One day this year, Grandma’s Tiger was named Best Picture Book in Singapore and before that sank in, it was on an international list of best children’s books. Oh, wait, it’s in the running for another prize!

There is no money in writing children’s books in Singapore. To all the people who think the royalties keep pouring in, nope.

I’m just a crazy person for doing this. Totally nuts. I get the biggest thrill when the box arrives with the first copies of the new book fresh from the printers.

And then, nothing beats meeting a bunch of kids who like books. They exist! They’re not all so glued to devices that they can’t pause for 30 minutes to enjoy words and pictures on a page.

It really helps to have a preschool teacher like Charlyn Depante Chua who performed Grandma’s Tiger so enthusiastically I forgot I wrote it and wanted to rush out and buy a copy right away.

Charlyn had the kids at a Shaws preschool branch paying attention and squealing each time she mentioned the word “TIGER”. We have a date to perform the book to another group of children in December.

These cards were made by children from a Shaws preschool centre which invited AJ to meet the kids, do a reading and answer their questions,

Why am I writing picture books?

It goes back to all those years when I was a newspaper editor and loving it. In between the important stories that could make life miserable, animals kept getting in the news and it was always wonderful and sometimes funny to watch how human beings react.

Inuka the polar bear born on the Equator? “Love him to bits!”

The elephant that swam to Singapore from Malaysia? “So cute! Can he stay?”

The tiger that may have swum over too? “Help!”

All the pythons that turn up everywhere practically every day? “Eeeeeeeek!”

I filed the stories away, forgetting them sometimes, adding to them when another animal turned up and gave us a day or three of unexpected excitement.

There was an orangutan and a hippopotamus, screeching colugo and Malayan tapirs that made the news too, every one of them looking like A Picture Book One Day.

One day Quek Hong Shin, an extraordinary illustrator with six books of his own and 13 books with other writers, agreed to help me turn my story ideas into a series about animals who made headlines in Singapore.

Now we have three.

The One and Only Inuka was an instant favourite and won the Popular Readers’ Choice Award in 2019. My favourite Ubin Elephant was a finalist for a couple of awards, but did not win.

Grandma’s Tiger appeared at the end of 2022 as my mother was dying and I just could not jump up and down and do the author thing. I had to leave Hong Shin to tell people and bless him, he did.

Months went by and we weren’t paying attention when news arrived that Grandma’s Tiger was named Best Picture Book at the Singapore Book Awards organised by the Singapore Book Publishers Association. It meant a reprint, if it happens, will have a “prizewinner” badge on it.

We were basking in that glory, by ourselves because there was no fanfare or media frenzy over our win, when something else happened.

We learnt that Grandma’s Tiger had been added to the White Ravens list for 2023!

Well, if you are anything like us that day, you’ll be wondering this very moment: What’s the White Ravens list?

Everyone who knows has convinced us that this is special recognition not to be scoffed at.

And just because it wasn’t reported in The Straits Times doesn’t mean it’s not something Hong Shin and I should be extra super proud of and tell our friends about every chance we get.

The White Ravens list is compiled every year by the Munich-based International Youth Library that was founded in 1949 and has a team that trawls thousands of children’s and young adult books from across the world to produce an annual list of recommended titles.

Grandma’s Tiger was the only English language book from Singapore in 2023, and being on the list meant it went on display at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October and will go to the Bologna Book Fair too.

The description in the White Ravens list said such nice things about Grandma’s Tiger that for the second time I forgot I wrote it and wanted to go out and get five copies.

While we were still chuffed and floating with White Ravens, more news arrived. Grandma’s Tiger was named a finalist for the 2023 Popular Readers’ Choice awards. That felt good too.

Something went right with this book. The stars and the planets were aligned. Or somewhere up there Grandma was smiling down on us with this book, this year.

None of this would be possible without Hong Shin who is wonderful to work with.

He says he likes working with me too. “AJ gives me lots of creative freedom and trusts my ability to transform his written word into vibrant, vivid scenes. The best thing to come out of the collaboration is that we have become friends, and we can meet outside of ‘work’.” 

But what about that award, making the International List and being nominated and all, Hong Shin?

“Winning awards and being included in the White Ravens is recognition that the illustrations I created are loved and appreciated, and worthy to be among the best in Singapore (perhaps internationally too),” he says.  

I don’t know why this is usually the point when other people say it’s all very humbling.

Heck, no.

IT’S FABULOUS AND I LOVE IT!

Grandma’s Tiger is published by Straits Times Press and on sale in bookshops and online at http://www.stpressbooks.com.sg

About the White Ravens:
https://www.ijb.de/fileadmin/Daten/The_White_Ravens/The_White_Ravens_2023.pdf

If you are in Singapore and see this before the end of November 2023, please vote here. Thank you! 
https://www.popular.com.sg/readerschoiceawards/