Maxilla is a story about a boy named Reuben who finds a caterpillar in the school garden. Excited by the wriggly creature, he names her Maxilla and decides to keep her as a pet, anticipating that he will have two pets in one when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly. But he soon learns that Maxilla cannot thrive in captivity and might not even survive. He struggles to make a decision. Will Reuben hold on to his newfound pet or will he return Maxilla to her natural habitat? This is a story about the difficulty of letting go and the need to respect nature and all that is in it.

Illustrated by Shing, an artist who studied at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. Her sculptures and paintings adorn many corporate buildings in Singapore and her work has appeared in exhibitions throughout Asia. She was nominated for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2012. She lives in Fukuoka and is the mother of two boys, Yuuri and Rui.