The affable Lim Soon Heng, actor, director, radio host and Shakespeare enthusiast, has added another feather to his cap – a children’s book writer.
The colourful book cheekily called A Hen-Made Tale was launched recently at a storytelling event organised by the Museum of Picture Book Art at the GMBB creative mall in Kuala Lumpur.
The launch was a packed out affair with parents and children listening on as Lim read highlights from the 28-page book and shared how the entire project came together.
A Hen-Made Tale, illustrated by Penang-based artist Tang Yeok Khang, captures Lim in a playful storytelling mood, with the use of chickens in a coop to tell readers to not be stuck in a rut, especially during these uncertain times.
Lim was quick to point out that A Hen-Made Tale was not hatched as a result of the pandemic. In fact, he started writing the fowl tale in 1996 after returning from the United States.
“When it was ‘finished’, I took it to a publishing house (in Kuala Lumpur), which turned out to be textbook-and-workbook focused (company). It wanted me to add a vocabulary section for a comprehension test.
“I walked out of the building holding tightly to my manuscript. I concluded, ‘No wonder children in Malaysia, for the most part, don’t like to read. The pleasure of the text is drained, and it’s all about work, work, work’,” recounts Lim, 69.
Since then, the story went through several rewrites, with updated comedic twists and turns.
In 2005, Lim performed a live storytelling version of A Hen-Made Tale at the National Art Gallery and Hospital KL under the KL International Children Theatre Festival. During the pandemic, the KL Shakespeare Players, which Lim co-founded, performed it as part of its virtual storytelling offering in 2020.
It’s no secret that Lim hopes to give A Hen-Made Tale the full theatre stage treatment. But that will have to wait.
It has been realised as a children’s book, and the opportunities to build on this story are open now. A Hen-Made Tale is a tongue-in-cheek story about egg-laying hens who are scheming to have a day off, tired of laying eggs every day at Mr Chan’s farm. They realise that since they work very hard every day of the year, they deserve a holiday.
Lim mentions that he and Tang worked closely together, although they never met in person during the creative process because of the pandemic travel restrictions. The virtual meetings were fun and invigorating, he says.
“I shared with him that his illustrations should do more than tell my words in pictures. His illustrations should also unfold a complementary story, but not another story. I love the humour in his visual expressions,” says Lim.
This book project took over 10 months to complete with Tang working in Penang and Lim fine-tuning the story in KL.
Tang turned in a wide array of artwork, including sketches and storyboard scribbles, which he exhibited at the recent book launch at GMBB.
“People have asked me if I based the chickens in the book on Malaysian chickens... all I have to say is go read the book, you’ll find some familiar local (chicken) variety as well as drawings based on chickens around the world,” says Tang, who works on commercial art projects and heritage design concepts in Penang.
Lim also shares that he hopes to make a series of books featuring these hens.
“On the inside back cover, we see some hens far away from the farm. They are coming over a hill and looking down at a city we can all recognise. These hens are about to embark on a new adventure. Kind of like, the hens... go into the city!” teases Lim.
A Hen-Made Tale is published by Oyez!Books. It is supported by MyCreative Ventures and Penjana through the Literature and Publishing grant.
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