New series: A Place for Us
- Lianne
- Jan 10, 2019
- 2 min read
Finally! I can share about my new series. It's been half a year since I wrote here, and I actually forgot my password to this blog!
A Place for Us is a collaboration with Movement for the Intellectually Disabled (MINDS). It's one of those projects that I knew just had to be done. We don't have any special needs themed children's series written by Singaporean authors, set in a Singaporean context. When this was brought to me, I knew straight away I wanted to do it.
The research brought back memories of the days I used to interview people for magazine features. There were days I just had to dwell on the stories that were told to me, without writing. I soon realised that writing a story that was both honest and heartfelt, and still sensitively told on behalf of the special needs community, would be more challenging than I had expected. It forced me to battle with some demons inside me too.
The first title, Not So Scary After All, is about a boy named Adam, who has a fear of dogs. One day, Adam visits a friend's house. The friend's pet dog saves the day when he finds Adam's beloved toy. How will Adam respond?Not So Scary After All is available for pre-order at www.armourpublishing.com. It will be retailed in major bookstores once it is released - more info to come.
The series will have 6 titles, all slated to be released this year. Every story will have a different protagonist, and highlights different challenges faced by children with special needs.
With this series, I hope that it gives voice to the community of special needs children and their families. I hope that many people outside the community will read the series, and find out a little bit more about persons who are made neurologically different, but are still God's creation all the same, and deserve a place in society.
Thanks to MINDS for giving me this opportunity to write this series! And to all the lovely students, families and teachers for sharing their experiences - you have taught me so much. I hope I do justice to your stories.