I recently had my biggest engagement in a school – where I met International French School’s entire kindergarten kids over 19 author sessions. I did storytelling sessions for the younger ones and shared different aspects of creating story ideas and writing and publishing with the older kindergarteners. The teachers across the years selected different books to read to their classes in the lead up to my visit. Tibby the Tiger-Bunny series were the favourite reads for the younger kids and Marky Polo Travels’ series and Little Godwit Finds His Wings were the favoured reads for the old ..read more

The Good in Good Friday Came with an old rugged cross One of the cruelest forms of torture for common criminals then  The Good in Good Friday Came in the form of a Man The Son of God who descended from Heaven to earth The Good in Good Friday Came on the darkest day in history  When mankind crucified the Son of God  on that old rugged cross.  (Photo credit: Internet) “If you are the Son of God, save yourself,” mockers cried.   Christ didn’t save himself.  He died to save us from ourselves.  He conquered Death so we are freed from the shackles of sin and ..read more

Had the pleasure to speak at National Junior College’s Literature Evening yesterday to a group of over 50 students and teachers in an impressive student-led evening. The theme was ‘Harbour’ and there was a line-up of poetry readings, visual arts performances and more. My talk was titled An Author’s Voyage. I dressed to theme. The voyage that led me to become an author was one that took me through choppy waters when I was plundered of my voice right after marriage. As I went to several ports of call, in search for my stolen voice, I stumbled on a God-given voice in writing. It anch ..read more

Epworth Community Services had the honour to host President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Ms Jane Ittogi on their visit on Epworth’s centres this week on 20 February 2024. President Tharman and Mrs Tharman visited Epworth’s Literacy Centre (Jurong West) which runs early intervention programmes for children with learning needs. They had an opportunity to chat with a few of the children during their intervention classes.   They also visited Epworth’s Centre for Positive Recovery (CPR), which works with children and youths to help them heal from their adverse childhood exp ..read more

This week, our tween becomes a teen! Just a few months ago, he was a PSLE kid (like the rest of the Primary 6 kids in Singapore). But with the drop of a ‘double u’ (like a blink of an eye), he graduates to teen-hood and enters his Secondary School years. These few weeks of going from tween to teen have been marked by two camps: In December, we sent him for his first-ever Youth camp organised by our church, where he stayed out for 4 days and 3 nights. He was amongst the youngest, with youths there from 12 to 18 years old. He learnt to pack his own bag, experienced hostel living and played ..read more

Just signed off on the reprints of my four-book award-winning Toys series today. This will be the 9th printing of what is a most precious children’s picture book series to me. My Toys titles were inspired by my personal testimony of losing my voice to a rare disorder and finding a new God-given voice as an author. My journey as an author started with my debut picture book Prince Bear & Pauper Bear, which was a Singapore Book Council competition winner back in 2007. I had subconsciously written about a poor teddy bear without a mouth, who could not speak. At that time (17 years back), I w ..read more

Caleb survived a gruelling 4 days 3 nights away from home at his Secondary School 1 school camp! And he went beyond mere survival to receiving Best Camper 2024 in class yesterday for reasons which I am so proud of him for: “Showed resilience during the Camp Challenge and didn’t give up even when the team lost interest. Tried to encourage everyone to be involved and was also respectful towards his peers, teachers and peer leaders.” We were so excited that we passed our phone to the parent at the back of class, where we were standing, to take this photo (rather than to a parent in front). S ..read more

Very privileged to be in CNA Women’s feature story alongside a line-up of amazing women who faced obstacles in life with grace and gumption. Losing my voice at 28 years old to a rare voice disorder (right after my marriage and when my career was taking off) was the scariest time in my life. Giving up my job (with the fear of never being able to interview for another) was my biggest fear and risk. Starting out as a children’s book author in Singapore 17 years ago was the most humbling decision I made (Acquaintances asked how long I was going to keep at my hobby before I found a r ..read more

With gladness that my boy has grown, mixed in with mummy misty-eyedness, I sent Caleb off to his first few days of Secondary school this week. But without walking him to the gate like I did from Primary 1 through Primary 6. Because he told me: “Just drop me off here…Don’t follow me [to the gate].” And I take to heart the wise advice given by a few parents who have gone before me: “Give him space. But don’t let go too quickly.” Why? Because this will be a time when his friends and peers become very important. So, they don’t want you around but they need you around at the same time… So, I will ..read more

On our recent family vacation in Tokyo, I experienced a pain in the left breast. Initially, I thought it was a stitch from a full day of walking in Disneyland. But the pain was localised in my left breast. The pain went off after about 15 minutes when we were on the train back to the hotel. It came back a second time for another 15 minutes. When I reached the hotel, I did a breast check and felt a new lump. The next day, I contacted my breast surgeon. I shared the symptoms and arranged an appointment to see her immediately when I returned to Singapore. “Is it even possible?” I asked my doctor ..read more