cuddlescuddle
MOM’s TRAINING:
The Gift of Life
Written and illustrated by Carmen Lym
First Published by The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups
JULY 2020
188 Pages / Full Color
ISBN:97898879951-3-5
As one of the award recipients of 第五屆青年作家大招募, this book titled Mom's Training: Finding the Gift of Life (媽媽火車 - 尋找生活的禮物) is an illustrated and written stories of 12 mothers based in Hong Kong.
Fulfilling the role of a mother requires patience, love and dedication, which resembles the experience of driving a train on a never-ending route. In every stop of life, mothers encounter challenges as well as colorful delights. This dialogue project with 12 mothers who now resided in Hong Kong invites readers to take a moment to reflect on their own journeys and revisit their relationship with families and others in different perspectives.
With true stories shared by the interviewees, painted portraits of themselves and the items that meant to them, I hope to illustrate a review of the mother’s love, motivation, unique characteristics and strengths - bravery, guardianship, creativeness, independence and more in this little book of love.
To build a closer relationship with these mothers, I spent 2 months to get along with them to know them better and explain the meaning behind this project. Thanks to their generosity and kindness, I happened to join a part of their daily life such as getting ingredients from the wet market, helping out in tofu stall and meeting their families to understand them from several angles.
One of the interviewee named Vi, is a domestic helper from the Philippines, divorced and apart from her daughter for 17 years. She has been working in Hong Kong and Israel to earn a living for family in her home country.
Her portrait on the first page of the chapter was her and her daughters smiling in a beautiful house she built with money earned throughout the years. I am deeply touched by how surprised Vi felt seeing her dream life has been realized in the book. By expressing the little-known journeys and feelings of the mothers through text and pictures, may this little book cultivates a place for mutual understanding that bypass the definition of right or wrong.
Media Coverage
星島教育 -【新書介紹】青協出版新書 分享12位媽媽專屬的甜蜜故事 - Link
HK01 - 背包客變三個孩子的媽媽 告別歐洲流浪自由生活 風景不同但更美 Link
好好閱讀 - 新書網上分享會 - Link
羅乃萱shirley loo會客室 Link
RTHK Radio 1 -《我們不是怪獸》4 Oct 2020 Link
真人圖書館年青作家系列：第三集:《城市留白》劉妍汶 Link
Selling
Hong Kong Federation of Youth Group Online Bookstore - Link
The Commercial Press - Link
Joint Publishing HK
HKTV Mall (Online Book Fair 2020)
Pinkoi (Online Book Fair 2020)