Title: Fire Heart
Author: Joyce Ch’ng
ISBN: 9789814885799
Publisher: Scholastic
Price: RM24.60 (usual price)
Where to buy: Shopee Malaysia
First impressions
Fire Heart is the kind of book I’d have gobbled up as a kid let loose in the school library. It has all the hallmarks of a great book too – it’s simple enough to understand and follow the threads, yet complex enough that once you get past the plot, you start to wonder about the questions it raises.
This is a great book for sparking conversations and thoughts for the children who are beginning to question their place in the world and offers a space to question the motives of the adults in their lives without reducing said adults into 2D caricatures that would have made things too simple. To be clear, it’s not a book meant for adults (much), but it is very well-written for its target market, and it’s one of those books that I feel should be included in every school library in South East Asia.
Singing moments
There are moments when the book is singing, and there are moments where the book is singing to me. Those are two very different situations, and each will be different for another reader, depending on where you are and what stage of life you’re in.
And one of them is just how effortlessly Ch’ng spotlights women and matriarchal societies. It feels right, and honestly echoes my own upbringing. I was raised mainly by my grandmother with my mother playing an outsized role despite being a career woman. There were choices made by them for the wellbeing of the family, choices I did not learn nor realise until I was well into adulthood, and for that gift, I thank Ch’ng.
Who this might be for
Honestly for any kid who enjoys mythology and swords and fantasy. One of the things I love about this book is how it doesn’t question that the world is female-centric, but more of just is, which absolutely helps in suspending disbelief – I certainly did not need to have it explained to me as to why women are in power, which is something you get from a lot of other books when they are not pushing a male-dominated society.
There’s a lot of hand-waving, but considering Fire Heart’s target market I think it’s justified. It helps set the stage while allowing imagination to rein, which is always great. This book also strikes at some of the conversations certain parents would not want to have with their kids, and others would love to.
The conversation about border people especially, hit me right in the gut, because when I was Wehia’s age I wanted to know too, but the discourse between my comfort and the livelihoods of others is not something that’s easy to navigate emotionally.
Conclusion
This book is really good for kids between 9-14, and perhaps a little older. On the surface it looks like a quick and easy read (I finished it in perhaps 4 hours and I’m a fairly quick reader) but it lingers, like the taste of a good meal shared with friends.
Though, really Scholastic, why is this book only available in Asia, and worse of all, only as physical paperback? Are you deliberately trying to kill it? -_-