From Tots to Teens, StarMag
I WAS browsing at a bookstore for Bahasa Melayu storybooks when I came across some gems -- translations of books written (in English) by Indian authors and published by Tulika Publishers, an small independent press based in Chennai.
The BM versions have been translated and published by Malaysian Book Centre and comprise a wide range of titles, including foltales and picture books.
There is even a selection of bilingual books (English and Tamil; and English and BM) that I am eager to try using with my language students.
One of these books is Priya's Day (Sehari Dalam Hidup Priya), written and illustrated by Cathy Spagnoli (translated by Hj. Abu Bakar Surin, who seems to be the translator of all the Tulika books ). The book is about the day in the life of Priya, a little girl who lives in a small village "near Kuala Lumpur". Priya has to help her mother pound rice with a mortar and pestle and this makes me think that the story is set in the past. However, as a reward, she is given RM2 and she uses it to buy some roasted peanuts. Two ringgit for a small coneful of roasted peanuts? I think that places the story firmly in the 21st century!
Actually, as you continue to read the story you realise that it has been specially devised so that paper-folding can be incorporated in its telling. The things that Priya encounters and uses throughout her day are made up of basic shapes that the storyteller can create with scraps of paper.
At the start of the story, Priya is asleep on a mat. The illustrations show the silhouette of a little girl lying on a rectangle-shaped piece of newsprint. Hint: The storyteler can use old newspaper to make the shapes seen in this story.
Priya wakes up and rolls up her mat, and the storyteller is prompted to also roll up the rectangle of paper. This roll later becomes the pestle that Priya uses to pound the rice, and the storyteller can use it to mime the action.
Priya sees hills, runs through long grass, rests under a coconut tree and watches a kite dance in the sky; she makes a garland of jasmine flowers and smells dosai cooking. On every page, there are things that the storyteller can make out of paper, and the back of the book has detailed instructions on just how to seamlessly work paper-tearing-and-folding into a storytelling routine.
This interactive technique can be adapted to tell a contemporary urban tale in which rolls of paper are skyscrapers and traffic lights, and square and restangle shapes are cars and buses.
The other books in the bilingual series are Takdir the Tiger Cub, Radha Finds the Circle, Who Am I? and The Seed.
Of the other Tulika books, my favourite is Basava and the Dots of Fire (Basava Dengan Titik-Titik Api). This is a simply told tale of a little boy who lives with his mother in a small hut in a village. Each day, the boy, Basava, goes into the forest to gather firewood. One day, he sets out later than usual and is further delayed on his way home by a call for help from a butterfly caught in a spider's web. Basava helps free the insect and goes on his way, but he then comes across a dragonfly who has fallen into a pond. Basava helps fish the dragonfly out. By then the sun has set and Basava is unable to find way home in the dark.
Luckily, the grateful butterfly and dragonfly come to his rescue -- they call to some glowing fireflies to lead Basava out of the forest.
The illustrations (by Bhakti Chadha) in this book are truly beautiful, seeming to quiver with lively yet soft colour. My favourite is the final spread in which Basava and his mother are depicted, in silhouette, running towards each other against a deep blue, starry sky. The forest from which Basava has emerged is a mass of dark green, shadowy leaves, dotted with gold -- the fireflies, or the titles' "dots of fire".
I found these Malay translations at Popular Bookstore, but they may also be available at other major book chains. The MBC website, unfortunately, does not list the books at all.
At the start of the story, Priya is asleep on a mat. The illustrations show the silhouette of a little girl lying on a rectangle-shaped piece of newsprint. Hint: The storyteler can use old newspaper to make the shapes seen in this story.
Priya wakes up and rolls up her mat, and the storyteller is prompted to also roll up the rectangle of paper. This roll later becomes the pestle that Priya uses to pound the rice, and the storyteller can use it to mime the action.
Priya sees hills, runs through long grass, rests under a coconut tree and watches a kite dance in the sky; she makes a garland of jasmine flowers and smells dosai cooking. On every page, there are things that the storyteller can make out of paper, and the back of the book has detailed instructions on just how to seamlessly work paper-tearing-and-folding into a storytelling routine.
This interactive technique can be adapted to tell a contemporary urban tale in which rolls of paper are skyscrapers and traffic lights, and square and restangle shapes are cars and buses.
The other books in the bilingual series are Takdir the Tiger Cub, Radha Finds the Circle, Who Am I? and The Seed.
Of the other Tulika books, my favourite is Basava and the Dots of Fire (Basava Dengan Titik-Titik Api). This is a simply told tale of a little boy who lives with his mother in a small hut in a village. Each day, the boy, Basava, goes into the forest to gather firewood. One day, he sets out later than usual and is further delayed on his way home by a call for help from a butterfly caught in a spider's web. Basava helps free the insect and goes on his way, but he then comes across a dragonfly who has fallen into a pond. Basava helps fish the dragonfly out. By then the sun has set and Basava is unable to find way home in the dark.
Luckily, the grateful butterfly and dragonfly come to his rescue -- they call to some glowing fireflies to lead Basava out of the forest.
The illustrations (by Bhakti Chadha) in this book are truly beautiful, seeming to quiver with lively yet soft colour. My favourite is the final spread in which Basava and his mother are depicted, in silhouette, running towards each other against a deep blue, starry sky. The forest from which Basava has emerged is a mass of dark green, shadowy leaves, dotted with gold -- the fireflies, or the titles' "dots of fire".
I found these Malay translations at Popular Bookstore, but they may also be available at other major book chains. The MBC website, unfortunately, does not list the books at all.
Recent Comments