Her First Book (Part 4)

This is the final installment of Big Bee's first book, Another World, Another Time, which she wrote when she was 11. The other parts could be found here:

Her First Book (Part 1)
Her First Book (Part 2)
Her First Book (Part 3)

Another World, Another Time

Written by: Big Bee

Chapter 7: No More Choices

Everything seemed to be going very well until I asked Jennifer a question about this future earth.

I asked her, “Everyone in this future world uses so much electricity now, so doesn’t it pollute the earth? Wouldn’t the earth die?”

“Yes,” Jennifer replied. “The earth’s ozone layer is already gone. Thankfully, the robots were able to recreate the gases that formed the ozone layer and everyone on earth could still survive. However, the robots have predicted that the earth was going to crumble into nothingness within these two years. And robots are never wrong.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do to stop the earth from dying? Can’t the robots, like, make something to support the earth and prevent it from crumbling?” 

I had been living in this future world for only two months, yet I felt like I was part of it, because of Jennifer.

“Sadly, no. People have already asked the robots to do that but to no avail. There is no hope of saving the world now. In the past, the earth was polluted too much. There was too much littering and too much use of electricity. We have nothing that we can do to save the earth now. And that’s why we just expect the world to crumble and die.”

Did that mean that if I stay here I would die because the earth was going to crumble? What about Jennifer? And David and Selena? What would happen to each one of them? Suddenly, an idea dawned on Jennifer.

“Aren’t you from the past, Alison?!” She exclaimed, almost shouting. I was surprised to see her so exhilarated. I mean, the fact that I was from the past was obvious.

“Yes, I am. Why?” I did not feel like going back to the past at all. Living here in the future was like a dream come true.

Chapter 8: The Solution

Jennifer rattled on like a gun, “You still have time to fix that time machine and go back to your time and tell everyone to save the earth! There is only one future of the earth! The future when no one in the past bothered to stop pollution and everything. You’re a famous scientist, right? Then surely everybody will listen to what you say! You can change the entire future of your earth, Alison!”

Immediately, an avalanche of thoughts flashed through my mind. Go back to the past? The boring old past when I was a loner? Without Jennifer? No way! Didn’t Jennifer enjoy my company? Doesn’t she want me to stay with her in the future?

However, this was my chance to change the entire future of the whole wide world. If anyone would really listen to me, I really, really could save the earth. I knew that I had to sacrifice my wonderful life here in the future with Jennifer to do the right thing. It would be the last time I would be able to see robots. The last time I could ever see such tall skyscrapers, all of them at least 500 levels tall. And worst of all, it was the last time I would ever be seeing Jennifer….

A light bulb appeared in my head. I could bring Jennifer, her step brother and step sister back to the past with me! They would surely enjoy it there! Jennifer would finally be able to see all those beautiful animals and plants! No one would mind them going back to the old earth with me as they were orphans and had no parents to care about them in this future earth!

“Jennifer! You could take David and Selena, and we could all go back to the past earth with me! You can live with me in my house and I’ll take you to see all the animals that you’ve been longing to admire!” I said, flushing with excitement. “It’s the perfect idea!”

Chapter 9: Fixing the Machine

Jennifer’s eyes lit up, but within a second, she looked down and the light in her eyes seemed to disappear.

“No, Alison. I’m sorry, I can’t go with you.”

My eyes widened in shock and I could not help myself but feel immensely betrayed. “Why wouldn’t you come with me?" I could not believe what Jennifer had just said. She said no?

“Messing with time, going to the future, it’s just…complicated. It isn’t right. If we do go back to the past with you, we may not be used to the climate there and everything, and I don’t think we can survive there. I’m sorry, Alison, I can’t go.” Her eyes were downcast and it was clear that she was way more upset than I was.

“It’s okay…I was just disappointed that I would be leaving you.” My voice broke and I held back tears.

“Let’s get going then. I need to finish fixing that time machine of mine, before this future earth crumbles and I die along with it,” I said, determined.

I clenched my fists and thought hard. Making my way to the backyard of Jennifer’s house, I promised myself that I would cherish every moment with Jennifer, and I would not let her down by trying to change the future of this earth.

I worked on the time machine for a very long time. I forgot about time or food and the only two things I did not forgot was Jennifer and of course, making the machine.

She was behind me all the time, giving me tips on this and that, and how to improve my machine. We treasured every single last moment we had together. Once in a while, the ground would start to tremble. It was like an earthquake, except for the fact that the trembles were way longer, way more vigorous and way more often than any earthquake 200 years ago. Jennifer had explained to me that it was because the earth’s core was weak and going to give way.

Chapter 10: Leaving Jennifer

A month flew by. It was a whole month on fixing that time machine of mine and it was finally working again. I knew that I had to go back real soon - the sooner I went back, the better.

Before going back to my time, Jennifer had brought me around the city to buy souvenirs for me to bring back to the past. She bought me a device that could make me invisible. I gave her a pen that I had with me. She had never seen one before and in the future, there was no such thing as a pen - robots just wrote everything out for you.

Every day, I checked on my time machine to see if it was still working and before long, the day when I had to leave arrived.

I made my way to the backyard where my time machine was. There was an aura of grey around me. It was a mist that refused to rise. This was my last time I would ever be seeing Jennifer… and I could not communicate with her ever again.

A lone tear slid down my cheek. I felt like my heart was being ripped out, shattered into a million pieces, like what was going to happen to this future earth. The last time I would be staying here in Jennifer’s house. The last time I would be talking to her. The last time I would be enjoying the future earth with Jennifer. The last time I would ever be seeing her… I bit my lips, trying to stop myself from sobbing out loud.

I hugged each one of them - Jennifer, David and Selena. Jennifer and I shed some tears, then I got into my time machine, preparing to go back to my own time, away from Jennifer.

Jennifer had said right before I went into the time machine, “I won’t forgot you, Alison. I’ll keep your pen with me, goodbye. I’ll miss you.”

I waved back and screamed loudly, over the deafening whirring of my time machine, “I’ll miss you too!! Goodbye! I won’t forgot you too!” My voice cracked and I stifled a sob. I looked out the window of my time machine and I could see Jennifer, burying her head in one of her hands, whilst she used the other hand to wave back at me.

She raised her head and mouthed the word “Bye!” Looking at her tear-stained face made me understand how much she missed me too.

I pushed the button that would enable me to travel through time and then BANG! With a final wave and a last look at my first best (and my last) friend, the bright lights in my time machine blinded me and I could not see her ever again.

Alone yet again, I whispered to Jennifer, knowing that she would never hear this, how grateful and how thankful I am to her. I wanted her to know how much I cherished our friendship. I wanted her to know how much I missed her and how I felt that that there was a huge hole in my heart now, without her. But I could never tell her all these things again, as I would never be seeing her.

Chapter 11: Changing the Future

I arrived back in my backyard in my own time. It was 14^th December 2013 yet again. Miraculously, my time machine had not caught fire like what it did the last time when I landed in the…. I was too heartbroken to think about my time in the future.

My mind was filled with happy memories with Jennifer, but I could not help but smile at the lush greenery now. The tall trees, the pretty and vibrantly coloured flowers. And all the animals… the birds flying high in the cerulean blue sky were sights that people in the future world just know about in history books.

I got back into my house and displayed the invisibility device. It was shaped like a ball. Just a push of a button and I could turn invisible immediately. Aidan licked my face the moment I got into the house. I felt immensely ecstatic being reunited with my precious dog. I petted him and played “fetch” with him. I even told him about my adventure in the future, even though I knew that he would not understand what I was talking about. That gave me inspiration for my next invention. I could create a device that could enable humans to talk to animals! Maybe humans can then communicate with animals and learn about their problems. Just like that, humans could finally understand animals and stop destroying their homes and poaching. Before long, animals will stop getting killed and they would not get extinct. People in the future would be able to admire the adorable animals we once admired and loved.

I took immediate action. I created a long speech on how I had invented a time machine and travelled to the future. Everyone believed me, seeing that I had brought back a device that could make you invisible, from the future. 

I told the world about my friend, Jennifer, who told me that the world was going to die and that she wanted me to tell everyone to stop polluting the world and destroying everything. If every single person in the world really played a small part and helped to save the world, there was a chance that the world could be saved.

I could not let Jennifer down. There was even a law imposed that everyone had to play at least one small part to save the earth. Hopefully, the future of this earth would be changed and the generations after us would be able to enjoy the same earth that we had once lived on.

~ The End ~

  

Her First Book (Part 1)

Last December was really eventful for Big Bee. She was immersed in lots of experiences and achieved a number of milestones. These milestones had nothing to do with PSLE preparation though! I know lots of parents start preparing their Primary 5 kids for the PSLE even in the December holidays. But I decided to make this holidays totally chillax and enjoyable, so that she is totally rejuvenated for the PSLE revisions this year. 

One of the fundamental things that she achieved was to complete a book with 12 chapters - the idea and plot behind the book was entirely her own idea. She was really proud of it, and truly enjoyed the whole creation process. Most of all, she was really fascinated by the fact that she could create whole new worlds and brand new personalities just through the power of the written language. 

I thought of starting a series with a couple of chapters per post, so for now, here are the first 2 chapters! By the way, it is not edited at all, so you might spot some syntax errors here and there. 

Another World; Another Time

Written by: Big Bee

Chapter 1: Alison Taylor

I added the finishing touches to my time machine - a project that I had been working on for ages - and finally, I believed that my dream of making the world’s first time machine was coming true. I had been dreaming of making a time machine ever since I was a young girl. I connected a few more wires and completed the task of making the machine. The only thing was, I was not sure whether it could really work. Nevertheless, my time machine still looked gorgeous, and I stood back to admire this project that I had been working on for years and years. I was filled with three different emotions: happiness, pride and a little bit of uncertainty.

It had not really been a difficult task for a scientist like me. Well, I was one of the world’s most famous and successful inventors, and I had to admit that I could invent almost anything. Everyone in the whole wide world knew who Alison Taylor, the famous 16-year-old inventor, was. Despite my fame and everything, I was actually an orphan and no one ever cared much for me. I grew up alone in an orphanage without any friends. Now, I even lived alone with my Yorkshire Terrier, Aidan, in this huge mansion which doubled as a science laboratory on Daffodil Street.

Aidan was my pet puppy. He was a typical Yorkshire Terrier - brown and black fur, fluffy and small, with skinny legs. Most importantly, he was the only one so far who truly understood me. He was once a stray dog and he always loitered outside my house in the backyard. He always peered into the windows, staring at me working diligently at my inventions. I could not help but smile at the cute little face staring at me every night. Thus, before long, I took him into my house and he became my pet.

My house had four storeys and an enormous backyard. The first and second floor was used as my science laboratory, and it was filled with whirring machines and tools found from almost everywhere. The third level was where my bedroom, living room and kitchen were. Lastly, the fourth floor was where I had planted a telescope, to look out into space every night. When I was a toddler, I was already inventing little things, so it was no wonder that I would turn out to be the inventor I was now.

When I was four years old, the milk bottle had not been invented yet. With a cup and some rubber found in the orphanage, I just played with those materials all day long and came up with the idea of a milk bottle. I had used it to drink my milk and the owner of the orphanage saw what I had created. Therefore, he stole my idea and introduced it to the world. As I was still a helpless, young child, I could do nothing to stop him.

After all these years, I realised that I was already a child prodigy back then, because not every young child could create such things that the whole world would use.

Chapter 2: My Time Machine

My time machine was metallic but on the inside, it was very comfortable as it had air-conditioning and fluffy, red seats. It was almost like a car, except for the fact that it could hover a few feet above the ground and could travel way faster than any sports car ever created.

“Do you like it, Aidan?” I asked him, tilting my head to one side, admiring my time machine. He stared back at me, unblinking, with those huge warm eyes of his. I knew that he just loved my invention.

The only way to find out if my invention really does work or not, is to try it out, I thought to myself. Another thought flashed through my mind. What if my entire time machine exploded whilst I was on it? What if my entire house explodes too, because of the time machine exploding? I was only 16 this year and making a time machine was an impossible task for many other inventors, so would my machine really function? 

I had to believe in myself. I left Aidan in the house with an automatic food and water dispenser so he could survive by himself whilst I was time travelling. After that, I took my time machine out to my backyard, where I usually conducted my experiments.

My time machine was only controlled by a remote control - by pressing six buttons, my time machine could travel up, down, right, left, forward and backward, so it was no difficulty for me to shift it out to the backyard. I could just sit in the machine as I controlled it using the remote and made my way to the backyard. I had to decide where I wanted to go. To the past? To the future? Of course I should go to the future! And maybe I could even try to remake some of the inventions in the future! I started setting the date in the future which I wanted to go to. I thought to myself, I should travel to the future, 200 years later…in year 2213! Passers-by were starting to crowd around my backyard to stare at my mammoth project, gawking and whispering among themselves in hushed tones. 

To be continued...

Reading "And Tango Makes Three"

Now that the furor had died down with regards to the Singapore National Library Board banning a few children's books and then reinstating a couple of them back in the adult section, I thought it might be an appropriate time to finally relate what I had been sharing with my kids about this whole saga.

Truth be told, I was exasperated with the National Library Board (NLB) for initially censoring the books - not because I was siding any side of the LGBT factions here - but because I seethed at the thought that NLB tried acting as an omniscient, all-knowing power who thinks they could control what the general population wants. Unnecessary and partisan censorship was at the heart of the issue for me.

Now that everything had died down, it is not necessary to talk about the antipathy I felt against the banning of these books. Instead, I wanted to relate how I brought my children into the heart of the discussion, as this is something that will be so fundamental in their society in future - analysing how media and society portray different issues to the population. In this day and age where internet and online articles are so prevalent, how do we nurture our children to question what they read and develop informed perspectives of their own?

I always believe in opening all communications with my children from a very young age with regards to knowledge and information. I prefer to expose them to all kinds of issues from young and discussing with them about values, rather than shielding them and compartmentalising different knowledge to age-appropriate categories. Because I do not believe there is an appropriate age for knowledge. Instead, I feel that if they had been sheltered for too long, they might be moulded by societal and peer pressures to form views that I have no control over. Hence, I prefer to transfer knowledge to them directly and have them voice out their thoughts honestly to me. Which is why sex education started at the age of 4 in my household. And why we talked about sensitive issues of death, war, rape and molestation from the age of 7. Of course, values are a big part of the discussions, and I would like to start influencing their value system from a young age, before they form any pre-conceived judgements of their own. (Again, sometimes I also have issues with me being an omniscient, all-knowing entity to my kids...but that is a story for another time!)

Being aware of societal issues and our attitudes towards these issues is very important to me. Which is why I decided to let the Bees read "And Tango Makes Three" during the heart of the saga. So that they could understand all sides of the discussions. It was initially hilarious as we settled down to read a "banned" book. You know how thrilled kids are when they access something that is banned!

As we read the book, the Bees had reactions and insights that were very surprisingly mature, and we discussed about issues of censorship, love, LGBT and society's acceptance of myriad people. I let them know my viewpoints of certain issues, and they responded with their own perspectives. Of course, being 8 and 12 years old also meant that they already had pre-conceived notions of certain issues in life, and I found our discussions refreshing because I also learned unexpected perceptions from them.

It was an illuminating afternoon of open discussion and understanding each of my girls' thoughts, perspectives and personalities. But one thing that hit me was: despite all the belligerence in the mass media, the Bees remained unfazed and nonchalant, and wondered what the fuss was all about. I guess this confirmed my belief that children tend to be more curious if we shield them from knowledge. And instead of letting them harbour misinformed judgements on their own, I would rather be there every step of the way while I can.

Their Reading Adventures

With hubby and I being fairly avid readers, we know how books can open up worlds of imagination, knowledge and creativity - just through plain old simple text. Pretty amazing, isn't it? So, it had been gratifying that both our girls are very much into reading.

There was a little time when we worried about Little Bee because she was (and still is!) more interested in toys and TV, compared to books. However, I had been surreptitiously creating opportunities where she would have no access to TV, computers or toys for protracted periods of time, and hence had to depend on reading as a form of escapism. And then she was hooked!

I thought of summarising very loosely the main types of books that our 2 girls are reading or had read, just to see if there are different reading preferences between the 2 of them.

Big Bee

Big Bee started reading chapter books from the second year of kindergarten (K2). She had a very healthy dose of Enid Blyton when young, discovering the whole spectrum of Blyton's stories, and then went through the usual popular children's classics and now, teenage fiction. She tends to be (very) obsessed by certain series at different stages of her life, and like me, would devour entire series before her fanaticism died down.

K2
Rainbow Fairies and other simple fantasy series

Primary 1
Enid Blyton's fantasy series - The Enchanted Wood, Wishing Chair, the fabulous "O'Clock Tales" which used to be my favourite when I was younger, eg 8 O'Clock Tales (she read my original copy from the days when I was 8!)

Also started on Amelia Jane's (Naughtiest Girl) series but she was fairly neutral to the series.

Primary 2
Re-reading Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Wood's series at least 7 to 8 times...she was that enchanted!
Started on (and was hooked in a major way) Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and St Clare's series, which I believe she re-read many times over as well!

Primary 3
Started reading classics like Black Beauty, The Secret Garden, Little Women, etc. Her personal childhood classic is Black Beauty, even till now.

Hopping around Roald Dahl's books but was fairly neutral to them. Her favourite Roald Dahl book is Mathilda.

Discovered Enid Blyton's adventure and mystery series, and was addicted! Entire series like Famous Five, Secret Seven and all the Adventure Series were chomped down by her rapidly! At her peak addiction stage, she could complete 1 to 2 Famous Five books in a day. This was also the year that her eyesight went drastically bad because she spent most of her time buried in books.

Primary 4
Peer influence set in! Started thinking that Enid Blyton is too childish, and began reading fantasy fiction like Percy Jackson, lots of Greek mythology books, Shakespearean adaptations in the form of novels, Lord of The Rings, Narnia, and the David Eddings series which hubby and I used to love. Unfortunately, she was not a fan of David Eddings or Narnia, but really loved the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (which she re-read multiple times again!).

Primary 5
At the beginning of the year, she went a little overboard on Harry Potter, and completed the entire series in a couple of weeks. Once again, she indulged in her usual re-reading and also watched the entire Harry Potter movie series in a few weeks.

She was feeling a little lost in the middle of primary 5, so I introduced her to Mitch Albom and Anne Frank. I think she could not quite understand the scale of horror in Anne Frank's diary until we went to Dachau in Germany. Surprisingly, she liked Mitch Albom quite a bit!

Her friends started reading more teenage fiction, and she went absolutely bollocks over The Hunger Games trilogy last December (which was when I finally decided to let her read this series, after months of persuasion). Her first discovery of more mature romance in these books should be pretty memorable! I also started reading all these teenage fiction these days, just to make sure that the content is appropriate, and I must say I really like Hunger Games too!

Primary 6
More teenage fiction ensued. She has now wolfed down entire series of Divergent, Mortal Instruments and Clockwork Prince, and is heading for John Green next!

Little Bee

Little Bee is a relatively late reader, compared to her sister. Until now, she still prefers doodling, toys and TV more than books. However, if she chanced upon a book she was fascinated with, she would be totally focused. She has shown a lot of interest in Roald Dahl, which is a complete difference from her sister! She does not really like Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood series, although she completed the first 2 books of that series. She is also more "practical" and less fanatic than Big Bee, in that she does not believe in re-reading books, at least for now.

K2
Reading was more "academic" for her, as in I used books to get her to recognise more words. Peter and Jane series was a big thing in her life then! She also read lots of Ladybird books. She started on Rainbow Fairies, but was not very fascinated by them.

Primary 1
Started on Enid Blyton's books, mainly The Enchanted Wood series. She was still reading a smattering of picture books then, but was beginning to be intrigued by Shakespeare. She loved the simplified Shakespeare stories in the Usborne's children series, and frankly, I was surprised that Shakespeare appealed to her. I guess dramatic Little Bee loved the plot twists and comic tragedies found in many Shakespearean stories!

Primary 2
She discovered Roald Dahl recently, and for the first time in her life, ravaged a few of his books in a short time! She read almost all his children's books, except for The Witches, which freaked her out. Her favourite Roald Dahl books are Mathilda, James & The Giant Peach and Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.

I bought a copy of Usborne's adapted stories from Charles Dickens, and again, I was amazed that she was captivated by Dickens! She finished reading all the 6 to 7 stories in the Usborne book in less than a fortnight - which was considered a feat for playful and active her.

She also started reading Enid Blyton's Malory Towers, and although she was a little intrigued in the beginning, she still prefers Roald Dahl. I am in the midst of looking for more Roald Dahl's books for her, so any recommendations would be great!

Until now, I still find it really amazing that the Bees' preferences in reading could be so different! What are your children's reading adventures like?

Of Shakespeare And Dickens

Little Bee is not as avid a reader as Big Bee, although she is fairly fascinated by Enid Blyton's Enchanted Wood series and some of her short story collections. She is also captivated by the simpler Princess Posey books, although this series of books had been really elusive. Hence, when she discovered the entire series in the library this past weekend, she was elated and promptly borrowed all she could find!

Lately, she was also mesmerized by the Usborne compilations of Shakespeare and Charles Dickens. I could never thank Usborne enough for bringing the usually inaccessible classics (especially Shakespeare!) to young, inquiring minds - opening up their minds to the literary giants that had enthralled us when we were teenagers.

These 2 books are never far from reach in her bedroom, and she would potter around with them, reading stories that had enraptured so many people around the world. Her favourite Shakespearean stories are the romances - Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. To be fair, I had not introduced the tragedies like Macbeth and King Lear to her yet, although I would not think she would relish them at this age.

As for the Dickens classics, she really enjoyed Oliver Twist, and would pore over the pages before bedtime on most nights. I must also thank the attractive illustrations in the Usborne series for grabbing the attention of my little visual learner. It is amazing to see some of those stories illustrated in vivid, brilliant colours!

There had been plenty of debates about whether children should be exposed to the original texts of Shakespeare first, or through the live performances of his plays. For Big Bee, she has friends who had started reading the original script of Macbeth, but I wonder how much can 11-year-old tweens absorb in terms of the language, themes, plots and personifications through the original texts? Don't get me wrong - I am a fan of Shakespeare, and would spend hours poring over the scripts, and memorising quotes from Shakespeare's myriad plays when I was a young literature student. But I am just not convinced that the original scripts of Shakespeare could enrich the language competency of younger school children.

This is a more challenging, but still compelling, read - more suitable for kids who are 9-year-old and above. 

This is why I applaud Usborne and Puffin Classics (which Big Bee had devoured since the age of 9) for simplifying Shakespeare into the palatable and riveting stories that they are, so that younger children can now read them, before attempting to enjoy the original scripts when they are older.

Their enjoyment of Shakespeare's works in stages of comprehension can be summarised in one of my favourite quotes from Romeo and Juliet, I think!

"This bud of love by summer's ripening breath,

May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet." 

What are your favourite Shakespeare or Charles Dickens stories? For me, it had been Twelfth Night and Romeo & Juliet from Shakespeare, as well as Great Expectations from Dickens all these years :) 

Her English Reading Progress

Little Bee has shown a tremendous interest in reading this year, especially since she is now a budding reader and appreciates interesting stories. Being such a girly little child, she particularly enjoys stories of fantasy, princesses, love and family. She is also starting to write little short phrases on her own here and there, and I had started her on journal writing since March (albeit rather infrequently!), which she is increasingly enjoying now. 

She was struggling with phonics in the beginning of the year, when she just turned 4, so I stopped teaching her phonics, and used the whole-word approach with her instead. Being such a visual learner, the whole-word approach appealed a lot to her, which is why she is also fairly proficient in recognising Chinese characters. 

Surprisingly, she loves the Peter and Jane stories, and is now into book 5b of the series, which she can read independently with very minimal help from me. 

These days, we only read Peter and Jane once a week, which is why the recent progress had been slower, because I want to expose her to other stories and also Chinese books. But it is heartening to see her opening up the Peter and Jane books eagerly, despite their 70s retro illustrations! I guess it helps that she "grew up" with Peter and Jane, right from series 1, so sometimes it is rather amusing to hear her discussing about them to me, as if they are her old friends! 

Her school teaches phonics in interesting and fun ways, and uses the Oxford Reading Tree (ORT) series, which is superb in building reading skills in little kids through progressive accumulation of vocabulary and same characters (like Peter and Jane) who grow up with the little readers. I guess for reading, it helps if we have some continuity of characterisation and plots for the children. She is now in Stage 3 of ORT, which is mainly for kids from 5 to 6 years old.

I hope she will be an avid reader just like hubby, Big Bee and me!

Shakespeare For Children

I had always been an avid admirer of Shakespeare's works, having studied quite a number of his plays intensively for 5 years, and having watched many of his productions. Which was why I was elated when I saw this book for children in the bookstore one day - and bought it immediately. 

I want the Bees to be acquainted with his plays and the main themes associated with some of them. Perhaps not with the complex language that they probably would not be able to understand now. But definitely with him and some of his signature plays. 

And the beautiful element of this book is that the writers simplified his old 15 century English into easy language just for children - complete with such enchanting illustrations that captivated the Bees! There are, however, pockets of legendary Shakespearean verses highlighted within the illustrations, and I do read those to them, much to their bafflement. However, I just asked them to enjoy the bewitching rhymes in his lilting iambic pentameters. And they did. 

An example (let me indulge myself!): 

But soft! What light through

Yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. 

To which Big Bee gave me a bewildered look and uttered, "I don't understand what you are reading!". Haha!

On Friday night, I started reading my favourite Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, to the Bees, uncertain of their reaction to archaic character portrayals and plots. To my pleasant surprise, they were both transfixed. Last night, as I continued my readings, they would not allow me to stop even after I had read a few chapters, until I had to coax them to hold on to their anticipation and wait for tonight. 

There was another key reason why I stopped reading Romeo and Juliet last night too. For those of you familiar with the particular play, you would know its tragic ending. I suddenly realised that the ending may not be suitable for little kids, and now I am wrecking my brain on how to address the ending tonight! Do I make up an alternative ending for the Bees (not a wise choice)? Do I gloss over the ending quickly (still tragic)? Do I skip through the final chapters? Do I proceed to another happier play like A Midsummer Night's Dream? Incidentally, there is also Macbeth in the same book! Anyway, the Bees are now hooked to Romeo's and Juliet's story, and had explicitly persuaded me to read tonight.

What do you think?

In the meanwhile, I had better go hide the book. Big Bee had jovially expressed that she would be sneaking out the book to read herself!  

Celebrations

Birthday wishes from the Bees. They were very excited throughout the whole weekend, and watched the entire 2.5 hours of the National Day Parade with rapt fascination!

We love National Day. Every year when the nation's birthday approaches, I will mentally appreciate and remember how our little country had grown so remarkably in these short 45 years. 

At this juncture, I would like to highly recommend this book that I had been reading early this year - which captivated me to no end. It is a whopping 663 pages, and took me a while to complete. I do wish for a concise or abridged version just for children, so that I can open up my Bees' eyes to a time when affluence and modernity were unheard of in Singapore. Two sentences that haunted me at the end of the book: "The (Singapore) people shared our feelings and were prepared to do whatever was needed to make an independent Singapore work. I did not know I was to spend the rest of my life getting Singapore not just to work but to prosper and flourish." 

True, the modern Singapore (the quest for our true identity) and him do have myriad naysayers. But for Hubby and me, who had been to so many parts of the world for work and not for leisure travel (we do have the ironical privileges of seeing many ugly sides of people from all nationalities through work!), we fall deeper in love with our country, our ethos and our special culture the more we travel. And we do hope to inspire our own Bees with this somewhat soppy patriotism too! And to imbue in them the fundamental drive for our fragile nation's continued survival.

Which is why it had always been a National Day family tradition not to travel out of the country, and we always make it a point to watch the National Day Parade together - as a family. So that we can remind ourselves that it is no easy feat for us to be sitting comfortably and safely at home, with nothing but our everyday life to worry about. There are many countries who would love to be in our position, but sadly, I know many cynics may not agree. That is just another aspect of our "unique" culture, isn't it? The culture of complaining :)

To commemorate this day in school, Big Bee was tasked to create a mural of her vision of National Day - and this was what she created all by herself :) I thought it is a colourful piece of work! 

Big Bee created a mural of herself watching fireworks at night, with helicoptors holding our flag up high. 

Throughout this long weekend, we stayed home and spent plenty of time with our loved ones. Dinners with grandparents on 2 separate occasions. Gatherings with close friends. And merely ambling around town to appreciate all of what we have. 

I hope your National Day had been blissful too.

Children of The Holocaust

It is a derelict landscape when you combine the 2 most incompatible elements of life - children and war. Yet, children are the first to suffer incalculably when war erupted anywhere in the world: from Afghanistan to Iraq in recent times to Germany and Cambodia in not so recent times. 

I had always been morbidly fascinated by the holocaust and its calamitous effects on children, the embodiment of life and idealism. In September 1939, when World War 2 began, there were more than one and a half million Jewish children living in countries soon to be occupied by Hitler's Nazi armies. By 1945, when the war ended, over a million of these children were simply - and quietly - wiped out from existence. 

I had read Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl at least 3 times since I first laid my eyes on it when I was 12. Early this year, I read more 3rd person narratives of Anne Frank from Carol Ann Lee and Jacqueline van Maarsen, her best friend, to understand how her young life was tragically trampled on and ended - just because she happened to be born in an era when her religion and people was not tolerated. 

It is appalling to read entries from her diary that were so vibrant with energy, hope and life, even at the peak of war...and then to be greeted with an abrupt epilogue that she had been captured 3 days after her very last entry. 

It is even more crushing to read from a 3rd person's account of how her sister and her had endured through the Germans' famous concentration camps, only to die within short spans of one another.

Have a read through these books and then take a close look at our children. Feel thankful for their carefree liberty now and pray that no such calamity would befall them ever. 

Jane Austen

Jane Austen is one of my favourite writers, and I had read and re-read many of her classics umpteen times over the years. Which was why I watched Becoming Jane for the second time in 72 hours last night, and was imbued with fascination and approbation for Jane Austen. For a lady to yearn for financial self-sufficiency and independence in that conservative era was almost unheard of, yet she forged ahead to create 6 of the greatest novels of our time, breaking conventions, defying traditions. She died unmarried, in her 40s.

I love her novels, not just for the happy endings, but really for the timeless themes that resonate in our minds and hearts. The pure romances between her multi-faceted protagonists, devoid of instantaneous gratification in the form of hasty sex that are so redolent in novels today, present a deep yet relevant emblem of what love really should be, despite the social norms of that era.

Lastly, with the exception of Hugh Grant in Sense and Sensibility, I am now developing a school-girl crush over the male personifications in Jane Austen's life and novels - James McAvoy, who played Tom Lefroy, supposedly a friend of Jane Austen, and Colin Firth as Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice! I am sure many women will agree with me that they are charming beyond words ;)

The Winter's Tale

Yesterday afternoon, 2 of my girlfriends and I took the afternoon off and watched Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the Esplanade, directed by American Beauty's Sam Mendes and performed by a resplendent cast of highly talented actors.

I had always loved Shakespeare's works, having studied many plays over secondary school and junior college, though I always find The Winter's Tale, which I studied for my A-levels, a tad too heavy and tempestuous.

However, yesterday afternoon, I watched with wide-eyed wonder and besotted rapture, as Shakespeare's intense words leapt out of old, archaic scripts right into the impassioned lips of these magnificent actors through raw, unbridled emotions that brought the play to true life and self-effacing tears to our eyes.

It is amazing how Shakespeare's centuries-old themes can transcend through the ages, elevating us into another world, another time, infusing us with pure emotions so raw you almost can identify with these tortured souls and delightful characters.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Hubby and I have a new bedtime companion in the form of an Afghan man - Khaled Hosseini. We are both enraptured and bewitched by his 2 books. Hubby is now enthralled with The Kite Runner, while I had just completed A Thousand Splendid Suns, a magnificant tale of the plight of women in Afghanistan, a novel of strong wills, powerful emotions and courageous resilience. It made me weep 3 times, the highest number of times a book can make me cry other than my singular sniffling while reading Angela's Ashes.

It made me count my blessings as a woman born in Singapore. It made me proud that I am a woman, a gender genetically infused with paramount resilience, stalwart tenacity, tender grace and boundless love. It made me gaze at my daughters with fierce devotion, silently thanking whoever that determined their destinies so that they are born into this society and not into any societies that belittle the powerful influence of women. For without women, without our warm wombs and gentle nurturing, there can never be men in this world. Yet, in many countries, women are not given the respect that we so deserve.

Hosseini writes with searing intelligence using words that are resonant with intense emotions, rich with texture. It is almost as if we are standing right in the scenes of action, staring at everything in live-action brilliance. His words, enveloped and wrapped in vivacity, made my mind stagger with overwhelming amazement. A must-read for everyone, women or men!