Growing Up in Kampong Potong Pasir

This is Josephine's first Children's book but her twelfth. Illustrated by Lee Kowling.

Come and discover 1950s Singapore with Josephine Chia as a little girl in 1950s Kampong Potong Pasir. Although she is an award-winning author now and had won the Singapore Literature Prize 2014 for her non-fiction book, Kampong Spirit, Josephine nearly didn't get to go to school

She will share her fascinating stories in this book.

Learn about Josephine's loving mother, Mak, who made nasi lemak so that she could send her daughter to school. Josephine had to carry the nasi lemak in a basket and sell the packets around her village to earn her way. Mak also had to wash clothes for others to supplement her income for Josephine to buy school books and uniform.

Join Josephine in her adventures in her rural village of attap-thatched huts and grasslands where she and her friends hunted for frogs and eels for food. Though their village had no electricity, running water or abundance of food, there was so much joy shared with friends and neighbours.

The children in the village were very imaginative and they created all sorts of exciting games as the majority could not afford to buy store-bought toys. On weekend evenings, they sat outdoors to tell or listen to stories. They recited Malay poems and sang songs together as a happy community.

Written in the voice of a child, this delightful book can be read by children aged 9 to 11. The stories are filled with wonderful details which give us the sights, sounds and atmosphere of bygone Singapore.

Published by Ethos Books Singapore
ISBN 978 981 11 8321 8
Singapore 2018
143 pages

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