Extraordinary Losers: Operation Pants On Fire and Captive In The Dark by Jessica Alejandro (Who are more than what others think of you)

The Straits Times

www.straitstimes.com

Published on Jan 12, 2014

 

Bookends

 

By Akshita Nanda


Who: Singapore writer Jessica Alejandro, 33, recently released the third novel in her Extraordinary Losers series for 10- to 14-year-olds.

The series is published by local imprint Bubbly Books and follows the adventures of four primary school pupils who are misfits in their class, but possess unusual abilities.

The most recent novel, Extraordinary Losers: Captive In The Dark, was released in November.

In it, the team gets in trouble when a kidnapper targets them before an important race.

The first book in the series, Extraordinary Losers: Operation Pants On Fire, was shortlisted last year for the $10,000 Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award for a striking work of local fiction, but lost to Where's Grandma?, writer Edmund Lim's story of a family coping with Alzheimer's disease.

Alejandro is a full-time writer and part-time teacher of English and creative writing. She is married to maths and science teacher Aw Jee Siang, 36.

"Extraordinary Losers came about because I realised children equate success in school to good grades," she says.

"Intelligence is measured in such shallow ways that it is a little sad. I wanted them to know that each of them is special in some way, even if he or she seems to be a nobody."

What are you reading now?

I haven't had much time to read lately but I love poems, andI enjoy Poetry Of The Romantics, selected by Paul Driver and published by Penguin Books. It has poems by William Blake and William Wordsworth, my two favourite poets .

There's so much meaning to unravel and room for imagination. Poetry is every reader's playground, I feel.

What book would you save from a burning house?

I would save the only book that has had real meaning in my life - the Bible.

Books by Jessica Alejandro, such as Extraordinary Losers: Captive In The Dark (2013, Bubbly Books, $13.80), are available at major bookstores. Poetry Of The Romantics, edited by Paul Driver (2012, Penguin, $64.90) is available at Amazon.com
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