Lim Lay Har

A little girl goes into a shoe shop and eyes a beautiful pair of shoes with silver buckles. But they don't fit her, her feet are too big, her mother says and buys her another, more practical pair of shoes. The little girl doesn't like them, she feels like an elephant in them. But she was soon distracted at Grandma's house and goes straight to what she likes in the house - Grandma's cabinet of treasures from the past. And there was something she hadn't noticed before. A tiny pair of shoes! Who could they belong to?

Lay Har's story is one that we can all identify with, don't we wish we were something or someone else at one time or another? The story is narrated by the little girl and accompanied Lay Koon's illustrations, we find ourselves drawn to the little girl and agonised along with her - why aren't her feet smaller, why does she have to wear the ugly green shoes, surely everyone is laughing at her - and we cheered when she bounces back

A brief background on the practice of foot-binding is given on the last page of the book.