The first book of the HIJAU series, The Lost Princess by Liza Shahida has been published and features an adorable girl illustrated by Nor Abdullah. As with all the books in the HIJAU series, children will be introduced to various animals and plants in the rainforest.

The five books in the HIJAU series will be released in stages. Each book in the series comes with supplementary materials including background information for parents and teachers, additional facts on the flora and fauna featured as well as activity sheets for children. 

The story in each book is located in different spots in Malaysia and highlights the flora and fauna found there. For example, The Lost Princess highlights the animals and plants found in Sabah.

All the books in the series use a dyslexic friendly font, OpenDyslexic, which is a special font developed and designed for people with dyslexia to make reading easier.

Liza has taken careful thought over each book and after reading all the books in the series, children will be introduced to a comprehensive list of the animals found in the rainforests of Malaysia.

It is the author's hope that the Hijau Series will
i. instill the love of nature amongst young children (3-8 years),
ii. open the minds of young children to a new world, and
iii. nurture the child’s logical thinking, social intelligence and empathy.

Oyez! is a regular participant at RIUH,  a monthly art, cultural, and community event at APW, Jalan Riong, Bangsar (next to NST) and this month we are thrilled to participate again. We will have a booth to display and sell Oyez! books (please come and visit!) and in addition, authors Rossiti Aishah Rashidi (Siti the Elephant and Pak Belang the Tiger) and Lim Lay Koon (Pip's Peculiar Problem) will be reading from their books in line with the theme, Safari in the City. Two friends of Oyez! will be also be reading from our Borneo Animal Series. Catch them at these times:

Saturday 21 April 2018
11.30-11.45am    Rossiti Aishah Rashidi reading Siti the Elephant and Pak Belang the Tiger
12.45-1.00           Najibah reading a book from the Borneo Animal Series.

Sunday 22 April 2018
11.30-11.45        Lim Lay Koon reading Pip's Peculiar Problem
12.45-1.00pm     Syafawani reading a book from the Borneo Animal Series.

The organiser of RIUH is also collecting book donations for Books on the Move, an initiative that promotes reading anywhere by dropping books at public places for people to pick up, read and pass along. Do remember to bring your spare books to share!

Oyez! Bookstore, the bookselling arm of Oyez! (Publishing) is pleased to add World Scientific books to their store. World Scientific is one of the leading scientific publishers in the world, and the largest international scientific publisher in the Asia-Pacific region.

Oyez! Bookstore started with the Young Scientists series by Nury Vitacchi which quickly went out of stock and is now restocked. Next, we added the inspirational SISU Girls series, Brave Beachley and Fearless Frosty, the story of two girls who went on to conquer the waves and mountains.

We have selected more World Scientific books on topics covering teaching and learning maths and science. Some of these books are for children while others are suitable for parents and teachers. We will be featuring these in the next few days. Watch out for them!

'Flowers' and 'Tea' do not seem to go together but the Chinese who love drinking tea and who are often inventive with their food, have produced tea that blooms into a flower as hot water is poured into it. Here's a picture from WIkipedia and a YouTube video clip from the movie Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola which shows the queen enjoying the flowering tea, a gift from the Emperor of China.

And finally, here are some illustrations from Emila Yusof's book, Grandma's Flowering Tea which will be published in early May 2018 by Oyez!Books. Emila was awarded the Little Hakka International Picture Book Competition Merit Award in 2017 for the illustrations in this book. The award was organised by the Shenzhen OCT Cultural Group and the Shenzhen Women's Federation under the auspices of the Shenzhen Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau.

Photo creadit:
Flowering Tea: By Georg Mittenecker - Photograph taken by Georg Mittenecker, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3337063

WhiteWave Inc, located in Seoul, South Korea will be featuring Jainal Amambing's Longhouse Days in their monthly magazine, Catholic Digest. The magazine features 'honest and heart-warming stories of ordinary people'.

According to the editor, Lee, the magazine has just started a 'Children's Story of the World' section to introduce 'various innocent and adorable stories around the world to our subscribers and let them go back to their childhood and recall happy memories.'

Lee was impressed by Jainal's illustrations and touched by the story and plans to translate and feature Longhouse Days in the July issue.

Jainal Amambing has won numerous awards for his illustrations, both locally and internationally including the Noma Concour, Tokyo and Nami Concour, South Korea. His picture book, The Magic Buffalo, has been translated into German. Other books by Jainall, published by Oyez!books include The Wonderful Sparrow and The Proud Butterfly. Based in Kudat, Sabah, Jainal continues to paint and runs a farm with his family.

The husband and wife team, Razisatul Asyifah and Mohd, Khairul, have written and illustrated a picture book based on an Iranian folktale. The story of a small mouse who goes looking for a friend as mighty as himself has a surprising ending. Publication of the book is scheduled for mid May 2018.

Oyez! has previously published two picture books that were written and illustrated by Khairul: Where is Owly and My Owl Family Tree.

Lim Lay Har and Lim Lay Koon have produced another picture book with a Malaysian setting. Their previous picture books  include Atuk's Amazing Sarong and Bunyi-bunyi dari Dapur Nenek (which won a DBP prize and was subsequently published by DBP).

Their latest picture book is no less a pleasure.- a beautiful book in both text and illustrations. A story of a boy having his first experience of fireflies and also one of a memorable time with his father. We expect this book will be a Malaysian children's picture book that will become a classic. Publication will be end of April 2018.

Oyez! authors, Basari Mat Yasit and Nor Azhar Ishak are at Nami Island together with a team from Malaysia. Malaysian artist, Yusof Gajah is on the jury panel of the Nami Concour.

Books by both Basari and Nor Azhar, published by Oyez! have won awards. Basari's Lelaki dari Sungai / Men from the River won a distinction list at Nami Island while Nor Azhar Ishak's Under the Sea had previously won two awards - the Children's Literature Festival, Kuala Lumpur and the Samsung Kids Time Award, Singapore. Both books are unique. Lelaki dari Sungai / Men from the River is a bilingual book and a retelling of a Sarawak folktale. The strong, flat colour illustrations were inspired by the 'pua kumbu' a traditional woven fabric from Sarawak. Nor Azhar's Under the Sea is illustrated using the batik technique and then digitally transferred to the page.

Basari with Lelaki dari Sungai / Men from the River at Nami Island, with Fred Minn, of Naminara.