Where to buy our books for a good cause?
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Where to get our books?
Where to buy our books for a good cause?
http://buddhlib.org.sg/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Children-Books-2015.jpg
Fund-raising at Mangala Vihara
We created miniature paintings for Vesak!
Using acrylic paints on real canvas, we drew and painted by hand lotuses, Buddha head, cats and so on. Each painting took up to an hour to finish. We also demonstrated the painting process at the fair. That itself was like meditation. Trying to paint a lotus in a noisy, hot fair was not easy!
Some children were showed interest to paint on their own little canvases.
T-shirt Illustration for Mangala Vihara
Last Vesak, Juliana from Mangala Vihara asked me if I would like to draw something for a Vesak Day T-shirt. Here are the results and I heard it was all snapped up within the first couple of hours. Now we can still spot this drawing on the Mangala Vihara Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mangala-Vihara-Sunday-Dhamma-School/109594905757830
Fund raising for Buddhist Library
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| Siddhartha at 10 years old by Gaia (draft on paper) |
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| Experimenting with mini artworks |
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| Buddhist Library Funfair 2014 |
http://www.buddhlib.org.sg/
Support MINDS shops
My first encounter with MINDS shop was when I bought a frog costume for my preschool daughter a decade ago. We are really happy to see that they MINDS is still active and have developed many other social enterprises to support the intellectually disabled..We have donated our books to MINDS shops. Visit a MINDS shop today...you never know what gems you will uncover.
FInd out store locations and opening hours at http://www.minds.org.sg/Shop.html
Support Dignity MaMa Stores
We have decided to support Dignity MaMa. Dignity Mama Stall is a wonderful labour of love. This unique concept offers mothers with intellectually/physically challenged children an opportunity to work together and run a business in the form of a second hand bookstore. The current locations within hospitals offer a safe environment for the children to be in and their mothers are able to work while being able to care for their children too.
You can find our books and kind donations from many other supporters at
National University Hospital1 Lower Kent Ridge Road #01-39 One @ Kent Ridge Singapore 119082
Khoo Teck Puat Hospital 90 Yishun Central Singapore 768828 (Located beside the Information Counter, A pushcart near the escalator)
You can also find out more about how you can help at /http://dignitymama.sg/home/ and
and http://dignitykitchen.sg/home/
An Inspirational Festival
Hi everyone, It has been a long time since I blogged about our picture-book related activities. Because of my research in storytelling in musuems and my illustrations in ASEAN folktales as well as our my experience in creating picture books, I was invited to be a workshop leader and jury in the picture book contest of the 1st International Storytelling Festival at Mahasarkham University, Thailand. Mahasarakham is the uniersity town of northeast Thailand. Over the course of this 4-day Festival, I met so many inspirational people.
The brainchid of this very exciting festival is Dr Wajuppa Tossa, an extremely dynamic lecturer at Mahasarakham University. She is a tireless and passionate role model to so many of us and has a mountain of experience in storytelling. She nurtured several generations of student storytellers in her university. Here is Thai TV covering the event!
Many of the helpers and translators in this festival are Dr Wajuppa's old and current students. They are effectively bilingual in English and Thai and some in the Isan dialect. Here's are a bunch of us...international storytellers, students, educators, family supporters! There were storytellers and resource persons from 11 countries...too many to name here, but you know who you are...all the people who made this festival a huge success!
The youngest international storyteller was just just 14! She is Jasmine Wirawan from Indonesia and here she is, in full gear, telling wonderful stories WITH HER WHOLE BODY! She combines classical moves from Javanese and Balinese dances, hip hop in an amazing performance of emotions told by hand, leg, body gestures. Every single session with Jasmine brought us to faraway lands in Indonesian folktales. Jasmine plays Princess Kemang in the photogrpah above and this perfromance inspired one of the prize winners (college category) of folktale illustration contest.
Then there was Bima Anggara, a very spirited 15 year-old storyteller also from Indonesia. He worked beautifuly with his Thai interpreter and brought delightful folktales from the remote islands of Indoneisa to the festival. Here, he is all set to tell the story of Matsarasaranee who captured the sun! His story also inspired one of the prize winners (elementary category) of the folktale illustration contest.
This is Agus Rakhman ... an Indonesian storyteller who looks after a community library and also tells stories to children with specific needs. He brings humour across to the audeince effortlessly. My favourite tale told by him is Why Shrimps are Crooked. His Thai interpreter also did a wonderful job.
All 3 Indonesian storytellers presented stories written by Ibu Murti Bunanta, co-founder of Kelompok Pencinta Bacaan Anak (Society for the Advancement of Children’s Literature). Ibu Murti is a great mentor to me during the judging session for picture books and folktale illustrations. She brought along with her 25 years of experience in children's literature and is still super active in promoting children's literacy. Find out more about her on http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/lifeandtimes/count-me-in-a-lifelong-struggle-to-promote-indonesian-childrens-literature/565500
This is Ng Kok Keong, a Malaysian storyteller who told a story of an orang utan. He did so with a lot of chemistry with Belle, his Thai interpreter who is very much a storyteller in her own right. His friendly ways and passion in storytelling proved very infectious. He brought along international participants from Malaysia and Taiwan. His story also inspired one of the finalists for the folktale illustration contest. Can you guess what the story is about just by looking at the illustration?
This is Uncle Fat from Taiwan..he becomes the story ...he made us laugh, cry, smile, grieve with the characters in his story. And when he started to sing the tribal song of the Paiwan tribe, we travelled together with him to the stone houses in the village where you can find the Bride of the Hundred Pace Snake. The song carried us to the bride who was asking her family members to take care of themselves as she sacrificed herself to the snake. I loved the way he transported us to the faraway.
Check out his Mandarin blog http://blog.udn.com/abi803
Jeeva Raghunath from Chennai and Kiran Shah from Singapore are larger than life! When these 2 storytellers joined forces at the festival, laughter exploded amongst the audience. Whether the story was about rotis or coconuts, the audience was mesmerised by their very animated style of storytelling. Prasong Saihong, a lecturer at Mahasarakham fitted in perfectly; translating the humour and lines with no effort at all. He was also highly instrumental in making the festival a success. In the pre-festival concert, Jeeva even managed to make Thai children tell an English story with hand gestures while Kiran wowed the audience with animal tales.
Here is Shelia Wee from Singapore! Seen here enjoying herself with Dr Wajuppa, they were preparing the audience to howl like coyotes. Her stories on ants also got everyone, including old grannies, laughing. Her enthusiasm shines through her stories ...she is not known as the godmother of storytelling in Singapore for nothing!
The picture cards I created for Red Hill, our Singaporean folktale were also on display! This exhibition was supported by SEAMEO-SPAFA and APCEIU to promote intercultural understanding. All ASEAN countires and Korea participated by illustrating one folktale per country. The illustrations were made into picture cards for use in classrooms. In this photograph, I was with Au a lovely pre-school teacher from Malaysia and Edwin Khaling from northeast India, a rare specimen of the Khoibu tribe. Although we were born so far apart, we could have been brother and sister...
Today, there are only 2500 Khoibu people in this world. The stories of his people are a hilariously wonderful testiment to human values of freindship, love and himour! The traditional costume he wore lent an interesting aura to the story he shared with everyone.
And if you spotted any spelling mistakes, please let me know. I also do not have photographs of everyone, do send me some if you wish!
ORDER THE ADVENTURES OF SHUSHANA THROUGH US NOW!
Would you like to offer a set of 4 books in this little series to a friends' kid? Or get them for your own kids! It's only SGD 20 per set (FREE local postage to Singaporean addresses, for overseas orders, let us know your address and we will advise you on postage!) Just place your order with us via email shushana@hotmail.sg
You will then receive a confirmation email with payment details.
Send us your 1) Name or your kid's name (it is a big thing to receive mail at a young age!) 2) Mailing Address
You will then receive a confirmation email with payment details.
Inspirations
When we look at Gaia or any other child, we quickly noticed that they are sometimes somewhere else. Once, we found ourselves looking at a little girl who was intensely caught up with blowing bubbles; her eyes showed us she was in another world. Where do kids go when their minds wander? What can their imagination teach us? Does it remind us to let them grow up slowly and beautifully?
With a strong determination to let our daughter grow up in an environment full of love, imagination and compassion, we started penning story after story and creating characters for them.
* This particular drawing tells of the character Shushana who appears in 4 of our published works. But this story of bubbles is not published.
The Adventures of Shushana
Shushana is the character that appears in our little series of books called "The Adventures of Shushana". We created these stories for our daughter when she was a pre-schooler. The hand-drawn pictures and simple sentences are not only fun but also promises to bring you to another world. The most important thing though is that it was created with the hope that all children can have the space and freedom to dream and imagine like Shushana! 
PaPa the Storyteller
Pierre, my husband, would make up stories to put Gaia to bed. There was a blue dog, a yellow horse, SLOK the snail, froggies, witches, princes etc etc. I pick up my brush and try to illustrate these lovingly created characters... Many characters have not been published and yet it does not matter ...because for Gaia and for the children we share these stories with...something special has found its way to the hearts of these little ones.
About Shushana's Elephant
Shushana's elephant appears to her on the first day at school. Find out how Shushana makes herself comfortable at school with the help of this gentle giant.
A child's first day at school can be full of anxiety. Let Shushana show you how she overcomes this ordeal with a dash of imagination.
Where is Shushana's Secret Sister?
This story was inspired by Gaia's fancination with the bathroom mirror. She often wondered who her reflection really is. Once, she even kissed "herself".
Enjoy Shushana's journey into the wonderful world behind the mirror.
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