Inaugural Book Review - My Daughter My Friend, Letters to a Daughter by Irene Chua

Ms Irene Chua and her daughter Ming

Hi guys, welcome to very first book review.

I created this page to recommend books that I have read and would like to share with you. Have you noticed that when you are in a public transport or in restaurants, practically everyone is deeply engrossed in their smartphones or other gadgets? Watching movies, videos, texting, surfing etc. I hardly see anyone reading nowadays. It is a sad sad  end to  a beautiful pasttime. Through this page, I hope to do my small part in trying to keep reading alive.

I love reading but I don't fancy ereading. I prefer to hold a book in my hands and enjoy getting lost in its story. The book that gets the honor of being the first book to be featured is My Daughter, My Friend, Letters to a Daughter by Irene Chua.

I got to know about this book through a friend of mine - those who have read a certain previous post under Healthy Vegetarian Recipes will remember Supermom who had shared her A Unique Melt-In-Your-Mouth Banana Cake with us.  I immediately liked the title of the book 'My daughter, My friend - Letters to a Daughter'. It seemed like a tear jerker, I told Supermom who replied that it won't evoke tears but it is rather a light-hearted read.  After her recommendation, I ordered it online and got a copy to have my reading fill for the week. 

It is a paperback with 180 pages and was first printed in 1996. Another edition was printed in 2013.  It starts off with a forward by Ms Chua's daughter, Ms Sheena Tan ( or Ming - to whom these letters were written to when she was 18). Apparently Ms Chua (who is a dentist by profession), became a mini celebrity when the book was released in Singapore in 1996. Needless  to say, Ms Tan couldn't understand what the big fuss was about ! 

Ms Chua then jumps straight into the many life lessons, through the form of letters, that she had wanted to pass on to her teen daughter. This includes topics like :

Beauty (Inner vs Outer beauty)
Getting Physical (touching on the topic of sexual intimacy before marriage)
Father's Day (relationship between a daughter and her father)
Umbrellas and Stones in the Pocket (dressing modestly when stepping out)
Chicken Drumsticks  (male and female equality status in a family)

There are a total of 45 letters that Ms Chua had written to her daughter. All heartwarming and still applicable to today, 20 years later. Being a devout Christian, Ms Chua has also  injected spirituality into her advice. I especially like the fact that at the end of every lesson, there are questions to ponder over. This will be very useful for a Book Club meeting.

I would highly recommend this book to all mothers who have preteens or teen daughters. It is one of those books which would have a permanent placing in your book shelves. One of those books you would read and pass it down to your daughter to cherish and to keep it for her own daughter one day.  Thank you Supermom for your kind recommendation. Do keep those one of a kind recipes and recommendations coming :)

My Daughter, My Friend can be ordered online at www.ethosbooks.com.sg and costs around $20 Singapore dollars. It would make a great gift for your lady friends with daughters.

While blogging and the book lying next to me on the couch yesterday, it caught my 13 year old daughter's eyes. She started reading it in between her homework.  Her exact words - "This is a book I would enjoy reading'. 

My passing down this book to her has already begun :)​

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