David Seow's Blog, page 50

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Advance If I Were a Blue Kangaroo Book Review via Bookaburra

New Book Launching Soon

It's been two years since I published There's Soup on My Fly! and Blow A Kiss and I'm ready about to launch my new book If I Were a Blue Kangaroo.  It should be back from the printers by mid October and hopefully on the bookshelves soon after. I am almost as excited about this as I was meeting the Duchess of Cambridge. 
(In fact since meeting her I've been on a creative roll and I've been consumed with a tsunami of ideas)





Two other stories: The Great Big Spooky Forest  and Emma's Elephant are also scheduled to be published some time within the next year. The former is being illustrated by Susanna Goho and the latter will be illustrated by Enrico Sallustio.
.concept sketch for Emma's Elephant

Stamford American International School

So the reason I haven't really updated recently is because Artist, Author and Illustrator Susanna Goho and I were busy visiting the Stamford American International School. It was fantastic. The teachers and the kids were amazing. The kids there are really smart, they had great ideas and asked a lot of intelligent questions. I wasn't nearly as smart as they are when I was there age. Seriously!!

I didn't take any photos as that was not permitted but like I said the kids were great with lots of fantastic ideas. Thanks to Theresa for taking the time to bring us around to all the classes, Raquel for arranging the visit and all the teachers and the kids, of course for  everything!!

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge depart Raffles Hotel and Singapore

HRH Duchess of Cambridge chats with a fan. The Duke of Cambridge with some young fans The Duchess accepts a posy from some young fans.

OK, I couldn't resist one last glimpse of the royal couple, so I headed down to see if I could take some snapshots before they departed and I lucked out. Here they are. Hope you like them.


With one last glance, the Duchess bids a goodbye to the Raffles.
To bad that lady's head got in the way of a good shot!! Argh!

At the Gardens with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The Duchess of Cambridge with my book. (Ray Liw)



HRH the Duchess oc Cambridge accepts my book from my mum
(photo: Ray Liw's friend) HRH, Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge chats with mum
So the Duchess thanked my mum for the books and chatted with me for a bit, I can't remember exactly what we talked about because I was in a state of shock that she actually accepted the books and was holding it!!! STARSTRUCK. She is stunning in person, I have to say. And then with a handshake and a smile she was off to meet the rest of the people who had turned up to see her. We all stood there in silence. Chantal had managed to pass her a bouquet of flowers, Ray managed to take some great shots and Mum managed not to faint! unlike some others. After the Duchess had left a reporter came to ask us some questions and my mum told him how I had given one of my previous books to Celine Dion and how she had a baby soon after. As it turns out the reporter thought it was the same book and reported about it in the London Evening Standard and in turn picked up by the following news outlets, click on the respective links to view:

The Express

The Mirror

 The Telegraph

Hello Magazine

At the Gardens with the Duke and Duchess of Cambride pt 3

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge


The Duchess of Cambridge
And so they disembarked, the Duke went one way; the Duchess went the other. The screams grew louder...as the Duchess approached Alice, the small girl my mum had given the flowers to and she bent down and asked Alice for her name. Alice told the Duchess that she had a pretty dress and the Duchess replied so did Alice.

HRH, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge


The Duchess of Cambridge accepts the flowers and portraitAfter spending a few precious moments with the little one Catherine started slowly moving over to our side of the barriers. My Mum and niece beckoned towards us. Looking at the pencil sketch that I drew, she asked my niece if she drew it. She shook her head and pointed at me and said: "my uncle did". That's when I put my hand up like I was a student in a classroom who couldn't wait to answer the teacher's question to get the reward...



The sketch



My Mum then showed her the photo I had taken of her mother-in-law 20 years ago and asked if she would give it to William.


The photo I took of Princess Diana 20 years ago



"Of course I will," she said...and then that's when my mum also gave her something else...

At the Gardens with the Duke and Duchess of Cambride pt 2

I have to say...the wait for the Duke and Duchess seemed excruciatingly long because of the unbearable heat. I tried to limit my water intake because I didn't want to have to go on a bathroom break only to lose my space along the barriers.  My friends Ray and Chantal joined us, hoping they would get to see the royals too.  As the 10am approached arrived the crowds had swelled exponentially to over a thousand people. I'm grateful that those around me had good personal hygiene and remembered to use their deodorant.  Gardens by the Bay and British High Commission personnel started handing out GB and Singapore flags. I told the girls in front of me not to wave the flags while I was trying to take a picture. They agreed not to. My niece just sighed "Uncle Dave!" Then one of them put her hair up in a bun to beat the heat. Fearful that it would block my shot, I was about to say something but with one :tsk...tsk," and a withering glance from my niece prevented me from doing so.

My niece decided to hand the Duchess the photograph I had taken of the late Princess Diana and the sketch I had drawn of the Duchess, instead of the two bouquets of flowers I had bought. "Everybody gives her flowers," she said.  So my mum gave a small bouquet to a four year old girl named Alice, who was standing nearby with her mum and dad.


I could tell when the press core came streaming into the area that time was close. Then a few trams came down towards the Super Tree Grove. The fans screamed but ah...it was just more press. Then a few minutes later. The Duke and Duchess came into few on their Tram. Will and Kate were here! Kids in the crowd were chanting "Will, You're Brill; Kate, You're Great!" Flags started waving all around me. Mum stood up from her chair and I fumbled to turn on my camera...
The Duke and  Duchcess arrive...(Phoyo: Ray Liw)

At the Gardens with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Princess Diana says she remembers meIt was with great excitement that I headed down to Gardens by the Bay with the hope of meeting the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I've been a huge supporter of the royal family since I was a kid, well since I saw Princess Diana driving through the gates of Buckingham Palace right before her wedding.  Through the years I was fortunate enough to have met her several times and I even curtsied to her in my excitement- that is something I will never live down. By the way she remembered me the next time I met Her because she said "I remember you. You're so sweet you gave me flowers last Tuesday."

So for this visit, I bought two bouquets of flowers, a framed photo that I shot of the late Princess when I met her and one of my children's books that I intended to give the Duchess as a souvenir.  Having conducted a reconnaissance mission of the Gardens with my Mum who said she would go along to meet the Duchess, I was fairly confident that we stood a good chance of doing so. Well OK, I did get a hint as to where to stand because I asked one of the ladies in charge of the tree planting ceremony where I should stand. I explained that my mother was old and it would be nice if she had a chance to meet the royal couple. Without hesitation,  she told me the route that the couple would be taking and told me where we should stand if we hoped to meet them.

So with information in hand I headed home and set the alarm for 6am. Didn't really need it since I was up at 4am as was my mum. Dad agreed to pick my niece up and give us a lift to the Gardens.  So with a folding chair, packets of Ribena, water, and dried apricots we headed down to the venue. Big signs were posted along the route as to where we should go to meet the couple. We got to the Super Tree Grove at around 8am only to find that scores of other fans had gotten there earlier. Thankfully we managed to find a spot along the barricades behind some nice English folk. My niece positioned herself along the barricades and my mum set up her folding chair and sat down for the long wait. We had two hours to go before William and Catherine arrived or so we thought...

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Singapore

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge @ Gardens by the Bay

This past week my mum, my niece and I decided to make a day of it and head on down to Gardens by the Bay to attempt to meet TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who were in town on a Jubilee Tour. Now I've been a fan of the royal family since I was a kid so it was only natural that I would try to meet Prince William and Princess Catherine. I'm still downloading all my pics and I should have them up soon. So stay tuned.