Stormglass Press

Real places.
A little magic.

Illustrated books that begin somewhere true.

Cover of The Merlion Who Forgot: a boy looks up at the Merlion statue at Marina Bay at dawn.

Leo’s World Adventures · Book One

The Merlion Who Forgot

A Story of Singapore

For more than fifty years, the Merlion has stood by Marina Bay, watching Singapore grow. Then one morning, just before sunrise, a boy named Leo stands beneath the statue with a notebook full of facts and no feeling for any of it, and whispers a wish.

The magic lasts only until sunset — and the Merlion remembers Singapore only in pieces. Together they have one day to find its story.

Inside the book

One day across Singapore — the old river and the glass towers, a hawker centre at lunchtime, the Supertrees, a family of otters, Changi Airport, and the great ships at the port. At every stop, a memory comes back.

A busy Singapore street with lanterns, a temple and a mosque, as Leo walks beside the Merlion. Leo and the Merlion beneath the Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay. Leo and the Merlion at the port at sunset, container ships along the water.
The Stormglass Press logo: a storm inside a glass sphere, resting on an open book.

About the press

Stormglass Press publishes illustrated books about real places. Our books start with somewhere true — a city, a coastline, a country — and let a little wonder in.

Facts and magic are not opposites in a children’s book. The best ones use one to make the other stick.

The author

Krish Bhatnagar wrote The Merlion Who Forgot at thirteen, during the summer before eighth grade. It began as a school geography assignment — write a children’s book about a country. He chose Singapore, where his mother was born.