Morris Takes A Chance and Rochee the Friendliest Roach!

I got these two children’s books during the Singapore Writer’s Festival months ago. Yeah, I did say I have a backlog of book reviews to post up. Morris Takes A Chance is written and illustrated by Amanda Teow while Rochee the Friendliest Roach is written and also illustrated by Gavin Goo! Heh, these two books had their authors writing and drawing the pictures for the books. Just so you know, I got these two books during their book launch as they were part of the First Time Writers and Illustrators initiative by the MDA. There were other books but I got these two then and they’re both published by the Straits Times Press.

Let’s go with Morris Takes A Chance first, shall we? It’s a cute story about a mouse who wakes up in the night to hear strange sounds outside his little home. So what could be making all that noise? Okay, I just pretty much typed down the blurb because heh, it’s a short cute children’s story so it’ll be silly if I posted what happens in it since I would telling about the whole thing.

The art is pretty cute too. I liked the whale a lot. Now, also at the back of the blurb, I just noticed the writer’s little bio:

Amanda has a love-hate relationship with cats since the day she got a scratch on the face from Ms Mat the cat. Despite her unpleasant encounter, Amanda still has a soft spot for felines.

Oh my! Hahaha, I’m sure she would love the cat of my friend’s who’s very fat and just… rolls. (Don’t worry on that cat, it got on a diet and now it’s not very rollable.) Considering I know her too! Yes! Thus, that’s why I got invited to the book launch anyway since I know her. Since this is her first children’s book, it’s pretty good. The art is colourful and it’s pretty understandable and easy to read for children. So that’s nice. Also another fun fact was that during the book launch, I gasped because I knew her editor.

In fact, I didn’t know her editor was my friend who was doing edits for said publisher. I mean, I knew she was an editor but not THERE. But okay, that’s rambling now. Anyway, got any kids who like fuzzy stuff and animals? Heh, get this book for them. ALSO THERE IS A CAT IN THE BOOK. So yes, kitty and mousey.

Now on a whole different level, let’s get to Rochee the Friendlist Roach. Yes, he’s a freaking cockroach. He also has his own website here and little fun games and artwork there. The blurb?

Despite being the friendliest cockroach in town. Rochee finds it hard to befriend that special someone. Can Rochee find a way to win her heart? Join him to find out!

He’s a freaking cockroach.

I had to buy it because it reminded me of that stupid cover song of Dragonstea Din Tea but was translated to Chinese and rewrote to be about running away from a cockroach. Um, yeah. Anyway, I can’t find it on youtube to show cause I have no idea the real title of it. ANYWHOooooooo…

The ending is ridiculously cute. Though, in real life, I guess I would still run away from cockroaches since they aren’t like Rochee and won’t have baths and be nice and everything. You can tell the writer/illustrator of this book is really an artist or graphic designer because you can note the style of the art and the details involved. Heh, it’s a cute story, just uh… Don’t befriend strange cockroaches in real life?

These two books are out! Though, since I don’t hang out in the children’s book section, I don’t see them yet. They’re probably available by now or next year though so if you see them in the stores, heh buy them for your kids!