An Awesome Adventure Khai Yuan and Der Yuan had with Boey at the Popular Book Fest 2013
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9e_Ix7G9Q)
It wasn't love at first sight. Neither was it a 'You-had-me-at-hello moment'. In fact, what caught my eye was the simplicity of its cover. Not so much of the title because 'when I was a kid' is really just a catch phrase parents would often use whenever it is time to give a prep talk to their children by digging up the past and telling them how lucky they are to be living in modern times. To be frank, I did initially think it was yet another parenting book. The illustration, however, was truly simplicity at its utmost sophistication. It was a like a stick and figure kind of drawing of a lady holding on to a child. I gave the book a fleeting glance and went further into the bookstore to have a read at my favourite corner
Somehow, something kept tugging at my heartstring I just could not get the thought of the lady and the child out of my mind. Curiosity got the better of me and I went back to get a better look of the book. As I was flipping through the pages, it was a feeling of deja vu when the stories reminded me of the childhood I had and the many events that had happened and had gone unspoken and untold for many years. The many adventures and misadventures that I had and I would love to tell my children of how mummy did this and how mummy learned about that.
Sometimes, I wish that we do not have to live life like we are chasing for some kind of ultimate dream. Unlike the penglipur lara of the past where children would just gather around him and listen to his tales, I just could not find the time nor energy to tell my children the tales of my past. The feeling of being afraid of failing, of not meeting up to my parents' expectation, of what the future holds for me. It is like I have lived to plan so much for the future that I have forgotten to live in the present.
It was truly a relief when I realised that my children can now learn about most of the stories of my past, retold in someone's footsteps. As I stood by the shelf, being entertained by stories so alike my own childhood., it suddenly dawned on me that I must share with my children, the author, Boey's style of narration and illustration. It is going to be a revelation for them to know that writing a book does not mean that it has to be full of words. Neither do they have to wait until they reach adulthood before they can start penning down their thoughts and make them into a book.
My sons, aged 11 and 9, while both are creative and they love to read, they are poles apart when it comes to their characters. The eldest, Khai Yuan, is an extrovert, inquisitive and daring to the point of being reckless at times My youngest, on the other hand, is an introvert, sensitive and insecure at times. While Khai Yuan will be the first in line to 'sieze the day', Der Yuan will be behind him, observing and evaluating whether he should even be there in the first place. With such conflicting characters, their relationship can get quite strained at times and what better way than to get their frustrated feelings out and write and draw about them the Boey's way.
Being an introvert, drawing, writing and playing the guitar are the ways Der Yuan unwinds himself from the stress and pressure of studying in a chinese school. Being the sensitive guy he is, he is very particular about details and is a stickler when it comes to timekeeping. He has got good memories but a weird way of understanding Maths.
Khai Yuan, on the other hand, will be one who will leave his banana filled lunch box in his school bag for days before finally realising that his bag stank to the highest heaven. He is a natural leader and while languages aren't his strength, he is pretty good at Maths and Science.
Mummy is truly glad to see both of them enjoy reading Boey's book hours on end and laughing and sharing parts of the book with each other. The book is a favourite during mealtimes, toilet times, schooltime and freetime. Absolutely worth the money getting it.
Fast forward a few month later, I learned that Boey has released his second book and would be having a talk and a book signing event at a bookfest. By then, Der Yuan has got a little drawing book filled with his own stories, drawn and told the Boey's way. Both the children were so eager to meet their favourite author and were all packed with gears to be prepared to queue for a long while, knowing that his book has been on the best seller's list for quite some time. We bought some snacks in case we got hungry. When I was a kid, I went chasing after my favourite HongKong stars around town for hours, going without food and water. So we learned from mistakes.
In order not to be late, we got to bookfest with more than an hour to spare before Boey's talk. While walking towards the hall, suddenly, Der Yuan heard his name being called. It was his school teacher and then we hit the jackpot! Boey was there, in person, together with DerYuan's teacher and another friend who was the photographer. While I roughly recognised him, after all, his picture was in the PopClub Magazine and was also plastered near the entrance, my two sons were looking at me nonchalantly and asking me whether he was my friend. You see, the Boey they had in mind was supposed to look like someone short with pointy hair and small eyes. Der Yuan sincerely whispered to me asking why did Boey look so different from the Boey in the book.
It sort of reminded me how a mother brought her two year old toddler to meet Robert Downey Junior and he cried because RDJ didn't look like Ironman in person.
Boey with Der Yuan (in orange yellow shirt) and Khai Yuan (in blue)
Anyway, Khai Yuan managed to quickly recover from his initial shock and shook hands and all. We didn't want to be too intrusive and just sort of moved on to get our tickets after that. As fate would have it, we met Boey and his entourage again just before the entrance and later in the hall. This time Khai Yuan had warmed up by now and true to the nature of his character, he went on maximum nerdgasm asking Boey questions like,
'Are you married? Would you like some Twisties? Would you like to come over to my house? Can we have dinner with you? etc....'
At this point, I literally cringed in embarassment at my son's audacity in asking so many questions and I slowly moved away to let him have his privacy, enjoying his verbal purging at this once in a lifetime opportunity, being in earnest conversation with his favourite idol author. Deep in my heart, I was feeling like an ostrich, wanting to bury my head in a hole, as I stood there wondering if Boey might be thinking that I have been feeding my son with too much junkfood.
Khai Yuan in his verbal purging mode
Der Yuan later described the whole experience as freakingly awesome for him. He could not sleep that night as his delayed reaction towards the day's event kept him excited all evening. Unlike his brother who went purging verbally, Der Yuan penned down his feelings the Boey's way. Having articulated his feelings via stories and drawings, he was finally able to have a peace of mind. By the way, Boey 'immortalised' Der Yuan's feelings in his blog.
Boey shared that some of the experiences he went through in his childhood could be quite traumatic at that time as he was an introvert too. Revisiting the experiences again via stories in his book was a way of healing for him. Like peeling an onion layer after layer to get to the core of the problem.
Many children who are introvert and insecure felt helpless at times to relate their feelings to their parents or friends. The situation is further aggravated when they are sometimes branded deaf, dumb or even stupid due to their delayed reaction or reluctance to say 'yes' immediately to their parents or friends' urgings. They take time to warm up to a person or environment. They need an avenue to release their thoughts and feelings.
Most of the time, these children might find themselves not adept in languages or drawings well enough to articulate their thoughts. This is where I would strongly encourage parents to let their children have a look at Boey's style of combining stories with simple drawings and let these children tell their own tales and inspire them to write at a young age. Writing or drawing consistently is the first step towards helping your child achieving his/her dream of having a book published like Boey.
Simplicity at its utmost sophistication. We all know about the simplicity part. The sophistication aspect is how we look at Boey's books at different angles and interpret them differently. The Boey's way is such a visual clarity way to let your child's imagination soar. And I haven't even touch on Boey's relationship with his mother. That will be for another day. Meanwhile, go and get his books and catch him at his book tour before he heads back to the States. Do it for your children and bring them along too.
To link up with Boey on facebook, visit : https://www.facebook.com/BoeyCheeming
To keep up to date with Boey's book tour, here's the schedule : https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=526657154067722&set=a.343057122427727.75961.244483045618469&type=1&theater
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| Three Giggling Guys |
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| Teacher Lim (Der Yuan's school teacher), Boey, Der Yuan and Khai Yuan |
