The Adventures of Max and Mei
Martha Keswick, with illustrations by Mariko Jesse
CD plus four books

This book has a great concept. It’s a bilingual educational tool aimed at making learning the Mandarin language fun for children aged 2 to 8 years – no easy feat. It tells the story of the adventures of best friends Max (British) and Mei (Chinese) with various animals from the Chinese zodiac.

The author is a Mandarin-speaking mum of four who was inspired to write after failing to find bilingual books to read to her children.
My six-year-old and four-year-old enjoyed the collage-inspired illustrations and found it novel to hear a book in Mandarin. It can, however, come across as too “educational” and a bit dry.

Jill Birch

Bus Stopping
Stephen Black
Blacksteps

This 160-page photographic project began when American art photographer Stephen Black became interested in documenting the big advertising images on the sides of buses. It grew into a fascinating visual journey that spans years of insightful observation. Portraits of passengers, workers and passers-by, together with images of roads, street signs and Singapore’s variety of architecture reflect the lives of city-dwellers and heartland residents in an absorbing and satisfying melange. For anyone who loves this place.

Vanessa Harvey

Red-light Nights, Bangkok Daze
Chronicles of Sexuality Across Asia
William Sparrow
Monsoon

Everything you ever (or perhaps never) wanted to know about sex for sale in Asia is in this collection of articles by Asia Times Online columnist William Sparrow. It’s a strange mixture. Sensitive and erudite observations on such subjects as the Catholic church undermining the freedom of choice of women in the Philippines, and the devastating effects of the cultural bias towards male children in India and China, are interspersed with graphic and titillating descriptions of the author’s own sexual encounters with the subjects of his study: women workers in the sex industry – preferably under 5 foot tall, very thin and with bottoms perky enough to balance a beer mug on. It’s interesting and hugely informative, but the female reader is going to need an open mind and a strong stomach.

Verne Maree

Slam
Nick Hornby
Penguin

The protagonist of this novel is sixteen-year-old boy skater Sam – he’s at pains to let you know that the term “skateboarder” is uncool – who lives in suburban London and falls in love and into deep, deep trouble when his girlfriend becomes pregnant. Raised by his young mother, he relates better to the giant poster on his bedroom wall of skating icon Tony Hawk, with which he shares his hopes and fears. For me, this is not Hornby’s best novel, maybe because I didn’t enjoy its adolescent meandering. But others have enjoyed it, and it’s received mainly good reviews.

Roy Titchmarsh