Category: Ages 8-12

Town Boy by Lat

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By Maureen Tai, 10 May 2018

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“And so…there we were – my family and I … beginning a new life in this new place. We have become town people…”

On this first day of a new era for my home country, it is fitting that I should pay tribute to one of my favourite comics from my youth.  Malaysia’s much-loved cartoonist, Datuk Mohammad Nor Khalid (fondly referred to as Lat, short for bulat or round) wrote Town Boy almost three decades ago.  It is an semi-autobiographical tale, set in the 1960’s, of a young Malay boy growing up in a small town.

It is my childhood too. And it is the childhood of several generations of Malaysians. Continue reading →

The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary

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By Maureen Tai, 7 May 2018

“Ralph was eager, excited, curious, and impatient all at once. The emotion was so strong it made him forget his empty stomach. It was caused by those little cars, especially that motorcycle and the pb-pb-b-b-b sound the boy made. That sound seemed to satisfy something within Ralph, as if he had been waiting all his life to hear it.”

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I was likely 11 or 12 when I first read The Mouse and the Motorcycle.  A bit late to the ballgame.  I still have my original Yearling copy, with the mouse mounted on the vehicle, whiskers back and tail tucked under and around his arm. The pages are yellowed and spotted with age and threaten, with each turn, to detach from the spine. I’m surprised none did back then, I read and re-read this book so often.

I adored Ralph – the mouse – and still do.

Continue reading →

The Bear and the Wildcat by Kazumi Yumoto and illustrated by Komako Sakai

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By Maureen Tai, 6 May 2018

“One morning, Bear was crying. His best friend, a little bird, was dead.” 

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With that opening line, there is no doubt about it. This picture book is about death.

Continue reading →

Eric by Shaun Tan

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By Maureen Tai, 4 May 2018

“Some years ago we had a foreign exchange student come to live with us. We found it very difficult to pronounce his name correctly, but he didn’t mind. He told us to just call him ‘Eric.'”

IMG_2155I have a soft spot for exchange students. I was one myself over two decades ago.  I still acutely remember the feelings of anxiety, excitement, fear, homesickness and nervousness, all mixed up in a gigantic ball in my gut as I landed in Narita Airport, Tokyo, unable to speak or read a word of Japanese.  It was 1989, and a few days later, Emperor Hirohito would pass away, marking the end of the Showa era.

I have a soft spot for Shaun Tan as well, but that is because he is an absolute genius.  Continue reading →