The Blur Sotong (Book 3, Ang Ku Kueh Girl & Friends)
Synopsis: How did the Dragon, who once could fly and fight monsters, come to be frozen into a playground? Ang Ku Kueh Girl, Ang Ku Kueh Boy and Red Egg find out about the Magical Dragon Playground’s plight, and set out to help him defeat the Blur Sotong, in a bid to unfreeze the Dragon so that he can be free again.
“Stop pulling our legs! How silly do you think we are?” Curry Puff Boy asked.
“That’s right, how can a playground talk?” said Kueh Lapis Girl, while Roti Prata Boy kicked at the sand, feeling bored.
The Blur Sotong by Wang Shija is published by Epigram Books. It is Book 3 of the Ang Ku Kueh Girl & Friends series.
I stumbled upon this by accident when I was browsing for new books to borrow on the National Library Board (NLB) website. The Blur Sotong is featured under Trending Now for the Young At Heart section (borrow from the NLB here). It piqued my curiosity and I didn’t regret borrowing it. I ended up reading the entire series—all the three books!
I suggest reading The Magical Dragon Playground first (borrow from the NLB here), which is the first book in the series. Doing so will provide readers with a background of who Ang Ku Kueh Girl is and how the magical dragon playground came to be.
The illustrations are beautiful and the story engaging. The six friends go on a magical adventure, and in helping the Warrior Dragon, they find out the truth about the Sorcerer aka The Blur Sotong.
Hint: It’s a happy ending and I love happy endings!
There’s a lesson to be had! Read the book to find out what happens to the Warrior Dragon.
I’m loving the local flavor in the book and the series. Names such as Ang Ku Kueh, Kueh Lapis, Roti Prata, and even Red Egg has significance as Singapore food (they’re yummy!). There’s even the definition of “blur sotong” at the end of the story to explain what it means—it’s not foreign to local readers like me but might be for international readers!
Catch the whole series. They’re lovely.
