Approximately 450 people gathered at the spacious lobby of National Library Board (NLB)'s headquarters at Bras Basah for a reading event on July 13, 2014.

The event comes on the heels of the pulped fiction saga, where two children's books -- And Tango Makes Three and The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption were withdrawn from shelves following feedback from a member of a public who disagreed with the books' content.

The event, "Let's Read Together" -- with a running penguin theme -- was organised by writer and AWARE executive Jolene Tan and parent Germaine Eliza Ong to promote reading between children and parents and the diversity of reading materials.

Copies of And Tango Makes Three and Who’s in My Family were made available for lending at the event, while members of the public brought their own books to read.

Ong was careful not to link the gathering to NLB’s decision earlier in the week to pulp the books that were withdrawn.

"No doubt their decision to pulp the books was unpopular... but I think that correlation is not causation," she said.

Tan said that the organisers don’t really have any fixed plans at the moment for future events because "this was all organised very quickly". They would be happy to help those who are making the books available to the public.

To hold the event, permission from the police and the NLB were obtained by the organisers without difficulty.

The police were the ones who made contact with the organisers first to advise them on getting the necessary permit.

Here is a Q&A with the organiser and members of the public on how the event panned out.

1. Germaine Eliza Ong, organiser of "Let's Read Together"

Were you surprised that the police gave you the permit to hold this event?

"The police actually got in touch with us first to ask us to meet them to discuss the event. So, during the discussion the first thing they said was that it would be good if we can get a permit and that we are aware of the necessary conditions for maintaining public order. The police just wanted to make sure that we were aware of the safety and other concerns of organising such an event."

What about NLB?

"It would have been very odd if NLB did not give us the permit because we are here reading books. In fact when they did give us the permit and Jolene (Tan) and I were saying that 'we should announce it to the public', I said that this is so strange: "Breaking News: Library grants permission for public to read books in its premises." So I'm very grateful to them that they gave us their blessing, because we are promoting reading... I wouldn't say it was a surprise. I'm a big fan of the Library Board and I think that they would have done the right thing knowing that our motives are simply to promote reading between children and parents, and to promote the diversity of reading materials."

Given the pulping of And Tango Makes Three, do you think that this (event) might have been the library's compromise solution?

"That seems like an entirely different issue from this event. No doubt their decision to pulp the books was unpopular, but I think that correlation is not causation. Let's keep that in mind."

Regarding safety of children and volunteers who were on standby

"We want to make sure that all the children enjoy themselves and are safe. We have friends here just patrolling to make sure that no one is threatening the children; that no one is scaring the children and that we abide by the conditions of the police permit. It's very important to us to be a lawful assembly."

2. Shi Xiao Wei, 40, parent

What do you think of the NLB's decision to pulp the books?

"Personally I don't agree with destroying books in general -- I (find it) incredulous that the NLB, which is supposed to promote literature, reading and all that could be destroying books. Even my children don't (destroy books) -- the books that they outgrow we donate; we give it away... the idea of destroying books is just awful."

What made you come here today?

"One of the reasons is to support this cause -- to show our stand that we don't agree with NLB's decision to take away the books -- and another reason was for our kids, to show our kids that 'you have to stand up for your beliefs... that it's not enough to just talk about it... you have to do something'.

We explained to the kids the purpose of being here... we bought the book (And Tango Makes Three), they had the chance to read it and as a family we talked about it before coming here."

Adelia Lin, 33, parent

"I think it's quite disappointing actually, because I think the books... really teaches about love and acceptance so I think (the NLB's decision) is quite disappointing."

What made you come here today?

"We came here because we love books, and today's event is a reading event, so we are here to show our support for this event... I'm here for my child to show him that it's okay to stand up for what we believe in."

Elena Yap, 45

"I wish they (the NLB) rethought it... We're talking about Singapore being inclusive... I think we should allow all views and leave the decision to the parents. I think people need to be open to every view and I don't think we should be pushing only one view... to be fair, have the trust and let parents decide. It's a shame, really -- I'm a writer and I am saddened to to see this happen and I hope this isn't the start of a slippery slope to other things to come."

All photos by Ng Yi Shu

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