Kampung Boy

     Overall, I really enjoyed reading, Kampung Boy. On a structural level, I loved the lay out. I enjoyed it being written as a graphic novel. The illustrations helped bring a lot of the emotion out of the text. I especially loved the look of anger on his mother’s face when she realized he had snuck off from the house. The illustrations of the father were hilarious and really showed the silly side the boy expressed his father having. The book started out with the little boy being born. The traditions were interesting. The grandmother was the one to deliver him and was paid fifteen dollars, which was normal charge for the first born. The story shares a lot of information about what it is like in this little village. There is the “chengai” wood which is what their house is made of and is described as a “very handsome timber that really lasts a long time.” The story of him starting school to learn the Koran was quite interesting. The father hands the teacher some rice, money, and a cane to discipline him with. That was definitely a difference in culture to have a parent bring the teacher an object to be used for physical punishment. I also noticed in the illustration that there were three girls as well. From my little understanding of the Muslim religion, I had always been under the impression that just the boys would go to school to learn the Koran (especially with this book set in the 1950’s), so I found it interesting to see the three girls there and wondered if I was wrong in my thinking, or if in that part of Malaysia, in that village, girls were allowed to attend. The aspect of this book I enjoyed and struck me the most is even though there are so many cultural differences from how I have grown up, it is still so relatable. The little boy makes friends with kids at school that after a while his parents become concerned that they may be too big of a distraction to the little boy. Most kids have a friend or two that their parents might find to be a bad influence or may not approve of having their child spend time with that person. Of course, that is usually the person the child is closest to. Then he discussed his struggles in regular school. He was not great at math, but he was good at art and enjoyed it. Again, most people can relate to this too because we all have our strengths and weaknesses in every aspect of our life. The part that stood out the most was the love in his family. Even though, their life is so different from mine as well as other peoples’ lives, there are still so many things that are similar but expressed in different ways. The family shared all the same emotions and interactions that most of us share within our own families. That was the great thing I took from this book. We, as humans, can be so different and yet still so very much the same.