Wei Wei's Piece of Cake◎Eve Aw (Illustrator: May Thu)
Regular price $17.00🎁 Recommended for kids aged 6 and up!
Wei Wei can’t tie his shoelaces, or so he says. He just won’t do it until he is rewarded with cake! Now, tying shoelaces is easy; indeed, it’s a piece of cake—literally! But things get out of hand when Wei Wei gets everyone to do his chores in exchange for some cake.
With a clever twist and memorable illustrations, Book 3 in the series I Love Idioms teaches children the meaning of “a piece of cake”.
The Way of Kueh: Savouring & Saving Singapore’s Heritage Desserts◎Christopher Tan
Regular price $53.00Book of the Year, 2020 Singapore Book Awards
Winner for the 2020 Singapore Book Awards (Best Illustrated, Non-Fiction)
Food writer, cooking instructor and author Christopher Tan is back with the definitive book on Singapore’s kueh, sharing everything you need to know about local kueh culture.
Much more than just a collection of recipes, The Way of Kueh delves into the topic with a lyrical, insightful and practical approach. It traverses kueh families and genres, key kueh-making techniques, the seasonality and social significance of kueh, and the importance of both tradition and innovation. Local kueh artisans from all walks of life share their stories and perspectives in interviews, while short essays muse on the histories, regional and colonial influences, science and symbolism behind this most diverse of food genres.
Helpful glossaries on key ingredients and essential kitchen tools will equip you to tackle over 100 detailed and precise recipes for kuehs from across Singapore’s communities, from ang koo kueh to kueh bakar, kueh kaswi to jian dui, steamed and baked kueh lapis varieties, and many more, including rare and endangered items such as sesagun, putugal and bak kueh.
Making kueh is truly and traditionally a labour of love. The Way of Kueh was born from a desire to inspire and encourage Singaporeans to make and enjoy kueh together with their families and friends, to celebrate, preserve and progress this unique and rich part of our national food heritage.
The Waiting Room◎Choo Yi Feng
Regular price $23.00A man seeks resolution when the spirit of his abusive mother calls from the grave. A sex worker finds temporary salvation with a returning Australian tourist professing his love. The afterlife plays host to a vast museum dedicated to jetsam from the living world. In this debut fiction collection, these imagined worlds are set variously in plural Singapores, Southeast Asia and beyond, and illuminate the urgent need to connect even after death.
The Very Best of Mekong Review◎Minh Bui Jones (Editor)
Regular price $30.00Since 2015, Mekong Review has provided a fresh perspective on Asian histories, lives and cultures. The Very Best of Mekong Review brings together thirty-two of the finest essays and reviews published between 2019 and 2022 in the quarterly magazine, selected by its editor, Minh Bui Jones. A diverse crop of esteemed and emerging writers such as Bernice Chauly, Sunisa Manning, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh and Richard Javad Heydarian delve into the promise of Anwar Ibrahim, the legacy of V.S. Naipaul, the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, the military history of Myanmar, dining out in Tokyo, and more. They offer insight and nuance to the rich cultural and political landscape of Asia.
Understanding Singaporeans: Why Do Malays Avoid Pork?◎Edmund Wee
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 7 and above
Winner of Singapore Book Awards 2018, Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Title
Why do Malays use “bin” and “binte” in their names? Why are there two Hari Rayas? Why do women cover their heads? We provide the answers—and useful tips as well—to some of the most-asked questions young Singaporeans have about the Malay community, including why green is special to Malays.
Why Do Malays Avoid Pork? is part of a series of four illustrated handbooks, each with 20 questions and answers to promote understanding of the different races and cultures in Singapore.
Understanding Singaporeans: Why Do the Chinese Shout Yam Seng?◎Edmund Wee
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 7 and above
Winner of Singapore Book Awards 2018, Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Title
Why do the Chinese eat noodles at wedding dinners? Why do they hang blankets around HDB void decks after a funeral? Why is Chinatown called “cow car water”? We provide the answers— and useful tips as well—to some of the most-asked questions young Singaporeans have about the Chinese, including what a “red tortoise cake” is.
Why Do the Chinese Shout “Yam Seng”? is part of a series of four illustrated handbooks, each with 20 questions and answers to promote understanding of the different races and cultures in Singapore.
Understanding Singaporeans: Why Do Indians Dot Their Foreheads?◎Edmund Wee
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 7 and above
Winner of Singapore Book Awards 2018, Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Title
Why do Indians hang mango leaves in doorways? Why is it called a mama shop? Where does roti prata come from? We provide the answers—and useful tips as well—to some of the most-asked questions young Singaporeans have about the Indian community, including why some Indians wear turbans.
Why Do Indians Dot Their Foreheads? is part of a series of four illustrated handbooks, each with 20 questions and answers to promote understanding of the different races and cultures in Singapore.
Understanding Singaporeans: Why Do Eurasians Love Sugee Cake?◎Edmund Wee
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 7 and above
Winner of Singapore Book Awards 2018, Best Middle Grade/Young Adult Title
How can you tell if someone is Eurasian? What is Eurasian food? Is kaya a “Eurasian jam”? We provide the answers—and useful tips as well—to some of the most-asked questions young Singaporeans have about Eurasians, including why we don’t have a “Eurasiatown”.
Why Do Eurasians Love Sugee Cake? is part of a series of four illustrated handbooks, each with 20 questions and answers to promote understanding of the different races and cultures in Singapore.
Uncle Daniel's Favourite Colour◎Far’ain Jaafar (Illustrator: Nisa' Tuzzakirah Binte Sahlan)
Regular price $17.00🎁 Recommended for ages 3 and above
When Yusuf is told to do a show-and-tell activity on his family's favourite colours, he is unsure if he should ask Uncle Daniel, who is blind. But Yusuf soon learns that Uncle Daniel knows of many colours; he even has a favourite. Guess what it is! An engaging story that helps to create awareness of the blind and visually impaired.
Haywire Histories: Twisted Temasek (Book 1)◎Ng Yi-Sheng
Regular price $19.00Sang Nila Utama saw a lion…or did he?
Come and experience the untold side of Singapore's past in this non-fiction series. The weird and wild history of our island nation is revealed in engaging stories that are sure to excite, shock and thrill readers of all ages!
In Twisted Temasek, discover obscure stories from Singapore's pre-colonial history, from Rajendra Chola I's adventure into a mermaid kingdom and Sang Nila Utama's arrival in Lion City to tales Singapore's early kings and legendary children like Hang Nadim and Radin Mas Ayu.
Twenty Years of Wild Rice◎Alfian Sa’at
Regular price $66.00Winner for the 2024 Singapore Book Awards (Best Illustrated, Non-Fiction)
Explore Singapore’s identity presented on stage with this complete, detailed look at Wild Rice’s beginnings and canonical plays.
A true labour of love, Twenty Years of Wild Rice celebrates all the magic and mayhem, the joy and the passion that have gone into Wild Rice's past 20 years of making theatre for and about Singapore.
Packed with intimate insights, thought-provoking interviews, archival photographs, behind-the-scenes stories and more, this full colour visual journey is one book no theatre lover should do without.
The Travelling Library Chronicles of Maizey Lee: The Road to Bangkok◎Erni Salleh
Regular price $20.00Winner for the Singapore Book Awards 2025 - Best Young Person's Fiction Title
Talking plants, evil scientists, and mobile book vans—Maizey doesn't know where to start!
Imagination loss has hit everyone over 35, but 11-year-old Maizey Lee has bigger problems that that. Her life is turned upside down when her father disappears in a fire and mother decides to take them globe-trotting in a library on wheels. She has to get back to Singapore in time to sit for PSLE, or she'll be stuck in primary school forever! But with her mother determined to visit the world book capital to keep her Imagination alive, her plant friend Curie causing havoc with her powers, and an sinister pharmaceautical company chasing after them, will she ever be able to get her normal life back?
In this first foray into the world of travelling libraries, talking plants and scientific espionage, it's up to Maizey to save Imagination. As she goes swimming with turtles, plucks coconuts with monkeys and races across Bangkok on a far-too-small scooter, Maizey is about to learn that every encounter she picks up along the way will guide her to understand the power of stories and the importance in keeping Imagination alive.
The Travel Diary of Amos Lee 2: Monkeying in Malaysia!◎Adeline Foo (Illustrator: Stephanie Wong)
Regular price $17.00Shortlisted for Best Young Adults' Title for Singapore Book Awards 2016
Shortlisted for the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award 2015
After a successful fundraising effort, I was off to Sarawak, Malaysia with my bros Alvin and Anthony for an exciting jungle trek! And, more importantly, I’d get to see my dear friend Jolin. (Mum calls her the “object of my infatuation”.)
Our guide, Jolin’s weird “jungle man” Uncle Jufri, warned us to never let our guard down, for the rainforest is full of secrets and surprises. After getting drenched in a thunderstorm, and some icky encounters with mussels, toads, leeches and ants, we thought we’d seen and survived it all. But then there were those footprints, BIGGER THAN A HUMAN’S, that just couldn’t be explained.
Tinhead City, KL◎Stuart Danker
Regular price $23.00Longlisted for the Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2020
In this dystopian KL, a faceless corporation manages the city and hope is as toxic as the air.
Abandoned by his father, 19-year-old Zachary Ti learns to fend for himself in the new, gritty world of KL, a district overrun by tinheads that are issuing capital punishment for the slightest of offences. When he accidentally kills two of the cyborgs, Zach is forced to join an elite rebel faction whose methods are more than questionable. Soon he is sent back into the fray of KL—but this time he is a wanted man.
Timothy and the Phubbers◎Ken Kwek (Illustrator: Lolita Chiong)
Regular price $20.00Winner of Singapore Book Awards 2022 (Best Audiobook)
Timothy Pong has enough trouble at home without throwing his first year of secondary school into the mix. The Pong family only interact with each other through digital machines rather than human contact. Twelve-year-old Timothy is too young to own a phone, according to his mum, so he hasn’t actually spoken to his family in years as he can’t WhatsApp his parents or Snapchat his older sister.
Even worse, the most menacing bully in school, who also just happens to be the prettiest girl Timothy has ever seen, has plucked him out as her new favourite target. Luckily, Timothy has a few ideas up his sleeve to survive Secondary One, as well as the help of his undernourished friend Rudy, who, when not helping Timothy, can be found eating grass in the school field.
When their first plan goes horribly wrong and Timothy is caught on camera with his pants down – the most embarrassing three minutes of fame ever, the two friends must up their game if they’re to expose the conniving Bella, ace their Science project, and learn how an old-fashioned camera they first mistook for a hairdryer might be the answer to their prayers.
Tilly's Under the Weather◎Eve Aw (Illustrator: Qin Yi)
Regular price $17.00A new whimsical series puts an imaginative spin on age-old idioms.
In this first book of our new series, I Love Idioms, Tilly’s friends pay her a visit, only to find her under the weather—literally! Poor Tilly, she’s in bed, miserable under the dark, brooding clouds and cold, menacing rain. Her friends rally to rescue her. But can they weather the storm to help?
A fun and creative story with quirky illustrations that teaches children the meaning of the idiom “under the weather”.
Tiko and His Dragon◎Adrian Wong (Illustrator: Vandana Tjendana)
Regular price $17.00🎁 Recommended for ages 3 and above
Tiko and his toy lizard are inseparable, until he chances upon a real lizard. Tiko traps it, names it Dragon and convinces his parents that he’s responsible enough to look after it. But keeping an outdoor lizard as an indoor pet requires dedication, and Tiko is too distracted by computer games. Now, what is to become of poor Dragon?
A vibrantly illustrated portrayal of childhood antics and a reminder of pet responsibility.
Goh Poh Seng: Three Plays◎Goh Poh Seng
Regular price $30.00An omnibus of groundbreaking Singaporean playscripts.
Goh Poh Seng played an active role in the arts scene of post-independence Singapore. He was a pioneer of Singaporean drama, and the author of what is considered the first local English-language novel, If We Dream Too Long (1972). However, despite him winning the Cultural Medallion, his three playscripts have never been published…until now.
Three Plays—consisting of The Moon Is Less Bright (1964), When Smiles Are Done (1965) and The Elder Brother (1966)—rescues these dramatic works from obscurity, and presents them on the sixtieth anniversary of first being staged.
Those Who Can't, Teach◎Haresh Sharma
Regular price $19.00Those Who Can’t, Teach turns the spotlight on the madcap lives of teachers and students in a typical secondary school in Singapore. As the teachers struggle daily to nurture and groom, the students prefer to hang out and “chillax”. With upskirting and Facebooking, griping and politicking, school takes on a whole new meaning as the colourful characters struggle to prove that those who can, teach.
Written by Singapore’s most prolific playwright Haresh Sharma, Those Who Can’t, Teach was first staged by The Necessary Stage in 1990 to critical acclaim. Twenty years later, Sharma revisits this classic to revitalise it for the Singapore Arts Festival 2010, transforming it into a powerful portrayal of the pressures and challenges facing teachers (and students) in schools in the 21st century.
This Is Where I Won't Be Alone◎Inez Tan
Regular price $23.00A pair of twins tries desperately to survive their education. A sentient oyster ponders the concept of making time. An unemployed man devises a social experiment with ants. A runaway sees a vision. From the 1990’s to a future where people access information through chips implanted in their heads, from the Singaporean heartland to London, San Francisco and the moon, these stories hold in tension the strangeness of displacement and a deep yearning for connection in their relentless search for who and what to call home.
There's No Such Thing as a Skinny Bibik◎Sandra Chua
Regular price $23.00Longlisted for the 2021 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
Charlie has always been too tall, too skinny and too wild to ever be considered a proper nyonya. Her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother are always looking on in disapproval, yet Charlie knows she must follow her heart in career and in love. That becomes complicated when three men fight for her affection, a major smuggling ring must be investigated and the paparazzi cannot get enough of her!
There's No Stopping This Skinny Bibik◎Sandra Chua
Regular price $23.00Sequel to There Is No Such Thing as a Skinny Bibik, longlisted for the 2021 Epigram Books Fiction Prize.
Nonya Charlie has found love, or so she thinks.
Rebel that she is, Charlie Neo has chosen love over her family when she decides to leave Singapore and move to Penang to be with her ex-spy boyfriend. Charlie struggles to build a new life, working various jobs, including the role as assistant for a TV news anchor, and reuniting with a grandaunt who is her own brand of hot-blooded bibik. She becomes embroiled in a kidnapping of two genius hackers and gets into trouble involving money laundering, sending her running back to her Peranakan roots.
There Was a Peranakan Woman Who Lived in a Shoe◎Gwen Lee (Illustrator: Cheryl Kook)
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 3 and above
There was a Peranakan woman who lived in a shoe.
She made so many nyonya kueh, she didn’t know what to do.
In this book of modernised nursery rhymes, original rhymes are recreated with local flavour and humour.
Traditional food, local places and festivals are the essence of the rhymes! This is a book that resonates with our time, country and culture, and will surely last for generations to come.
Ten Things My Father Never Taught Me and Other Stories◎Cyril Wong
Regular price $23.00Recommended by the National Library Board Singapore and Ministry of Communications and Information
A woman learns of a friend’s illness and wonders if she ever truly knew him. A boy who sees ghosts heeds the advice of a fortune-teller, with surprising consequences. A girl wakes up and realises everybody in her Bedok neighbourhood has vanished. From Cyril Wong, award-winning author of The Last Lesson of Mrs de Souza, comes another beautiful book about characters in crisis, with two stories crossing intriguingly into creative autobiography.
Superworm to the Rescue◎Weng Pixin
Regular price $19.00Superworm solves the mystery of a missing eye.
When Mr Pig’s left eye disappears, Superworm springs into action! A sneaky snake with a habit of hoarding seems to be behind it all. But as more things go missing, Superworm discovers an unexpected truth about the snake—one that changes everything.
A zany, adventure-filled graphic novel that tells a heartwarming tale of friendship and forgiveness.
Suho: The Creation of the Horse-head Fiddle◎Catherine Khoo (Illustrator: Jayne Ong)
Regular price $17.00🎁Recommended for ages 3 and above
In this latest instalment of the popular picture book series, Asia's Lost Legends, the story travels to the steppes of Mongolia, where lives a young fiddle player named Suho and his beloved horse, Khuur. The two friends are insearable until a cruel king tries to tear them apart. But the bond between Suho and Khuur is so strong that it cannot be broken. Instead, it inspires the creation of Mongolia’s national instrument.
Sugarbread◎Balli Kaur Jaswal
Regular price $30.00Finalist for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize
Shortlisted for the Singapore Book Awards 2017 (Best Fiction Title)
Shortlisted for the Popular Readers' Choice Awards 2016 English (Adult) Books category
The Straits Times Book Of The Month (August 2016)
Shortlisted for Singapore Literature Prize 2018
Pin must not become like her mother, but nobody will tell her why. She seeks clues in Ma’s cooking when she’s not fighting other battles—being a bursary girl at an elite school and facing racial taunts from the bus uncle. Then her meddlesome grandmother moves in, installing a portrait of a watchful Sikh guru and a new set of house rules. Old secrets begin to surface but can Pin handle learning the truth?
Desmond Sim: Student Plays◎Desmond Sim
Regular price $19.00In veteran playwright Desmond Sim’s first collection for students, food and family ground seven heartwarming plays as sons and daughters, fathers and grandmothers fight, heal and find love in the kitchen and around the dining table. This collection includes Drunken Prawns, winner of the first Hewlett Packard/Action Theatre Ten-Minute Play Contest, and other critically acclaimed plays such as Teochew Porridge and The Durian Man and His Daughters, with a foreword by Dr. K.K. Seet.