Doing the Write Thing: Quek Hong Shin

What is The Marvellous Sugee Cake about?
My fourth book is about a child named Simon. He's a friend of Nora and Fauzi, Xiao Ming and Asha from the previous books, and he actually appeared in The Brilliant Oil Lamp. He is the neighbour of Asha, and he lives in an apartment, just like Asha. This story is really about the sugee cake.

Sugee cake is a very important food item in Eurasian culture. You can find it in weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, tea breaks, weekends, any time, they just love their sugee cake.

Something interesting about this book is, instead of using the item in many different ways like in my previous books, the children come together and make the item this time. It's a story about generosity, about sharing, caring for others, and returning the favour.

What kind of research did you undergo for this book?
I visited a Eurasian heritage gallery near Katong, a very interesting museum that showcases artefacts and the history of the community. I made friends with two Eurasians.

They are Henry Cordeiro and Andre D'Rozario. They have been very helpful. Andre even invited me to his place and I had a look at the interior decoration of the house, heard stories from him. He also has many photographs that he showed me.

The Eurasians have close-knit families, which is one of the impressions that I got, and they are very proud of their cuisine. I also introduced a very interesting language in this book called Kristang. It's a very rapidly diminishing language that's spoken by Eurasians, and I added a song that is sung in Kristang into the story.

What can readers look forward to in this book?
The Marvellous Sugee Cake is probably the last book of the series that started with The Amazing Sarong, so it completes the set.

I hope readers will find this book informative, educational, and that my four books will leave behind a slice of Singapore's history in the form of children's literature.