Mother and grandmother Mohana Gill is fully aware of the challenges parents today face in getting their children to eat vegetables and fruits. She's got a great solution for parents.
“It's difficult when you're dealing with kids. The minute you tell the child that they've got to eat this or they've got to do that, you've got a problem. So, I thought it would be nicer, in a fun kind of way, to give them a book to read about fruits and vegetables. If they understand the vegetables and fruits, they may want to try them,” says Mohana whose latest book - Hayley's Fruitastic Garden - is now in bookstores.
The book is about a little girl named Hayley who finds a Fruitastic garden with her friend Zac. In the garden are many varieties of fruit. As Hayley and Zac discover the fruits, they learn tidbits about each fruit. The book also has fruity recipes for parents and kids to try out.
The whole idea is obviously to introduce fruits to children and encourage them to try out the recipes.
This is Mohana's fourth book after Fruitastic!, Vegemania! and Buku Resipi Mudah untuk Kanak-Kanak: Buah-Buahan dan Sayur-Sayuran untuk Gaya Hidup Sihat. The Bahasa Malaysia book was written on the request of Fama (Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority).
Mohana is publishing another book later this year. It's called Hayley's Vegemania Garden and will be similar to Hayley's Fruitastic Garden except it will be about vegetables.
Hayley is the name of Mohana's granddaughter and the character in the books is based on her. The real-life Hayley loves fruits, calling them “delicious” and “scrumptious”.
When illustrator Tan Vay Fern was enlisted to handle the graphics, Mohana asked her to spend a bit of time with the real Hayley to observe her mannerisms and reactions. Even the little ponytail is just the same as the one the three-and-a-half-year-old little girl has.
The boy, Zac, however is a character Mohana came up with because she didn't want boys to think it was a book just for girls. She also wanted someone that Hayley could interact with as she explored the fruitastic garden.
Wonderful fruits
Fruits and vegetables are nature's gift to us and they are the first “fast” food for all of us, says Mohana. She believes there are many benefits to eating fruits and vegetables – besides nutritious value, there are also the healing properties.
The Myanmar-born Mohana has already won awards for her previous two books – Fruitastic! and Vegemania!
Fruitastic! won The Gourmand Special Jury Award in 2007 and Vegemania! won The Gourmand “Best Vegetarian Cookbook in the World” in 2008.
Mohana explains that she was brought up in Myanmar where her mother would give her natural remedies using fruits and vegetables for whatever ailments she used to have.
She explains that her family has always eaten a lot of fruit. In her Petaling Jaya home, there used to be up to 15 fruit trees.
“We had mangoes, rambutans, custard apple, ciku, papaya, sugar cane, star fruit and durian. I suppose it was a natural progression from there to writing books about fruits,” says Mohana.
The real motivation came when she accompanied her husband to an anti-ageing convention in the United States some years ago. On display were many pills to help in the anti-ageing process.
