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mischievous life of aChinese boy in primaryschool called, MoShen Ma, with his fourfriends, Hippo, Penguin,Monkey and BatEars. In the third series,Pesky Monkeys,Mo goes to his grandma’shouse for thesummer holidays andteaches his grandma’spig to roller-skate.The Stone Goddess,a story on theCambodian diaspora,is a touching tale ofAll Rights Reserved, Farrar, Strausa 12-year-old Nakriand her elderand Giroux, 2008.sister’s attempts to maintain their hope as well as theirclassical dancing skills in the midst of their struggleto survive after the communist takeover Cambodia and herfamily is torn from their city life. Nakri’s family begins life anewin America after Cambodia is liberated.1001 Cranes, a story of the Japanese diaspora, is anengaging tale of a valued Japanese American custom thattransforms the life of a lost 12-yearold Japanese Americangirl, Angela Michiko. With her parents on the verge of separating,she spends the summer in Los Angeles with her grandparents,when she folds paper cranes into wedding displays,becomes involved with a young skateboarder, and learns howcomplicated relationships can be.Slant, a story about the Korean diapora, is a charming taleof 13-year-old Lauren, a Korean-American adoptee, who istired of being called “slant” and “gook,” and longs to have plasticsurgery on her eyes. However, after she convinces her father toagree to the surgery, Lauren starts to question some of her ownassumptions when she learns a long-kept secret about hermother’s death.Escape from Saigon, a story about the Vietnamesediaspora, depicts the experiences of an orphanedAmerasian boy, Long – the son of an American father anda Vietnamese mother – from his birth and early childhoodin Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), through his departurefrom Vietnam in the 1975 Operation Babylift and his subsequentlife as the adopted son of an American family in Ohio.Given the diversity of topics of interest available in theAsian children’s Collection, this treasure trove of a collectionis an important and valuable resource for the local libraryscene. The collection will continue to be developed with theaim to present some of the most excellent children’s publicationsfrom across Asia and to showcase the richness of Asianclassical stories and fables as well as attractive illustrationsfor reference and research purposes.REFERENCES1. Bainbridge, J. M., Pantaleo, S., Ellis,M. (1999). Multicultural picture books:Perspectives from Canada. The SocialStudies, 90 (4), 183-188. RetrievedDecember 23, 2009, from ProQuestdatabase.2. Clammer, J. (2002). Diaspora andidentity: The sociology of culture inSoutheast Asia. Malaysia: PelandukPublications.Call no.: RSEA 306.0959 CLA3. Dhami, N. (2003). Bindi babes.London: Corgi Yearling Books.Call no.: RAC 823.914 DHA4. Dhami, N. (2005). Bhangra babes.London: Corgi Yearling Books.Call no.: RAC 823.914 DHA5. Higgins, J. J. (2002). Multiculturalchildren’s literature: Creating andapplying an evaluation tool in responseto the needs of urban educators.Retrieved December 21, 2009, fromhttp://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/multicultural/higgins.htm6. Hill, T. J. (1998). Multicultural children’sbooks: An American fairy tale.Publishing Research Quarterly, 14 (1),36-46. Retrieved December 23, 2009,from Springerlink database.7. Hirahara, N. (2008). 1001 cranes. NewYork: Delacorte Press.Call no.: RAC 813.54 HIR8. Ho, M. (2005). The stone goddess.New York: Scholastic.Call no.: RAC 813.54 HO9. Loh, V. S. (2006). Quantity and quality:The need for culturally authentic tradebooks in Asian American young adultliterature. The ALAN Review, 34(1),44-61. Retrieved December 23, 2009,from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v34n1/loh.pdf10. National Library Board. (2005).Asian renaissance: The Singaporeand Southeast Asian & Asian ChildrenCollection Guide [Brochure].Singapore: National Library Board.11. Norton, D. E. (c2005). Multiculturalchildren’s literature: Through theeyes of many children. (2nd ed.)Upper Saddle River, N.J. PearsonPrentice Hall.Call no.: R 810.9928208693 NOR12. Warren, A. (2008). Escape fromSaigon. New York: Farrar,Straus and Giroux.Call no.: RAC 959.704308645 WAR13. Williams, L. E. (2008). Slant.Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions.Call no.: RAC 813.6 WIL14. Yang, H. (2008). Mo’s mischief: Peskymonkeys. London: HarperCollinsChildren’s Books.Call no.: RAC 895.1352 YAN40 biblioasia • April 2010
Collection Highlights41The GeorgeHicks CollectionBy Geoff WadeVisiting Senior Research FellowInstitute of Southeast Asian StudiesIn an age when the printed word is being rapidly transformedinto a digital signal and the page into an electronic image, itis always pleasing to meet people for whom the book is stilla treasured object. While books may not necessarily still betoday what Charles William Elliot, the long-standing presidentof Harvard University, called “the most accessible and wisestof counselors,” bibliophiles generally see them as the mostaesthetic and collectable carriers of information and ideas.Those who have amassed personal libraries value theirbooks both for their content and for the beauty inherent in theirphysical production, and some collectors try to ensure that thecontents of their libraries will be available to future generationsfor decades or centuries to come by donating their collectionsto public institutions.The National Library of Singapore has been fortunatethrough the years to have been the beneficiary of majorcollections created over decades by such collectors - scholarssuch as Tan Yeok Seong, Edwin Thumboo and Carl Gibson-Hill; professionals such as Koh Seow Chuan; and specialisedcollectors such as the film aficionado Ang Kok Sai.The National Library Board (NLB) has recently received amajor gift of books from George Lyndon Hicks – economist,author, book-lover, traveller, businessman and long-time Singaporeresident. A large part of his personal library has now beengiven to the people of Singapore through this donation to theNational Library. The collection, comprising more than 3,000rare and contemporary volumes, is particularly valuable in itsDr N Varaprasad, Chief Executive, National Library Board,presenting the Distinguished Patron of National Library award toMr George Hicks on 26 February 2009.China, Japan and Southeast Asia foci, with economics, historyand culture being the areas best represented by the works.The collection reflects, naturally enough, the interests andlife journey of Mr Hicks, an Australian who has lived, studied andworked in various parts of Asia for more than half a century. It wasin the late 1950s that Mr Hicks’ connections with Asia began, firstthrough involvement with the international student movementand subsequently as an economist travelling north to conductresearch on the nationalisation of Dutch enterprises inSukarno’s Indonesia.It was there, as he trawled the second-hand book stores ofthe major cities of Java, that the beginnings of the Hicks collectionemerged. The wide range of rare Dutch works on Asia, andparticularly on the 19 th century economic history of Indonesia,which he purchased during this period and subsequently – andon the basis of which some of his own books were written –were in later years presented as a gift to the Indonesian Academyof Sciences (LIPI). This unique collection included 11,000reports of companies which had operated in the Dutch EastIndies and Indonesia. Mr Hicks was again in Indonesia duringthe tumultuous years of 1963-65 but, following the attemptedcoup of 30 September 1965, left to return to Australia tocontinue his work.Being on the first flight out of Jakarta following the attemptedcoup meant that he was, on arriving in Australia, in muchdemand for news and comment. His work on Indonesia andthe books collected allowed Mr Hicks to jointly compile withGeoffrey McNicoll an influential listing of key works on theeconomy of Indonesia: The Indonesian Economy, 1950-1965: A Bibliography (Southeast Asia Studies Program, YaleUniversity, 1967).The late 1960s saw Mr Hicks move to the Philippines topursue further studies on the background of Southeast Asianeconomic development. On the basis of this research, hepublished Trade and Growth in the Philippines: An Open DualEconomy (Cornell University Press, 1971). The studies, reportsand monographs accumulated during his stay in the PhilippineIslands were added to his growing library.Japan was the next destination in the 1970s, whereagain he pursued economic research as well as conducteda study of the Korean minority in Japan, which was subsequentlypublished as Japan’s Hidden Apartheid: Tthe KoreanMinority and the Japanese (Ashgate, 1997). A wide range ofJapan- and Korea-related books, on both economic and
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