE

DOES My Head Look Big in This? (Publisher: Marion Lloyd Books, 368 pages, ISBN-10: 0439950589) Isn't that title a gas? I love it! It's witty and a little smart-alecky, like the heroine of the book, 16-year-old Amal Mohamed Nasrullah Abdel-Hakim, a Muslim Palestinian-Australian who decides that she's ready to wear the hijab (veil) fulltime. 

Amal is inspired by Rachel, from the sitcom Friends, to take this life-altering step. Power-walking on the treadmill, she watches Rachel jump on stage at a wedding dinner and belt out Copacabana. Somehow, Amal feels empowered by this scene and decides to “shawl-up”.

No biggie, huh? Well, perhaps not in Malaysia where we're all quite used to Muslim women of all ages wearing headscarves, but in predominantly white-Christian Australia, it's a major undertaking (Amal in her hijab has to deal with everything from raised eyebrows to dumb questions to racial slurs, but she manages to take most of it in her stride).

It does occur to me though that although a female Muslim in a tudung (scarf or veil) is a common sight in this country, the reasons for choosing to wear one might not be known to many non-Muslim Malaysians. The blurb on the book's cover says: “Every teenager in Britain should read this book”. Well, make that every Malaysian teenager too.

For me, it's good to see a teenage novel in which the central character isn't white, but I wonder how encouraged or otherwise Malaysian teens will be to purchase My Head. Will the hijab-wearing model on its cover intrigue or repel? 

I've been told that when beauty magazines feature dark-skinned cover girls, the sales dip, whether here or in the States and Britain. And I know teenagers who say that they prefer reading about white characters and that they would not bother to even pick up a book with a black or Asian character on the cover. 

I wonder how popular TV series The OC would be if they had an all-black cast!

Well, books are supposed to allow us to explore new worlds and so it would be a shame to limit the experience to white middle-class America or Britain (or Australia), right? 

Although My Head, written by Australian-born Palestinian Randa Abdel Fattah, raises interesting and serious questions about faith, tolerance and acceptance of different beliefs and cultures, and racial and religious identity, these potentially heavy topics are presented in a wholly accessible way, thanks to their context: the life of a healthy, well-adjusted teenager who spends as much (if not more) time and energy stressing about clothes and boys as she does about her religion. 

Amal takes her beliefs very seriously, but she is not above laughing at herself and the way she sometimes gets her knickers in a twist when dealing with anyone unsupportive or insensitive. 

Of course, being only human, she has her moments of doubt, indecision and self-righteous rage, but these simply make her a more believable and likeable character.

I would be interested to hear from any Malaysian Muslim girl who has read this book. Does she identify with Amal? 

Does she face the same problems and challenges? If the teenage Malaysian Muslim experience with the tudung is totally different from Amal's with the hijab, wouldn't it be great if someone wrote a book about it? 

In fact, I would love to read anyone's (preferably any Malaysian's) take on the life of Malaysian teenagers of any sex, race, religion, shape or form. 

Actually, I know a couple of people who are working on something. Hey, guys, don't take too long. I'm getting impatient!

I found Does My Head Look Big in This? quite unputdownable and finished it in a little over an hour. 

I'm currently still reading the Abbey books and, yesterday, I started on the autobiography of a nun. Today, I was given the latest book in Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series. DWJ is always as good as a tonic for me and as The Pinhoe Egg is nice and fat, I am expecting some blissful hours ahead,!

Happy Reading to everyone!

This week's Tots to Teens is about Elsie J. Oxenham's Abbey books. In the column I mention having transcripts of some of the books and invite interested parties to email me if they want to try an Abbey!

Here are the titles I own in transrcipt:

The Abbey Girls in Town

The Abbey Girls on Trial

Rosamund's Victory

Patch and a Pawn

The Abbey Girls

The Abbey Girls Again

Abbey Champion

Biddy's Secret

Damaris at Dorothy's

Joy's New Adventure

Maidlin Bears the Torch

Margery Meets the Roses

Peggy and the Brotherhood

Rosamind's Tuckshop

Tots to Teens

Star Mag

28th January 2007

Elsie J Oxenham's Abbey series is No Small Comfort

I STARTED re-reading my Abbey books last week and now I can't stop. There are 45 of them, but I have only a baker's dozen, plus 14 transcripts, which I have yet to read! How delicious to think that I have all those stories to look for ward to!

The Abbey books were written by Elsie J. Oxenham and are mostly out of print. The only way new fans can read them is to borrow them from a library (no such luck in Malaysia) or from someone with the books. Sometimes, some kind soul scans what they have and emails it to the less fortunate (that would be me!)

I belong to Girlsown, a mailing list which discusses girls boarding school stories and other girl-centric books, and another list that talks about Abbey books only. Through them, I've met many generous Abbey fans who have sent me their transcripts.

If you like stories about girls, and series with recurring characters who grow older and develop with each book, Oxenham's Abbey books may be worth checking out. For those who have never heard of the series, it's about a group of girls who live near Gracedieu, a ruined abbey in Oxfordshire. In the centre of the story is the Hamlet Club, which does country dancing, and crowns a May Queen every year.

While the first Abbey book, The Girls of the Hamlet Club, is about how the club is founded, the second book, The Abbey Girls , introduces the reader to the red-headed cousins Joan and Joy Shirley who go on be pivotal characters in the series.

Most of the main characters are in their tweens or early teens when they first appear in the books and by the series' end they have teenage children of their own! I love the character development. Also, the fact that the characters' personal lives, hopes, fears and dreams drive the books' plots make for compelling reading. After a couple of books following courtships, marriages and births, I am hooked, pulled into the world of the Abbey. It's quite similar to how one becomes addicted to a soap opera and deeply involved in the lives of its characters, to the extent that one starts talking about them as though they were real!

But truth be told, the rarified world of the Abbey girls is attractive because it is quite unlike the one I live in. These girls marry titled gentlemen (one of them becomes a countess) and live in large country houses (the countess lives in a castle), playing ladies bountiful by bequeathing scholarships to poor but deserving (read: musically talented) souls; adopting motherless heiresses; and giving penniless but genteel lasses lessons in grammar and etiquette. Yes, it's all rather snobbish, but also, terribly, morbidly fascinating. The girls love meddling in people's affairs, but it has to be "suitable" and "nice" people. A working class wench with a squint would not interest them.

The Abbey series was written between 1914 and 1959 and so the ideas presented in them are quite old-fashioned. Several of the characters give up successful careers to become wives and mothers, and the belief that having a husband and children is the only route to total fulfillment is a firm Abbey belief. Those who don't give up their jobs remain unmarried and devoted to helping their married chums. And for the married ones who still work, their careers as mere hobbies, not to be taken very seriously.

It's enough to make any independent mother-with-a-job stamp her foot, and I do! I have written many irritable posts about how the Abbey girls are narrow-minded snobs who would probably refuse to speak to me on account of my ethnicity and accent! And yet, I continue to read the books and be entertained and … comforted! Yes, Abbey books are a great favourite with me when I am feeling down. I think this is because they are such a splendid form of escape, the forever-summer world of the peaceful Abbey in its fresh green garth acting like a refuge from real-world cares. Also, while the characters can be insufferably arrogant, they can also be loyal, kind and resourceful.

For more about the series and the author visit the Elsie Jeanette Oxenham website ( home.pacific.net.au/~bcooper/popular.htm).

Independent publisher Girls Gone By have re-published several Abbey books, but each costs about £ 10 – too much to risk on something totally new. You may find the odd Children's Press (abridged) or Collins edition at second hand bookshops and jumble sales, but you'd have more luck in Britain or Australia than in this part of the world.

Or, you could email me for a transcript or two. Check my blog for the list of transcripts I have and research the stories on the EJO site. I'm looking forward to making Abbey fans out of more Malaysians!   

I read this review of Miss Potter (from The Horn Book website) after I'd written rather ignorantly about Beatrix Potter and the film, for Tots to Teens (21st Jan).

There is a very interesting "fact vs fiction" link in the article that you can also access here.

Tots to Teens

Star Mag

21st January 2007

APPARENTLY, the film Miss Potter, about the life of writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter, will not be released in Malaysia. Although it stars two big Hollywood names - Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor - its central character is probably not one whom most Malaysians would be familiar with. Can't you just hear the local movie distributors? "Potter? Does she make plates and bowls?" Or, with desperate hope ..."Potter? As in, Harry Potter? Is she a long-lost aunt? Can she do magic?"

I'm sure the decision makers decided that a film about Beatrix Potter would not make any money in this country. If Potter had been a nymphomaniac who'd lived it up in Paris with a string of lovers of both sexes, it would not have mattered if her only legacy was a slim volume of grammatically dubious pornography, but would anyone pay to watch a movie about a homely spinster who wrote about rabbits, mice and ducks? Well, would you?

Admittedly, I'd told myself that I would give Miss Potter a miss mainly because I try to avoid any film starring Zellweger, but also because I was scornful of the way the scriptwriters had, I believed, invented a romance between Potter and her editor, Norman Warne (played by McGregor).

I thought they did it simply to spice up the writer's otherwise rather unexciting life, but I have since discovered that Potter and Warne were indeed in love and that her family disapproved of the relationship. Warne died of pneumonia in anycase, and Potter eventually married a solicitor named William Heelis, gave up writing and became a successful sheep-breeder in England's Lake District! She willed her property to the National Trust and if you are ever in that part of the world you can visit her cottage, Hill Top, near Lake Windermere.

For fans of Potter and/or Zellweger, you'll just have to wait for the film to be released on DVD. You should also check out the excellent animated films of Potter stories released by Britsh television station ITV. They are available, on VCD, at stores like MPH and Speedy Video and include The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale Of Peter Rabbit And Benjamin Bunny, The Tale Of Flopsy Bunnies and Mrs Tittlemouse, and The Tale Of Tom Kitten and Jemima Puddleduck.

And of course, there are the actual stories. You can buy each tale separately or all of them in one big fat volume. There are also all kinds of other editions including board books for toddlers. 

I remember a time when Elesh, my eldest son, was Potter mad. His favourites were The Tailor of Gloucester, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse, The Tale of Two Bad Mice and The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. The first time I read to him the scene in which Nutkin gets his tail bitten off by Old Brown the owl, Elesh was inconsolable. The few times he asked for The Tale of Pigling Bland, I was (very nearly) inconsolable. Parents, be warned! This story goes on for far longer than any parent should be made to read aloud. Have rations handy!

I know some feel that the world inhabited by Peter Rabbit and his friends is just too foreign for Malaysian children's tastes. Why is it any more foreign than a boarding school for wizards? Children are more adaptable and accepting, curious and interested than we give them credit for. If they don't know what a poke bonnet (as worn by Jemima Puddleduck) is, they can look it up in the dictionary. No one would complain if Potter's characters spoke American on the Disney Channel a la Winnie the Pooh. Should Peter and his friends suffer the same gruesome fate? Quick, before it's too late! Beatrix Potter's original and charming tales are available at all good bookstores.

The four picture books I wrote are now available in MPH outlets and (hopefully) other good bookstores. In my column in Star Mag today I talk about my first (and probably not last) bad review!

On the receiving end now

With her first four books out, our critic gets a taste of her own medicine.

TOT TO TEEN BY DAPHNE LEE

WHAT better way to start a new year and the first Tots to Teens of 2007 than with the first bad review of my picture books? Hah, after pooh-poohing the hard work of others, I now get a taste of my own medicine!

Actually, it’s fine. That is, yes, I got a bad review, but it came from someone whose opinion I value and trust. The criticism was valid and I think it will help me produce better books in the future.

The critic, as regular readers might have guessed, is Kit, my friend whom I usually refer to here as the “the best children’s book merchandiser in the Klang Valley, possibly even Asia”. I found her comments interesting, especially since they were about things I’d never really considered.

Her chief complaints were about the typeface and the illustrations. Kit thinks the typeface is hard to read. It’s too thin and irregularly shaped. Children may have problems deciphering the letters. Parents may think, “My child won’t be able to read this”. Of course, I meant for parents to read these books to their pre-schoolers, but I guess I should have thought of our kiasu Malaysian dads and mums who expect their kids to read by the time they’re three!

As for the illustrations, Kit thinks the colours are too garish. She was surprised when I told her that Amir, my artist friend and collaborator on the books, had used watercolours! She says she it looks like he used magic markers! According to Kit, the tones are harsh and unfriendly to the eye and this may put some parents off. Personally, I rather liked the bright colours and I don’t think they would put a child off.

I would have liked a glowing review from Kit, but I know the books aren’t perfect and I appreciate her comments. As a bookseller she has a different perspective and it’s obviously an important one that writers and publishers should take note of.

The books (1 Red Flower, A is for Anklet, If I Were a Star and Sweet Pink Posies) are now available at all MPH outlets and other selected bookshops. They cost RM9.90 each and I am donating my share of royalties to the Paediatric AIDS Fund, set up by the Malaysian AIDS Foundation in 1996 to look after the needs of children infected and/or affected by HIV and AIDS.

Buying books as Xmas gifts? Here are more recommendations ...

Tots to Teens

Star Mag, 17th December 2006

Eating books for Xmas

From Tots to Teens: By DAPHNE LEE

AS promised, more Christmas gift recommendations for children who love to read.

Picture Books

THE INCREDIBLE BOOK EATING BOY

By Oliver Jeffers  HarperCollins Children’s Books, 32 pages 

Publisher:

(ISBN: 0-007-18227-9) 

HENRY loves books and he can’t get enough of them, but this is no ordinary love we’re talking about. Henry is no reader, he’s an eater! When he discovers how tasty books are, he starts wolfing them down every chance he gets.

What really rocks is that the more books he eats, the smarter he gets. So why stop gorging on hardbacks and paperbacks? Henry’s voracious appetite could make him the smartest boy on earth! Oliver Jeffers’ style is, as always, witty and understated. This is a book to cheer up the whole family. For ages four to nine.

MEERKAT MAIL 

By Emily Gravett 

Publisher: Macmillan Children’s Books, 32 pages 

(ISBN: 1-405-05215-5) 

SUNNY the meerkat lives in the Kalahari Desert with his huge extended family. He’s pretty happy, digging holes, eating beetles and daydreaming, but he does sometimes wish he had more personal space. And that’s what leads to his decision to go visit the soggy marshland where Great Aunt Flo hangs out with her family. 

On the way, he drops in on various eccentric mongoose cousins and realises, as his postcards home reveal, that his own family isn’t all that bad after all! This is as fresh, surprising and unusual a picture book as Emily Gravett’s debut, the Kate Greenaway Medal winning Wolves and its follow-up, Orange Pear Apple Bear. For ages four to nine.

THE ADVENTURES OF THE DISH AND THE SPOON 

By Mini Grey 

Publisher: Jonathan Cape Children’s Books, 32 pages 

(ISBN: 0-224-07037-1) 

“AND the dish ran away with the spoon!” So ends that quirky nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle. But have you ever wondered what happens to the couple after they elope? According to Mini Grey, they move to New York and live the high life as a popular vaudeville act. The Dish, however, has way too expensive tastes and, when they fall on hard times, they have to resort to robbing a bank! 

This is a very funny, brilliantly illustrated, action-packed book that, hopefully, will inspire more “sequels”: Did Jill get Jack to the ER on time? What did the maid do after her nose was pecked off by that pesky blackbird? Did Bo Peep’s sheep get a telling off for wandering off, and just what were they doing when they were away? For ages six and up.

Non-Fiction

EXPLORATOPIA 

More than 400 Kid-Friendly Experiments and Explorations for Curious Minds 

By Pat Murphy, Ellen Macaulay and Exploratorium   

Publisher: Little,Brown Young Readers, 373 pages 

(ISBN: 0-316-61281-2)

THE Exploratorium is a museum founded by physicist and educator Dr Frank Oppenheimer in 1969. It is housed within San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts and is home to over 600 science, art and human perception interactive exhibits. This book is written by the museum staff and contains dozens of experiments designed to make you think about the way things work. They’re aimed at getting you to ask questions, find answers and then ask even more questions. 

If you know a kid who never stops asking “Why?” this is what she needs in her Christmas stocking. But I suspect that Exploratopia will inspire even the most apathetic child to start wondering a little about what’s going on in the world.

THE ART BOOK FOR CHILDREN

By Phaidon Editors 

Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd, 72 pages 

(ISBN: 0-714-84511-6) 

PHAIDON’s fantastic Art Book series includes a wonderful children’s edition – an A-Z guide to 30 artists (including masters like Van Gogh, Matisse, Rembrandt, Turner and Velazquez, and newer talents like Andy Warhol, Grant Wood and Cindy Sherman) and their most famous works. 

The pieces have been selected based on their historical significance as well as their appeal to children, and the book is designed to encourage kids to take a closer look at works of art and consider the motivation and messages behind them. The Art Book for Children: Book Two is now available. For ages four and up.

MAMA 

A True Story, in which a Baby Hippo Loses his Mama during a Tsunami, but Finds a New Home, and a New Mama 

By Jeanette Winter   

Publisher: Harcourt Children’s Books, 32 pages 

(ISBN: 0-152-05495-2) 

JUST two words and vibrantly coloured illustrations tell the story of Owen, a baby hippo who was a victim of the 2004 tsunami. The baby was found washed up on the beach in Malindi, Kenya, and was taken to Haller Park, a wildlife enclosure near Mombassa, to be rehabilitated. There, he bonded with a 130-year-old tortoise named Mzee. 

Owen’s obvious need to be mothered inspired Jeanette Winter to imagine his life before the tsunami and his loving relationship with his mother. With the help of the beautiful and touchingly imagined drawings, a myriad of emotions are powerfully conveyed by the book’s two words (“Mama” and “Baby”). This is a story that will live forever, move hearts and stimulate the imagination of children of all ages.

BIG BOOK OF THE HUMAN BODY  Dorling Kindersley, 12 pages   

Publisher:

(ISBN: 1-405-31745-0) 

THERE are so many kid-friendly human body encyclopaedias available but I still find this one irresistible. Lift-the-flap books are always fun and the way various body parts work offer lots of opportunities for flaps, tabs and wheel pictures. Joints move, skin lifts to reveal bones, lungs fill up with air. Three to six-year-olds will love discovering all about their bodies with this book!