My first book review for a Singapore themed book!!
Thirteen year old Rosie feels like her world has ended when
her family moves from New York to Singapore.
She misses her old room and friends in New York. Though she loves Grandma, she can’t
understand why her family had to move to Singapore just to take care of her.
Rosie hates Singapore – with the same old weather
every day, school uniforms and after-school enrichment classes. She shares her innermost thoughts and
feelings in a diary that Grandma has gifted her.
Unlike Rosie, her eight year old brother, Alex, loves
Singapore with its zoo and aquarium. He often
troubles her with his obsession for spiders and annoys her by touching her
things.
Rosie’s first day at Woodside International School doesn’t
go too well. She not only makes an embarrassing entry
into her classroom, but also gets punished by the gym teacher. Could things get any worse?
Fortunately, an kind bus lady, Auntie Nora, helps Rosie get through her difficult days of being ‘new’. Pink, a new friend, also helps her in times of crisis like when Rosie wants
to get back at her arch rival for printing a silly picture of her in the school
newsletter.
I bought this book at the Singapore Writers Festival. At first glance it looked like a book for a younger
audience (8-10 yrs) because of the font size, the illustrations and the length of
the story. But as I skimmed through it,
I knew the content would interest my 13-year old, who eventually couldn't
put this book down until she was finished with it. Both, she and I, could completely associate with this book for it was somewhat ‘our’ story - we moved out of US a few years ago, my daughter
has a pesky eight year old brother, we miss our friends, et al!
A mom who experiments with local dishes, kids wearing uniform jumpsuits at the Chinese New Year family reunion, Dad’s suit getting a
makeover – are some of the other things that will give young readers a good laugh.
I liked the book for its simple story and amusing illustrations/comic strips. A minor thing, but I did wonder why none of the parents
accompanied their children to the bus stop on their first day of school.
Overall, a good read for young readers in Singapore, many of
whom are expat children and will connect well with Rosie.
Looking forward to reading the second book in the series… "Girl
Overboard! A Rose grows in the Jungle".
