Adeline Foo's Blog

Something Weird & Wonderful... The Travel Diary of Amos Lee!

This post says it all.... my apologies for keeping quiet for so long! Stephanie and I got away for a short break, and while we were at this AWESOME place, we decided to kick start a brand new series for our pet project. Taking Amos Abroad! He's older, brasher and more mischievous... let's see what fun (and drama) he experiences in his first trip out of Singapore! Join us in this contest and be one of ten lucky readers to win a limited edition Advance Reading Copy.
For more details, pls see www.amoslee.com.sg.

Are You A Dodo?

Here's a lazy way of spreading the word... join us during the Mar hols at two workshops to celebrate the launch of Whoopie Lee: The Big Spell Off and Are You A Dodo? game app! For more details: www.amoslee.com.sg

A new book! Amos 4 is out!

The publisher hails it as the last book in the series. I'm not complaining. It has been a wonderful four years working on this series of books. It has brought me my MFA scholarship, a TV show, co-publishing agreements in India, Indonesia, China and now the Slovak Republic... I dare say Amos would have done any writer proud.
Till I decide on what to write for my next/new book, I've given in to the temptation of milking new media. Two apps beckon: a social game titled "Are You A Dodo?", and "Poop Fiction" an interactive story app, a spin off from working on Amos 3. Meanwhile, there's Book 2 in the Whoopie Lee series to complete, that's something in 2013 to look forward to! For more updates, check out www.amoslee.com.sg

My New Book! Thomas Titans: Men Among Boys (Go to www.ilovebooks.com)

Visit www.ilovebooks.com for a free preview of Thomas Titans: Men Among Boys

Off to Beijing for the Sing-China Publishing Symposium

Next week, The Diary of Amos Lee travels to Beijing.
It's an exciting time for all of us - 99,000 copies in print, 80,000 sold, in Singapore alone!
What's more the books have made the Straits Times bestseller list for 73 weeks, still counting :)
Following the airing of the ten-part TV series on okto - the publishing team and author-artist creators are looking to achieve new milestones.
Stay tuned as I blog from Beijing :)
Cheers, adelinefoo

Have you watched The Diary of Amos Lee on okto?

Finally, it's done! Thanks to the team behind the show, co-writer Philip Leung, Ishaan, Sandhya and Jeremy Chia, the animators, and Phillip Lim and his crew, Glenn, Jan, Wenn, Cherie and Faith :) I can't list everyone here, but they know who they are. Many of us have moved to our next projects, me included. I am helping to market the show through my school visits, amongst doing other publicity events. For more news, check out the Facebook site.http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Diary-of-Amos-Lee-TV-Series-Official/217470864969227

Here's a review from a mum who watched the show. http://www.busymombusyblog.com/It has been a great learning experience for me. All good, adelinefoo.

Amos @Bookaroo: "They have a potty built for me!"

Back from Bookaroo in New Delhi, thanks to an invitation made possible by the Bookaroo Trust, Pratham Books and Hachette India; and a travelling grant by the National Arts Council of S'pore. It was a three day event celebrating children's books and the magic of story-telling.
I was joined by Shamini Flint, both of us had a good time regaling kids with not-so-reverent tales from Singapore :)
My stay was made more colourful by the daily brush with death, negotiating the Delhi traffic in cars driven by closet F1 drivers. If a road has THREE lanes drawn into it, you can bet the drivers would be able to squeeze SIX cars into ONE road. What are lanes but mere suggestions? And get this, the seatbelts do not work! We sat in different cars each day, but either the belt doesn't budge, or a buckle is missing. I dread to tell my kids what I had to go through everyday. So that's exciting. What's also interesting... we stayed at a hotel supposedly run by ex-convicts. Hmmm... now how did that bit of gossip come about? On my first night, I flew into Delhi at 7am and by the time I checked into the hotel, showered and was about to get some sleep two hours later, I was woken up by an incessant pounding on the door that just wouldn't go away... Before I could answer it, I was horrified to see a hotel staff using his key to open my door to present a welcome letter from the Bookaroo organisers. Wow, such dedication to the job. I can almost hear the voice of the man's boss, "You do not rest till the letter is delivered. Even if it means gaining unauthorised access to the guest's room!"

Overall, it was an excellent festival made even more pleasurable by the enthusiasm of Bookaroo's volunteers and the flattering author-fan mania that gripped us. I felt like I was a celebrity. Well, almost. If you can discount the competitive fervour to collect the most no. of signatures per child. By the time I left on Saturday evening, it was good to hear that all my Amos Lee books had sold out at the festival book store. I was also surprised to hear that Amos Book#3 had been awarded the 3rd prize in the Popular's Readers' Choice Awards when I flew home. All said, it was a good start to a new week.
More exciting stuff ahead, as I look forward to setting up a blog site managed by a friend to post news of The Diary of Amos Lee TV show in production. Stay tuned!
Cheers, adeline

Whoopie Lee: Almost Famous up for Red Dot!

Hello! It's great to know that Whoopie Lee: Almost Famous has been shortlisted for the Red Dot award for 2011-12. See this link for more info http://www.reddotawards.com/
The Diary of Amos Lee won Best Junior Fiction in 2009, so it's fantastic that Amos' little sister is following in his footsteps.
Meanwhile, some readers have enquired about the status of the TV show. Filming begins in a week's time! I can't believe it has taken me from late April to get this far! It has been an exhausting time for me as a scriptwriter, but totally rewarding at the same time. I'm very happy with how the scripts have developed, and although we try to stay close to the stories in the books, it's inevitable that there will be deviations, as the original books were not written for TV! It's a miracle we've made it this far... with 70,000 copies sold for 3 Amos books, and close to 10,000 copies for Whoopie :)
Come 23-26 Nov, I'll be in New Delhi to launch Book 2: Girls, Guts & Glory, so that's something for me to look forward to as well!

On Sunday, 20 November, I'll be doing book signing at Popular's Bookfest event, from 3.15 to 3.45pm - come join me and Stephanie, the artist. Not sure if we have something new to surprise our readers, we're not committing yet, we'll see.

All good, keep on reading and stay cheerful!

It's the Singapore Writers Festival!

Hello there! I'll be doing two talks with a friend, Eliza Teoh, author of Ellie Belly: Follow That Bird! Catch us at Dear Diary Club on 23 October, 2.30pm and at Booklovers' Tea Party on 29 October, 3.30pm. Check the Singapore Writers Festival website for more details.


http://www.singaporewritersfestival.com/index.php?option=com_php&Itemid=69&category=17


Meanwhile, what am I working on now? The scripts for The Diary of Amos Lee TV Series. I'm almost done! Filming starts 1 Nov, hopefully :)
I'm also working on a new book, for an older readership. There'll be two books in the series, I've completed Book 1. It's with the publisher now.
More details to come when I have a book cover to show. Looking forward to January when the Amos Lee TV show will air!

All good, adeline