• my books

    Call for participation: New book: Legendary Princesses of the World

    I copied this from the publisher’s write-up to be distributed in Frankfurt Book Fair in October:

    LP

    Following the successful publication of her book, Legendary Princesses of Malaysia, acclaimed Malaysian illustrator, Emila Yusof, and her publisher, Oyez!Books are planning her next book: Legendary Princesses of the World. And what better place than at the world’s largest book fair to get stories of princesses, both real and mythical, from the different countries in the world.

    Tell us about a legendary princess from your country and if selected, your princess will be illustrated by Emila Yusof and you will get a free copy of the book with your name listed in the book!Oyez-logo-small

    How to participate:
    Come to the Malaysian pavilion at Hall 5.0 E25 and fill in the participation form. Submissions will only be accepted during the fair 8-12 October 2014.

    P/S To those who want to submit online, you can do so from 8-12 October 2014. I’ll let you know how soon!

  • CHILDREN'S LITERATURE,  Picbook Review

    The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers Reminds Us Our Responsibility for the Environment

    When I first read this book, one thing came to mind: this book definitely will delight not only children (my son loves it) but adults as well – maybe even more so for adults who will understand the clues laid out behind it.

    In The Great Paper Capers, Oliver Jeffers teaches us of our responsibility to environment and to respect the nature; we can have fun and all with tree products but we must always make sure to plant them back.

     

    tgpc

    tgpc_2

    Credit: http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/the-great-paper-caper

    The Great Paper Caper tells a story about branches that disappeared without warning from trees in the forest. The residents of the forest blamed each other but everyone of them had their own solid alibis. So they conducted an investigation; sealed the area, took photographs, made notes and examined every possible clue. But still, they could not find the culprit until one resident came forward with an evident. They analysed the evident and finally found the culprit; a bear. The bear admitted his wrong-doing and said that he was up to the paper air plane competition and had ran out of papers. The judge (a reindeer, by the way) sentenced him to make it up by replacing all the tree that he had cut down. The bear started to plant trees back. At the same time, with the help of the forest residents, the bear managed to enter the paper air plane competition.

    My verdict: Although some think that this book was a let down, I certainly have my own illustrator/writer/reader point-of-view. I thought to myself, “How can I not cleverly think of a picture book like that?”

    The Great Paper Caper is genuinely witty and charming!

    Oliver Jeffers is an award-winning artist, illustrator and writer from Australia, who is now based in Brooklyn, US. Oliver Jeffers is widely known for his picture books for children, published by HarperCollins UK and Penguin US; as below:

    • How to Catch a Star (2004)
    • Lost and Found (2005)
    • The Incredible Book Eating Boy (2006)
    • The Way Back Home (2007)
    • The Great Paper Caper (2008)
    • The Heart and the Bottle (2010)
    • Up and Down (2010)
    • Stuck (2011)
    • The Hueys in The New Jumper” (2012)
    • This Moose Belongs to Me (2012)
    • The Hueys in It Wasn’t Me” (2013)
    • None the Number” (2014)

    Jeffers has different styles of illustrating and drawing. His earlier picture books were entirely watercolour, and with the third book, the Incredible Book Eating Boy, he began experimenting with collage. The latest book was created making hundreds of drawings and scribbles on paper and compositing them together in Photoshop. And in The Great Paper Caper, he used the latest style.

    The book was produced using FSC product group from well-managed forests and other controlled sources.

    The Great Paper Capers
    Paperback, 40 pages
    Published April 1st 2009 by HarperCollins Children’s Books (first published September 4th 2008)
    ISBN 0007182333 (ISBN13: 9780007182336)
    Language: English
    Suitable age: 8+

    More info about Oliver here: http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/cr-100742/oliver-jeffers

     

     

  • Malaysia,  Terengganu,  TRAVEL/HOLIDAYS

    TERRAPURI – The Land of Palaces

    Kak Em, there is one place called Terrapuri Heritage Village that you must visit because I know you like architecture,” a friend told me when we discussed about places that we had and have not been. I was quickly filled with excitement, dreaming to visit the place. One day, I was invited by Sham to join Gaya Travel team to stay at Terrapuri. I jumped at the opportunity and said yes.

    My family and I travelled by car to Kampung Mangkuk, Pantai Penarik, where Terrapuri is situated. Upon reaching the place, the gate was closed. Silly me, I didn’t know that I had to pull a string to ring the bell. “Kak Em, you have to pull the string to ring the bell to call someone to open the gate,” Sham told me on the other end of the line when I called him to ask how do I enter the place. I did just that, and voila, someone opened the gate for me.

    Majestic! My eyes were rolling and feasting on what I thought as a very beautiful heritage village with houses that were built more than 100 to 250 years ago. The place is set in an idyllic environment where there exists nothing between human and nature. One will certainly feel refreshed. Thoughts are sure to get uncluttered and there would definitely be an inspiration overload.

    ThingsTerrapuri

    Being the brainchild of Alex Lee, Terrapuri Heritage Village is a conservation and restoration project involving classic Terengganu Malay houses. There are total of 29 antique houses that were collected by Alex for over the period of 18 years. According to Alex, the layout of the heritage village is inspired by the 17th century Terengganu Palace and its surroundings.

    Terrapuri villa

    The antique houses manifest creative and aesthetic skills of the Malays. They were built using chengal wood with triangular shape, steep gabled roofs and odd-number staircases. The houses were also built on stilts (8 feet high) and employed the tebuk-pasak technique at the joints. The roof was made from rhomboid-shaped Singgora roof tiles while the walls were made from timber panel walls slotted into grooved frame (what the Malay calls Dinding Janda Berhias). The upper part of the walls, windows and doors are decorated with screen with beautiful woodcarving work (Kerawang or Sobek).

    Types of houses here include Rumah Kedai Buluh, Rumah Paloh, Rumah Belukar Titian, Rumah Tasek, Rumah Dusun, Rumah Binjai Rendah, Rumah Tembakang, Rumah Gelugor Raja, Rumah Seberang Takir, Rumah Jeram, Rumah Kubang Jela, Rumah Nibong, Rumah Pulau Musang, Rumah Pengkalan Kubu and Rumah Sungai Mas.

    kerawang2I stayed at Rumah Nibong. Although it is old, I had the benefits of the villa’s refurbished splendour and unique traditional batik (with Nibong patterns) as décor. For a hot and humid weather, air-conditioning is heaven-sent, and each house in Terrapuri comes with its own unit. My husband said that he prefers the old kampung way instead and said that the house’s natural ventilation system adequately cools and reduces humidity. I agreed but with the temperature of more than 40°C, I doubt that cooling could take place. I switched off the air-con and opened up all windows and doors. After few minutes, my husband started to sweat. He finally gave into the idea of switching on the air-conditioning unit. He switched on the ceiling fan in addition.

    Although the house itself is traditional, the interior is half traditional, half modern. So just because the house is over 100 years old doesn’t mean that every piece has to be antique. I love that Alex combines preserved history and progressive design. By progressive design, I mean rain shower, wooden bathtub, bathroom amenities (WC and what not, I can’t imagine myself doing ‘business’ in the old way), hair dryer, fridge and coffee/ tea making facility. Telecommunication medium like TV and telephone is not available in this heritage village to create a real kampung ambience.

    My son and I spent some time visiting the library (Rumah Pulau Rusa) and reading room that is furnished with antique furniture, some books and magazine collection, computers with internet and a congkak set. We loved it there. We also dropped by the Serengas Shop that features a handpicked selection of finest antiques, artefacts, books and crafts from Terengganu and other parts of Malaysia.

    After that we went walking along the coconut-tree laden beach, admiring the beautiful view that overlooks Pulau Perhentian, Lang Tengah, Pulau Cepu, Redang and Bidong, which are all visible during a clear day.

    brasspotIn addition to just feasting our eyes on the beauty of the surrounding village, we also went for refreshing coconut drinks and fried keropok lekor at the nearby food stall. We later drove to Kuala Terengganu, which is about an hour’s drive, to have our dinner.

    We really had a great time at Terrapuri and wish to come back again for a family holiday. We missed the attractions nearby, namely the Fireflies Sanctuary and Setiu Wetlands, and plan to visit them soon when we return to Terrapuri.

    Although the cost of staying at Terrapuri ranges from RM400 and above per night, it is worth it as the owner had spent a lot of money and time restoring the houses to make it the most beautiful place in Terengganu (perhaps in Malaysia). The best time to stay there is when it is off-season – you might just find the peace and tranquillity that you’ve been looking for. Your heart will certainly be full of joy for having a chance to travel back through time and experience the architecture of a forgotten ancient kingdom. ~EY

    Translation:

    Kampung – village

    Rumah – house

    Keropok lekor – cracker which is made primarily from a combination of dough (sago flour) and pounded fish.

    tebuk-pasak – mortise and tenon

     

  • ARTWORKS

    Hello world!

    OMG! I have been neglecting this blog for almost 3 weeks! 3 FREAKING WEEKS!

    The reason being: I was busy making illustrations for a picture book contest, for my new books and some paintings for sale to support my travel to Frankfurt. I covered the flight part as I got a contra from MAS as payment for a set of  illustrations for a campaign (in November – so kind of them to let me reimburse in advance) but I have to yet cover the accommodation part and daily expenses.

    So, this is one of the illustrations I submitted for the picture book contest. The title of the story is: Diana Goes to Dreamland.

    dream02Diana Goes to Dreamland.

    Anyway, I promise to update more stuff here after this. I am a bit free as I have only 4 pages of illustrations left to color for my new book (the Dina Series). Here’s a page from Dina series; My Father’s Farm:

    DinaMFFDina helping her father feeds the goats.

    And here’s one of the commission jobs done:

    adelia2

    And oh, I am still figuring out what to give for September. Since I will be going to Frankfurt, I thought I get something from there and combine the giveaways. Sounds fun, huh?  As usual, 3 giveaways for Top 3 except that this time it’ll be extra to cover both months.