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The Girl on the Roof and the Boy on the Beach
About the Story
Once there was a girl who lived in a small fishing village. She liked sitting on the roof and looking out to sea while waiting for her father. One day, she saw a boy on the beach. The boy had lost his mother, so he was very lonely. The two little friends tell each other innocent stories in their imagination. That is the way they consoled each other and consoled themselves.
About the Writer/Illustrator
Vu Thuy Ngoc Ha is a Vietnamese illustrator and graphic designer. She studied Graphic Design and then worked as a freelance illustrator due to her passion for children’s books. She believes that children’s imaginations are the best miracle and that their world is our world too. As Antoine de SaintExupéry once said, “All grown-ups were once children. But only few of them remember it”.
1st RUNNER UP
Orang & Hutan by Low Joo Hong (Singapore)
This picture book describes the friendship between Orang (an Orangutan) and Hutan (a banana tree). One day Hutan went missing and Orang embarked on a journey to look for him. Along the way, Orang met many unique and beautiful animals – Sumatran Tiger, Bird-of-Paradise, Javan Rhino,
Komodo Dragon, and Pygmy Tasir – found in Southeast Asia. But no one could tell Orang where Hutan was and they seemed to be in a rush. Then Orang met a digger and soon found himself alone in a barren jungle. The story ends with a surprising twist, suggesting that Hutan may have returned.
Low Joo Hong is an author-illustrator of children’s books. His academic credential includes a BA Honours in Fine Arts from the University of Leeds, an MA in Children’s Books Illustration from the Anglia Ruskin University - the same university which he is currently studying for a PhD. Low received Highly
Commendable in the prestigious McMillan Prize 2009 for his book There is No Steak Buried Here, which is serialized and translated into English, Chinese and Vietnamese. His Night in the Garden, featuring Singapore’s world-famous Gardens by the Bay, was on the shortlist for the Asian Children’s Book Award 2017.
2nd RUNNER UP
My Grandfather’s Rojak by Emily Lim-Leh and Alycia Teo (Singapore)
Guo helps at his grandfather’s rojak food stall every day. He carries out the same duties of preparing the same ingredients for the rojak dish, based on his grandfather’s age-old recipe. Guo faces a dilemma when his teacher gives his class a project that requires them to “Do Something Differently”. He wonders what he can do since he follows the same routine daily.
Guo experiments with changes to their family’s rojak dish and discovers a way to make a difference. He succeeds in getting his grandfather to accept his idea and finds his own voice in his journey of self-discovery.
About the Writer
Emily Lim-Leh is an award-winning author of 30 children’s picture books. She is the 1st outside North America to win three medals at the IPPY Awards (the world’s largest book awards competition) and 1st in Southeast Asia to receive the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Her 4-picture book Toy Series has been published in 4 languages in 5 countries and sold over 50,000 copies.
Emily thinks that life is like a bowl of messy rojak. Sometimes, the most unexpected ingredients can provide that refreshing lift to the mix, bringing out a different perspective and flavor to life’s familiar routines.
About the Illustrator
Alycia Teo is a freelance illustrator and was formerly the Festival Manager of the Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC). As a freelance illustrator, she has been commissioned to work on murals, wedding invitations, and personal paintings.
Alycia wants to bring joy and hope to those she meets, and she hopes to make a difference in the world one day at a time.
The Little Durian Tree by Ho Jia En, Sabrine Ong, Shona Menon, Wong Shu Jing, and Melodie James (Singapore)
Little Durian is a very friendly tree. All the other trees warn him not to have friends because he might hurt them. Little Durian loves his friends and continues to spend time with them. One day, he finds out that the other trees are right and tells his friends to stay away from him. However, his friend Monkey refuses to stay away. Instead, he finds a way to solve Little Durian’s problem.
About the Writers and Illustrators
Ho Jia En, Sabrine Ong, Shona Menon, Wong Shu Jing, and Melodie James are all 19-year-old final year students in the Diploma in Creative Writing for Television and New Media at Singapore Polytechnic. They are all incredibly creative, and pursue many creative pursuits outside of children’s books, including photography, journalism, and filmmaking.
1st RUNNER-UP
The Treasure of Kancil by Maria Karina Putri (Indonesia)
Kancil is one of Indonesia’s most beloved fable characters. He is known for his cunning and cleverness. This story follows Kancil in the forest as he looks for a hidden treasure. He first heard of the treasure from his friend, the Enggang bird, and so sets off on a journey through the forest, meeting many new animal friends along the way.
About the Writer and Illustrator
Writer and illustrator Maria Karina Putri is a 22-year-old who loves children’s illustration and making clay, so she decided to combine them to create a story. She loves mixed media and experimenting with different kinds of material to create illustrations. She recently graduated with a Visual Communication Design degree from Bandung Institute of Technology. The Treasure of Kancil was her first book as the result of her final project.
The Whale Whisperer by Le Thi Bich Khoa (Vietnam)
As a young and talented swimmer, Hải (whose name means “the sea” in Vietnamese) makes a reckless debut at dive-fishing. Her grandmother, a wise and mysterious woman, had so much to teach her grandchild, but her time on earth was almost up. Hải secretly prepares for her first trip into the ocean, but it does not go according to plan. Nearly drowning, she is saved by a strange creature: the Whale God, who was once worshiped by the people who travel the sea..
Le Thi Bich Khoa is based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and is the author and illustrator of numerous picture books. In addition to her publishing work, she also has other projects as a graphic designer, painter (participated in several group and solo exhibitions), and the mom of three cats. She also has a passion for travel and eager to learn the different cultures as well as discover the beauty of the world.
Alone, An embarks on his first trip during the Mekong Delta flood season. Facing rain and flood he crosses the Melaleuca swamp and although it is full of crocodiles and snakes he is not afraid because he knows at the end of the road, wonderful places are waiting for him.
Phung Nguyen Quang is 26 and a professional author and illustrator of children books, living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Nguyen Quang believes that every book is a separate world which can fire children’s curiosity and imagination.
Huynh Kim Lien, is 23 and lives in Ho Chi Minh City. A writer as well as an illustrator of children’s books, Kim Lien participated as an illustrator in the Children’s Books Publishing Programme by Room to Read in Vietnam.
Hana is feeling lonely as her friends are busy preparing for Nyepi, the Silence Day, commemorated by Balinese every Saka New Year. She is so lonely that when she sees Pandu, a boy who sometimes makes her cry, she approaches him. Pandu is making an Ogoh-Ogoh, a symbol of his bad, to be burnt on the eve of Nyepi, but Pandu’s Ogoh-Ogoh is funny, not scary as it is supposed to be. Hana helps him make changes hoping that after his Ogoh-Ogoh burns his bad, Pandu will be nice to her.
Ary Nilandari is from Indonesia and a member of SCBWI Indonesia. As well as writing she also works as a freelance editor and translator. A winner of several awards, she has published 45 books for children, in which she celebrates diversity and promotes Indonesian cultural heritage.
Dewi Tri K. loves illustrating and graphic designing. Her inspiration mostly comes from children. Dewi participated in INKtober 2014, and, as well as working on several children’s books, she was also involved in the creation of www.topkids.tv, the first website in Indonesia providing special content for children.
Urambai, an orphan buys a dream about having a happy family from a stranger. In the adventure that follows he has to rescue a wolf, an ibex, and an eagle, escape a devil, make a new friend, and find a house and a job before his dream of having a family comes true.
Ganbaatar Ichinnorov was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 1980. He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts in Mongolia in 2004 and went on to graduate as a research student from Bunkyo University in Japan in 2012. He now lives in Saitama Prefecture in Japan.
Bolormaa Baasansuren was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia Born in 1982. After graduating from the Institute of Fine Arts in Mongolia she studied children's book illustration in Italy and Russia. She has since gone on to win numerous international awards for her work. She now lives in Saitama Prefecture in Japan where she has illustrated several successful children’s books including two other titles with Ganbaatar Ichinnorov.
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