Out of Order

Synopsis Professor Plano, Zed and Zee are hot on Lord Myopic’s trail! They have arrived in Lord Myopic’s dreamworld, a place where everything is run by robots and people talk to each other only on their devices. Until . . . the machines go on strike —devices need a break too! The people are lost, and Prof Plano and the boys have to figure out how to help them get out of this tangle. The Series Myopia (short-sightedness), device dependency and lack of outdoor activity are public health concerns worldwide. Stories from the plano adventures are based on years of scientific research, written specially to empower young readers to tackle these adverse effects of excessive device use.

The Authors Dr Mohamed (Mo) Dirani is a world leading expert on myopia, or short-sightedness. At age 26, Mo earned his PhD with the world’s largest twin study on myopia in Australia. His research showed that the environment can influence the development of myopia even in twins who share 100 per cent of their genes. In 2009, Mo led a national study on myopia in Singapore, which confirmed that myopia can occur in very young children, putting them at risk of developing sight-threatening myopia later in life. Therefore, early prevention is important. The Professor Plano Clear Vision Recipe is strongly based on this science. Today, Mo heads plano Pte Ltd, a company with a single mission to help families all over the world manage device use and myopia. Hwee Goh is a MediaCorp scholar who spent 16 years in political broadcast news, and is the author of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Wildlife Wonders and Singapore’s Sports Stars. She is also a communications professional who teaches media skills and provides editorial support to companies at The Media Consultants Singapore. However, her lifelong job is reading, and promoting reading. She is the non-commercial micro-influencer who runs Facebook Page, Hwee’s Book Share Club, from whence she gets her deep experience interacting with like-minded parents on all things books. The Illustrator David Liew is the talented illustrator behind the highly successful ten-book Ellie Belly series, that has sold 100,000 copies and which has been translated into a few languages. Dave also created Squirky of the five-book Squirky series, which won the SCWBI Crystal Kite Award 2016 for book 4. In 2014, he wrote and illustrated his own book, Nightmare on Eat Street, funded by the National Arts Council. Dave is currently the Regional Advisor to the Singapore Chapter of the International Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, although he spent his younger years as a history and art lecturer. Dave also spends his time as a sculptor at the Sleeping Iron Foundry.