Stephanie Ho and the 'Samsui Girl'

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia. – Day 2, February 18, 2009.

Have you ever wanted to be a strong woman? Stephanie Ho, an educator turned historian turned writer-illustrator told us about a real-life strong woman and a girl who wanted some respect from her mother.

Stephanie is also Singaporean like Suchen Christine Lim. But unlike Suchen, Stephanie said she thought she was English when she was young. She went to the US with her parents when she was two.

She hated going back to Singapore and refused accepting her Singaporean heritage and identity for many years. She refused using her Chinese name and insisted on being called ‘Stephanie.’

Ironically, Stephanie majored in history, taught history, then became a museum curator and history researcher. Her professional training has forced her to introspect, to look inside herself as well as her heritage and identity.

While working in the museum, her boss told her to try and make history ‘not too dull’ for the children who’d come to visit for their required learning journeys. And so she started trying to view history from the eyes of children.

Stephanie said that she has always been drawing and sketching even as a student. A self-taught artist, she credits having graduated from the ‘School of Long & Boring Meetings.’ She’d amuse herself by drawing and sketching.

While she was in Australia doing her Ph.D. in Public History, she sent in her manuscript to the First-Time Writers & Illustrators Publishing Grant by the National Book Development Council of Singapore.

Needless to say, Stephanie’s manuscript was chosen and her first picture chapter book was published in 2006. She made an important decision with the publication of her first children’s book. She reclaimed her Chinese identity publicly and used her Chinese name, Lee-Ling Ho.

Putting her professional training as a historian to good use, Lee-Ling’s first book, Samsui Girl, is a historical fiction about Amber, a 10-year old girl, who makes friends with an elderly Samsui woman.

The Samsui women of Singapore are touted as the first feminists who championed equal rights between men and women. They were immigrants from China and have always been fiercely independent.

They worked as laborers in construction sites and proved that they could do what the men could. Most of them remained single. Only very few of them are still alive. It is one of the few elderly Samsui women whom Amber, the Samsui Girl, befriends.

Through their friendship, the life of a Samsui woman unfolds before the eyes of the readers. Through their friendship, Amber learns independence and hard work. The book ends happily with Amber earning her mother’s respect.

Stephanie… oops, Lee-Ling, said some of her friends thought Samsui Girl wouldn’t work because it had no magic. It’s plain historical fiction. But Lee-Ling says the book has been accepted by schoolchildren.

And so Lee-Ling published her second book, Wayang Girl, in 2008. (Wayang is Chinese opera.) She has also been commissioned to write other picture books which champion children’s rights. One of those books is The Boy with a Tree on his Head which exemplifies multiculturalism and racial harmony without being didactic.

Quite appropriately, the second day of the seminar ended with a buffet dinner and cultural show which gave me a glimpse of Malaysia’s history and heritage.

I went to bed thinking that the Samsui Girl has caught her very own star!

Oliver Jeffers: How to Catch a Star

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia. – Day 2, February 18, 2009.

Have you ever tried catching a star? Did you get lost while trying? Did you find your way back home?

Have you tried eating books in order to get smart? Would you like to play detective to find out why trees are disappearing from the forest?

Oliver Jeffers, a multi-awarded children’s book writer and illustrator from Northern Ireland, is a brilliant new talent who has written about all of the above.

On the second day of the seminar, he took us on a guided tour inside the picture book process the Jeffers style!

With a degree in visual communication from the University of Ulster, he works as a freelance painter, illustrator, and picture-book maker. Now based in New York, he travels around the world on the wings of art-fueled jet planes.

How to Catch a Star was Jeffers’ debut picture storybook in 2004. Without any trace of arrogance, he said that he sent his manuscript to the top 10 publishers of children’s books. One of them signed him up, pronto!

As a writer and illustrator, he said that he begins with an idea, then sketches something that represents the idea. Sometimes, he sketches a picture, then writes something to describe the picture.

He said he doesn’t begin with a plot outline or a character sketch. He simply follows where the idea takes him by sketching and writing at the same time. He draws and re-draws from different perspectives. He also writes and re-writes. He said that every word matters. One word can change the meaning of an illustration.

He makes it a point to show his work to test audiences. Finally, he shows it to his editor. Being Irish, he sometimes clashes with his American editor because of cultural and linguistic differences.

What’s special about a boy who wants to catch a star? He dreams. He perseveres. He stretches beyond his reach. He never gives up although he seems to be all alone with no one to help him or cheer him up.

In the process of trying to catch his very own star, the boy is shown in magical, humorous, and fantastical moves.

Jeffers’ illustration is simple yet profound. His canvas or page is almost empty. There’s very little text and the illustration is mostly simple figures on a panoramic background.

For example, the first two pages say, “Once there was a boy, and the boy loved stars very much.” The illustration shows the evening sky with four white stars being gazed upon from below by a cartoon-like boy with stick legs.

But Jeffers said that he researches everything meticulously – the sky, the moon, the stars, the sun, light and shadow, ocean waves, trees, sailing, flying, digestion, paper production, printing, etc.

He said he’s been inspired by Shel Silverstein, Quentin Blake, and Eric Carle. Most of all, he always remembers what his Dad has advised him, “Never let the truth get out of your story.”