SPECIAL

MISSION
Please refer to page 12 of the Dare to Read 2015 manual for more
information. This activity is only offered to schools under the
Read@School programme. Tokens can be redeemed from the school’s
library, while stocks last.

The museum’s complex geometry resembles a lotus floating above the

promenade. Its white shell changes character during the day.

Reaching for the Sky: The Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

By Sheldon Adelson
Call Number: SING 725.8042095957 REA
Page: 220
All Rights Reserved, ORO Editions, 2013.
 SPECIAL
MISSION
Please refer to page 12 of the Dare to Read 2015 manual for more
information. This activity is only offered to schools under the
Read@School programme. Tokens can be redeemed from the
school’s library, while stocks last.

Cloves in Singapore

Until the 18th century, cloves grew in just

five islands in the Moluccas, yet it was
one of the spices most desired by Europeans.
In 1819, Raffles planted 450 clove trees in
Singapore Botanic and Experimental Garden
at Fort Canning; these died when nutmeg blight
struck in the 1860s.

Cultivation in Singapore

Raffles planted 125 nutmeg trees in

Singapore’s Botanic Experimental
gardens in 1819, and by the 1830s,
there was a nutmeg tree planting
‘mania’ amongst Europeans here.

Images of Gardens By the Bay

By Bernard Go
Call Number: SING 635.9095957 GO
Page: 95
All Rights Reserved, Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2014.
 SPECIAL
MISSION
Please refer to page 12 of the Dare to Read 2015 manual for more
information. This activity is only offered to schools under the
Read@School programme. Tokens can be redeemed from the
school’s library, while stocks last.

I remember cloves from when I was

younger, studded into hams and onions,
which filled the kitchen with such a strong
smell around Christmas time. I associated
them with an old-fashioned style of
cooking that didn’t interest me. As I
. learned more about Indian food, however, I
developed a new appreciation for this
wonderful spice – either ground into the
earthy garam masala spice mix or chucked
into hot oil with other whole spices like
cinnamon and black peppercorns and bay
leaves.
I suddenly noticed how amazing this little spice was and, as I cooked my way around
the world, realized its full potential: five spice in China, curries and rice in Malaysia
and Indonesia, slow-cooked Mexican sauces and even perfumed Moroccan spice
blends.

Mighty Spice Cookbook

By John Gregory-Smith
Call Number: 641.6383 GRE-[COO]
Page: 185
All Rights Reserved, Duncan Baird Publishers, 2011.
 SPECIAL
MISSION
Please refer to page 12 of the Dare to Read 2015 manual for more
information. This activity is only offered to schools under the
Read@School programme. Tokens can be redeemed from the
school’s library, while stocks last.

“What is ratitis, Daddy?” young Thwaites

had asked. “All the rats that the rat-
catchers catch are poisoned with rat-
poison,” the father had said. “It’s the rat-
poison that gives you ratitis.” “Yes, but
what happens to you when you catch it?”
young Thwaites had asked.
“Your teeth become very sharp and pointed,” the father had answered. “And a short
stumpy tail grows out of your back just above your bottom. There is no cure for
ratitis. I ought to know. I’m a doctor.”

We all enjoyed Thwaites’s story and we made him tell it to us many times on our walks
to and from school. But it didn’t stop any of us except Thwaites from buying Liquorice
Bootlaces. At two for a penny they were the best value in the shop. A Bootlace, in case
you haven’t had the pleasure of handling one, is not round. It’s like a flat black tape
about half an inch wide. You buy it rolled up in a coil, and in those days it used to be so
long that when you unrolled it and held one end at arm’s length above your head, the
other end touched the ground.

Boy: Tales of Childhood

By Roald Dahl
Call Number: J 823 DAH
Page: 38 – 39
All Rights Reserved, Jonathan Cape, 2012.
 SPECIAL
MISSION
Please refer to page 12 of the Dare to Read 2015 manual for more
information. This activity is only offered to schools under the
Read@School programme. Tokens can be redeemed from the
school’s library, while stocks last.

CHANG

In The Blue Lotus Hergé paid tribute to his

Chinese friend Chong-chen by introducing
him into the story as a character. Chang is
an orphan whom Tintin saves from
drowning. They become fast friends, and
Chang ends up saving Tintin’s life later on!

In 1931 the real Chang came to Brussels,

Belgium, to study western art and
sculpture.
After he returned to China in 1936 he became a renowned artist. In 1981, two years
before Hergé died, Chang flew back to Belgium from China to be reunited with his friend.
They hadn’t seen one another for 46 years.

Many adventures after The Blue Lotus, Tintin meets Chang one more time in Tintin in
Tibet.

The Adventures of Tintin: The Blue Lotus

Author: Hergé
Call Number: J 741.5 HER
Page: 18
All Rights Reserved, Egmont, 2013.