Cecillia Hidayat – illustratör

Na Willa is a bright, adventurous girl living in Surabaya's suburbs, her home in the middle of an alley surrounded by cypress trees. She spends her days running after trains, going down to the market, and thinking about how people can sing through radios. Indonesian author Reda Gaudiamo has created a collection of stories of curious adventures and musings of a multicultural girl growing up in Indonesia with an East Indonesian mother and a Chinese-Indonesian father. Set in a time when children spent the day outside, listening to Lilis Suryani's songs on the radio, and when race and gender would still go undiscussed, this is Na Willa's story as she grows up unafraid to ask the big questions.

Na Willa's days are spent happily in her little house in the alley, until, one day, Pak brings some news that will change her life forever...Na Willa is a little girl who likes to ask questions. Why can’t she go home from school right now? Why can’t she play with Farida when she has chickenpox? And, most importantly, why can’t her nose be long and pointy like the people in magazines?Na Willa’s mother, Mak, does her best to explain why each time, and Na Willa’s world keeps expanding. Also, Pak, her father, is back from sea! Now Na Willa couldn’t be happier: playing with her friends, reading new books, and singing along to records. But then one day Pak brings some news that will change her life forever...Based on Reda Gaudiamo’s childhood in the 1960s, Na Willa and the House in the Alley is a collection of stories about a bright, open-hearted girl growing up in the city of Subaraya, in multicultural Indonesia. This is the sequel to The Adventures of Na Willa.