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Showing posts from August 7, 2010

Guest Post from Daphne Lee on Malaysian Children's Literature

Tarie Sabido: I have visited Malaysia only once, but I completely fell in love with the country and the people. HEAD-OVER-HEELS in love. So it's only natural that I am curious about the children's literature scene in Malaysia. I invited Malaysian children's book expert Daphne Lee to guest blog today for Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind. I hope you enjoy her post below! Thank you, Daphne! Daphne Lee: I was recently at my second son’s school to get his mid-year report. There were a few stalls selling books and I thought I would buy some Bahasa Melayu ones for him. (His class has a half hour every week when they read a story book in BM. There is also half an hour for a story book in English.) When I think of Malaysian children’s literature, specifically children’s story books in Bahasa Melayu, I’m afraid that the phrase “dodgy quality” comes to mind. What I saw being sold at the stalls only confirmed this belief. The books (featuring local folktales or translations of Wes