Grandpa Yeh's Journey South

Written by Eva Wong Nava  |  Illustrated by John Lim
paperback

Grandpa Yeh was only seventeen when he left his home in Swatow, China, with only the clothes on his back and a precious family heirloom — his grandmother’s rice cake mould. A junk carries him and hundreds of others to a new country where he works hard carrying heavy sacks all day beside a muddy smelly river. Grandpa is terribly homesick. One day, he decides to make his Ah Ma’s png kueh, the Teochew sticky rice cake that reminds him so much of home... and everything changes!

Grandpa Yeh’s Journey South celebrates the courage and tenacity of the early Chinese immigrants who left their homeland in search of a better life. From Swatow to Singapore, from hardship to happiness, his is a story that is repeated among the Chinese diaspora across the world. It also spotlights the family bonds that survive across generations, and a most delectable Teochew tradition, the rice cake.

This latest release by Pepper Dog Press is the second in its Hawker Culture series of picture books for children, after Oyster Girl by Joyce Chng. This time the spotlight falls on the Teochews, and includes a special png kueh recipe by celebrity chef Eric Low, a well-known and much respected champion of Teochew culture in Singapore.