So pleased to release Journey to the West: Perils on Earth to the world! 😁 This second book in the series was harder to write than the first. Why? Mainly because there was so much material to choose from! For Bk 1 (Chaos in Heaven) , the focus was on Sun Wukong's and Tripitaka's origin stories. The key moments of Wukong's rise from stone monkey to Great Sage and subsequent fall from grace are so iconic that it was simply a matter of taking those key moments and transforming them into a kid-friendly format. And as for Tripitaka, it was not a tough decision to do away with all that backstory involving his parents and start at the point he is rescued from the river by a Buddhist monk.

But for Books 2 & 3, which chart the pilgrims' progress to the West... oh my goodness! Did you know that Tripitaka and gang had to endure as many as 81 trials on their journey? The original book had 100 chapters - I only had 3 books x 6 chapters for my kids' version. How to choose? How to choose? 😅

Well, go on and read Perils on Earth, which is available for pre-orders now, and tell me if you agree with my choices!

[PRE-ORDER DEAL] Get Pop! Lit for Kids series 2 at 20% OFF from today to 17 Oct using Promo Code: POPLIT20 at www.worldscientificedu.com!

A big thank you to publisher Ruth Wan, editors Mallika Naguran and Daniele Lee, marketing and publicity guru Serene Ng, illustrator Koo Jia Yi, and the rest of the amazing team at World Scientific!

Don't forget to check out Jia Yi’s other amazing artwork at https://jiayikoo.wixsite.com/portfolio/about-me-1 and on Instagram at @u_u.jpeg!