Showing results by narrator "Tina Chiang" in All Categories

Xiaolu Guo meets her parents for the first time when she is almost seven. They are strangers to her. When she is born in 1973, her parents hand her over to a childless peasant couple in the mountains. Aged two, and suffering from malnutrition on a diet of yam leaves, they leave Xiaolu with her illiterate grandparents in a fishing village on the East China Sea.

An apocalyptic cult member carries out a gas attack on a rush-hour metro, but what links him to a jazz buff in downtown Tokyo? Or to a Mongolian gangster, a woman on a holy mountain who talks to a tree and a late night New York DJ? Set at the fugitive edges of Asia and Europe, Ghostwritten weaves together a host of characters, their interconnected destinies determined by the inescapable forces of cause and effect.

In Chinese culture, a calendar year is marked by an animal from the Chinese zodiac in a repeating cycle of 12 years. How were the 12 animals in the zodiac decided? A great race was declared among all the animals. The race was exciting, with each animal demonstrating unique characteristics and determination to be represented in the zodiac.

The arrival of Mooty's son completes Mooty's little family and I saw it as a fitting conclusion to the series. However, it slipped my mind that mice have litters when I wrote the story until a friend pointed it out to me long after the stories were published. It was too late by then!

The beautiful Princess of Gunung Ledang lived happily on the top of the mountain, Ledang. When the powerful Sultan of Melaka came courting, the princess had to think of a way to reject his proposal. She came up with dowry requests that she felt sure the Sultan would not be able to fulfil. Alas, the Sultan fulfilled all six requests and was ready to claim his prize when the Princess came up with a seventh request: a bowl of the royal prince's blood.

The Adventures of Mooty was first published as a 10-part series of children's stories in 1980, depicting the adventures of a loveable little mouse who endears himself to a community of animals, birds and insects and becomes their hero. Four decades on, Mooty continues to charm children and adults alike.

Mooty comes of age in this story and just as I treasure the sweet memories of falling in love with the man I married, Mooty finds someone to love too.

Mooty goes to school with the baby animals. He learns to read and write, and as a hardworking pupil, did so well in school that he was soon able to help the other baby animals with their work. The story was written to inspire children to work hard and do well in any task that they take on.

In a South Indian village, a girl named Savitri has a greedy brother who summons a mighty demon to work for him. The demon, Rakshasa, tells him he must be kept busy or he will eat the brother. Eventually, the brother runs out of tasks for Rakshasa, and Savitri must think of an impossible task to keep Rakshasa busy–she challenges the demon to straighten her curly hair.

When Sam awakes to find her stuffed toys lying in every corner of her room, she is sure that they have had an argument in the night. Will she be able to help Hop, Pig and Fluff solve their squabbles so that everyone can get a good night's sleep? Join Sam and her soft, cuddly friends in this fun rhyming story as they try to resolve their differences and remain the best of friends.

Early one morning, a little mouse with a long curly tail came into my kitchen to nibble on my packets of instant noodles. When I came downstairs to prepare breakfast, I saw him and screamed. My family rushed down to see what the matter was. My two sons were very young then. The older one asked if I had seen a thief while the younger one asked if I had seen a ghost!

On 20 July 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon. The local newspapers were awash with news of this triumphant achievement and of course, Mooty had to be the first mouse on the moon!

The story of Tokoyo is one of Japan's lesser known legends, yet Tokoyo is widely recognised for her bravery and strength. Tokoyo grew up in a small fishing village as the daughter of a samurai. When her father is banished to the Oki Islands by his warlord, Tokoyo is left behind all alone. Through the strength of her love for her father, Tokoyo gives up everything she owns and travels far and wide to reach him. Yet one obstacle remains before father and daughter can be reunited: the fearsome Yofune Nushi - a sea serpent that terrorises the waters surrounding the Oki Islands.

Isn't a sarong just a boring big piece of cloth? What can be so amazing about it? Nora and Adi are about to go to the beach when their mother takes off her baby sling and hands it to the two children. They discover that there is more than meets the eye to this seemingly ordinary sarong. Join Nora and Adi as they go on a playful day out and discover what unexpected fun, joy and new encounters the sarong can bring.

Simon's family always makes sugee cake on special occasions. And today is one of those days. It's Simon's seventh birthday! He can't wait to bite into a slice. But when Simon sits down to enjoy his treat, things don't go as planned. Or so it seems, for unbeknownst to Simon, his friends and family have been planning a birthday surprise for him—one that involves a marvellous sugee cake!

Join Asha and her friends from The Amazing Sarong and The Incredible Basket, as she moves from her cosy shophouse to a housing estate in Toa Payoh. The buildings are tall, the apartments are new. Asha's home even has electric lights! Her family begins the rites of blessing for their new home using a beautiful oil lamp. Suddenly, the power is cut and everything goes dark. But Asha has an idea—why not share the lamp's light with their new neighbours? The children also have fun with shadow play, and even light sparklers with the lamp.

Dewi had a very mean stepmother and a very lazy stepsister. She was blamed for her father's death and was treated badly. But everything changed on the day the earth shook. It was the day houses toppled and trees crashed to the ground. It was the day Dewi found her stepmother and stepsister trapped under the rubble. How could Dewi save them?

In this sequel to The Amazing Sarong, a beautiful Chinese wedding basket is used in myriad ways. Xiaoming delivers a batch of ang ku kueh with the basket, then fashions it into a prop for a lion dance. When the sun beats down on him, he repurposes the basket's cover as a hat! At home in a second-floor shophouse, the basket is attached to a rope to pass a comic book and a bowl of noodles. Oh, how creative of Xiaoming!

After moving out of Grandma's house, Mooty finds a home outdoors. He makes new animal friends when he uses his long tail to save a baby bird who had fallen into a pond. He becomes a hero and is welcomed into the animal community. I wrote this story to show children entering different phases of their lives, whether attending a new kindergarten or school, or just playing in the playground, that they can just be themselves and make new friends wherever they go.

No one likes having mice in the house, so Grandma gets a cat to chase Mooty out. Mooty was very sad to learn that he was not wanted in Grandma's house. He leaves to find a home elsewhere and a whole new adventure begins!