Secrets of Singapore: Botanic Gardens

"It is wonderful to see the Botanic Gardens getting the Secrets of Singapore treatment. Now a younger audience can get curious about a place that is so much more than just a park. As Singapore’s best-preserved historic landscape and its first UNESCO site, the Botanic Gardens is an encyclopaedia of sometimes unlikely things, such as the Tiger Orchid that is so large that a crane would be needed to lift it. With this book, you can surprise your friends with a quirky knowledge of the Gardens that everybody thinks they know!"
—Dr Nigel Taylor, director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens

"This delightful book, about one of my favourite places in the whole world, has a bit of everything—science, history, fun facts and more. It's such a gripping read that once you start, you won't be able to leaf it alone!"
—Dr Shawn Lum, president of Nature Society (Singapore), winner of the 2017 President's Award for the Environment and senior lecturer at the Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University

"A wonderful book that will intrigue and engage young readers (and their parents) in the botanical treasure house that is the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Who knew that Singapore has the largest collection of orchids in the world? Or that a banana is actually a herb? Or that birds are able to disperse chilli pepper seeds because they cannot sense spiciness? All this and more await discovery by young readers of this book."
—Linda Locke, author of Agnes and the Amazing Orchid and great-grandniece of Agnes Joaquim, creator of the Vanda Miss Joaquim

Monica Lim and Lesley-Anne Tan are a mother-and-daughter writing team. Monica Lim is the mother and Lesley-Anne Tan is the daughter, although sometimes their roles seem reversed. Lesley-Anne eats her veggies and occasionally has to force Monica to do the same. She’s weird that way. (“No, I’m not!” says Lesley-Anne). Monica runs her own writing business, has a blog on education and published a book in October 2013 entitled The Good, the Bad and the PSLE. Lesley-Anne is still in school so she mostly writes essays and papers, which isn’t quite as fun.

Secrets of Singapore is their third writing project together, after Danger Dan and Gadget Girl and the first Danger Dan series. The idea for the character Danny came about from their experience living with a highly imaginative little boy obsessed with superheroes and comics. If Lesley-Anne could have a super power, she would choose the ability to stop time, so that she can finish studying for her exams and writing books in no time at all. Monica’s preferred super power is mind control, so that she can make Lesley-Anne stop dreaming about time freezes and get back to work.

Elvin Ching works as an illustrator and storyboard artist in Singapore. He is the illustrator of several Danger Dan and Gadget Girl books and all of the Secrets of Singapore series; his cover for Secrets of Singapore: National Museum won best children’s book cover at the Popular Reader’s Choice Awards 2017. In his free time, he likes to create his own little comics. His short stories have been published in the Eisner-nominated comics anthology Liquid City. He has also illustrated trading cards for Marvel, comics for the Pangu series of books by Martha Keswick and a comic book series written by Kelly Bender. Elvin has too many comic books at home. He has so many comics that there are some he hasn’t even found time to read yet!