Picked my boy extra early from the student care centre so that he could visit our school library. I was pleasantly surprised when he decided to borrow a book — a Chinese one at that. The librarian remarked that he was the first Primary One student to borrow a book. Personal achievement unlocked!

This Chinese version of “Good night, Gorilla” tells a charming tale of a gorilla who led a major exodus by stealing the zookeeper’s keys and opening the cages of his fellow animals. Then, they marched in a straight line to follow the zookeeper and enter the bedroom of his home. For some inexplicable reason, he didn’t notice them. But the rustling and stirring awakened the zookeeper’s wife. What did she do next? I will leave you to find out the ending for yourself.

The Chinese book doesn’t come with many words — which serves as a morale boost when my son breezed through the reading fairly easily. Phew. So, with time to spare, my creative juices boiled remarkably, prompting me to ask him to do a book review for his “I’m a Young Zoologist” project.

I asked him questions to elicit key understanding and then spelt the words for him. So, the outcome was our first father-son collaboration. May he read more Chinese books and do more reviews in the future.