What Sallamah Didn't Know

Written by Sharon Ismail  |  Illustrated by Khairudin Shaharom
paperback

What Sallamah Didn't Know tells of the true life story of the author's mother. Sallamah, was born into a poor Chinese family where male babies were revered over female ones. She was given away to a Malay family during a time when inter-racial adoption was a common practice in Singapore. Sallamah grew up thinking that her life was ordinary. She lived in an ordinary kampong with an ordinary family and had an ordinary group of friends whom she played ordinary games with. Little would she realise that an innocent-looking piece of paper would reveal a secret which her parents had painstakingly kept from her. The book takes the reader through Sallamah's journey and discusses the true meaning of family.

The Chinese, Malay and Tamil editions of this story were launched at the Asian Festival of Children's Content in 2015 and they're all available in the CoB webstore.