Woods in the Books Blog

A collection of poems for children written by award winning poet and author Felix Cheong and illustrated by Anngee Neo, Do You See What I See? melds words and illustration together in a wonderful celebration of local talent, spiced up with interactive elements. The poems run the gamut from rhyming word games to riddles that challenge kids to put on their thinking caps. The collection also introduces kids to simple social observations on queues, malls, and handphone use, filled with humour and local flavour. Bright and bursting with colour, every illustrated spread is filled with whimsy to match the poems....

A graphic novel time travel adventure created by Tina Sim and Alan Bay, Once Upon a Singapore… Traders brings Aloysius and his Grandpa back to the days of Grandpa’s childhood. Together, Aloysius and Grandpa explore the sights and sounds of Singapore in the 1900s, focusing on traders who were once part of the fabric of everyday life. Covering milkmen, koyok men, food hawkers, clog makers, and more, this volume is chock full of historical detail. The love for its subject matter shines in every page, which switches from pages of traditional sequential art panels to informational spreads with ease. The...

The Little People, Big Dreams series is composed of hardcover picture book biographies aimed for children aged 3 - 8. While the series began by covering famous women, it’s also recently begun to feature famous men as well. This review focuses on the books featuring African American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou. Each of the Little People, Big Dreams books delivers facts about the featured figure’s life in plain, clear language. A timeline with historical photographs at the end puts each figure’s life in context, for readers to recap the story again. Martin Luther King...

When their teacher Mr Adam spends the night in a haunted mansion, Izzy, Luddie, and Tash certainly don’t expect him to disappear into thin air. This slim volume by Felix Cheong packs a punch as the investigation of the Lit Squad’s favourite teacher casts new light on Singapore’s past. While the title implies horror elements in the story, there’s no evidence of the supernatural in this book. But using those elements of horror segues well into a tense, suspenseful read as the Lit Squad begins receive warning to stay off the case as they uncover the truth of an old...