''The Kampung Boy'', also known as ''Lat, the Kampung Boy'' or simply ''Kampung Boy'', is a
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
by
Lat
Lat or LAT may refer to:
Places
* Lat, Fuman, village in Gilan Province, Iran
* Lat, Rasht, village in Gilan Province, Iran
* Lat, Mazandaran, village in Iran
* Lat-e Disar, village in Mazandaran Province, Iran
* Lat, Qazvin, village in I ...
about a young boy's experience growing up in rural
Perak
Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
in the 1950s. The book is an autobiographical account of the artist's life, telling of his adventures in the jungles and tin mines, his circumcision, family, and school life. It is also the basis for the
eponymous animated series broadcast in 1999. First published in 1979 by Berita Publishing, ''The Kampung Boy'' was a commercial and critical success; its first printing (of at least 60,000 copies, 16 times) was sold out within four months of its release. Narrated in English with a smattering of Malay, the work has been translated into other languages, such as Japanese and French, and sold abroad.
The book made Lat an international figure and a highly regarded cartoonist in Malaysia. It won several awards when released as ''Kampung Boy'' in the United States, such as Outstanding International Book for 2007 and the Children's Book Council and Booklist Editor's Choice for 2006. ''The Kampung Boy'' became a franchise, with the characters of ''The Kampung Boy'' decorating calendars, stamps, and aeroplanes. A Malaysian theme park is scheduled to open in 2012 with the fictional characters as part of its attractions. ''The Kampung Boy'' is very popular in Southeast Asia and has gone through 16 reprints. A sequel, ''
Town Boy
''The Kampung Boy'', also known as ''Lat, the Kampung Boy'' or simply ''Kampung Boy'', is a graphic novel by Lat about a young boy's experience growing up in rural Perak in the 1950s. The book is an autobiographical account of the artist's li ...
'', which followed the protagonist in his teenage years in the city, was published in 1981 and a spin-off, ''Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today'', in 1993. The latter reused the setting of ''The Kampung Boy'' to compare and contrast the differences between Malaysian childhood experiences in the 1950s and 1980s.
Plot
''The Kampung Boy'' tells the story of a young boy, Mat, and his childhood in a ''
kampung
A kampong (''kampung'' in Malay and Indonesian) is the term for a village in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore and a "port" in Cambodia. The term applies to traditional villages, especially of the indigenous people, and has also been used ...
'' (village). A
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
, it illustrates the boy's life in pictures and words. Aside from being the
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
, Lat is also the narrator. The story opens with his birth in a Kampung in Perak, Malaysia, and the traditional rituals surrounding the event: the recitation of blessings, the singing of religious songs, and the observance of ceremonies.
As Lat grows older, he explores the house, gradually shifting the story's focus to the comic activities of his family outside their abode.
Lat starts the first stage of his formal education—reading the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. At these religious classes, he makes new friends and joins them in their adventures, swimming in the rivers and exploring the jungles. Lat's parents worry over his lack of interest in his studies; he acknowledges their concern but finds himself unmotivated to forgo play for academic pursuits. When he reaches his tenth year, he undergoes the ''bersunat'', a
ritual circumcision
Religious circumcision generally occurs shortly after birth, during childhood, or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is most prevalent in the religions of Judaism and Islam. Circumcision for religious reasons is most prom ...
. The ceremonies that precede the operation are elaborate, with processions and baths in the river. The circumcision proves to be "just like an ant bite!"
Sometime after recovering from the circumcision, Lat trespasses on a tin mine with his friends. They teach him how to gather the mud left in the wake of the mining dredges and pan for valuable ore. The activity is illegal but often overlooked by the miners. Lat brings the result of his labour back to his father, expecting praise. Instead, he is punished for neglecting his studies and future. After overhearing his parents' laments and being shown the family's rubber plantation, Lat finds the will to push himself to study. He is rewarded for his efforts, passing a "special examination" and qualifying for a "high-standard" boarding school in
Ipoh
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak
, pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth
, pushpin_mapsize = 275px
, pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia
, coordinates ...
, the state capital.
Rushing home to inform his parents, Lat discovers his father in negotiations with a tin mining company, which is surveying the land. The company will offer a large sum of money for the family's properties if they discover tin on it. Other villagers are hoping for similar deals with the company. They plan to buy houses in Ipoh if their hopes are realised. The day for Lat to depart the village has arrived and he is excited, but as he is about to depart, sadness washes over him. He acknowledges the emotions as his love of the village and hopes that the place where he was born will remain unchanged when he returns and see it changed.
Conception
''The Kampung Boy'' is an autobiography. Its author,
Lat
Lat or LAT may refer to:
Places
* Lat, Fuman, village in Gilan Province, Iran
* Lat, Rasht, village in Gilan Province, Iran
* Lat, Mazandaran, village in Iran
* Lat-e Disar, village in Mazandaran Province, Iran
* Lat, Qazvin, village in I ...
, grew up in a ''kampung'' and moved to the city after graduating from high school. He worked there as a crime reporter and drew cartoons to supplement his income—a hobby he had started at the age of nine. Lat became the column cartoonist for his newspaper after impressing his editors with his cartoons on the ''bersunat''. He was sent to London to study at
St Martin's School of Art and on returning to Malaysia in 1975, he reinvented his column,
Scenes of Malaysian Life ''Scenes of Malaysian Life'' is a comic strip series by Mohammad Nor Khalid a.k.a. Lat.
In the 2000s the series ran three times per week in the '' New Straits Times''.Pilcher, Tim and Brad Brooks. ''The Essential Guide to World Comics''. '' Collin ...
, into an editorial comic series. It proved popular and as Lat's fame grew, he began questioning his city lifestyle and reminiscing about his life in the ''kampung''. Lat felt he and his fellow citizens had all forgotten their village origins and wanted to remind them of that. He began working on ''The Kampung Boy'' in 1977, conceptualising and drawing the scenes when he was not drawing Scenes of Malaysian Life. His labour came to fruition in 1979 when Berita Publishing Sendirian Berhad released ''The Kampung Boy'' on the Malaysian market.
Art style and presentation
The style of ''Kampung Boy'' does not follow that commonly found in Western graphic novels. A page can be occupied fully by a single drawing, accompanied by text. The image either presents a scene that stands on its own or segues into the next, forming a story sequence that flows across two facing pages. The story is told in a local dialect of English, simpler in its grammatical structure and sprinkled with Malay words and phrases. Deborah Stevenson, editor of ''
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
''The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books'' is an academic journal established in 1945 by Frances E. Henne (Graduate Library School, University of Chicago).Wedgeworth, Robert. ''World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services''. Ch ...
'', found that the narration invokes a sense of camaraderie with the reader, and carries an "understated affection for family, neighbours and village life." Mike Shuttleworth, reviewer for ''The Age'', said that Lat often achieved humour in this book by illustrating the scene contrary to what was described. Stevenson agreed, highlighting a scene in which Mat spoke of how his mother tenderly fed him porridge; the illustration, however, shows her irritation as the toddler spits the porridge back at her.
Kevin Steinberger, reviewer for ''Magpies'', found Lat's layout made ''Kampung Boy'' an "easy, inviting read." He said that Lat's pen-and-ink drawings relied on the "strong contrast between black and white to create space and suggest substance." Lat drew the children of ''Kampung Boy'' as "mostly mop-topped, toothy, bare-bottomed or sarong-draped" kids, who are often "exaggeratedly dwarfed" by items of the adult world. He explained that the way the boys were drawn was partly due to the influence of comics he read in the 1950s; "naughty ones with ... bushy hair" were prominent male protagonists in those books. The adult characters are easily distinguished by their exaggerated clothing and accessories such as puffed out pants and butterfly glasses. "Short and round" shapes make the design of the characters distinctive. These characters display exaggerated expressions, particularly when they are drawn to face the readers.
Francisca Goldsmith, a librarian and comics reviewer, found Lat's scenes to be "scribbly", yet "wonderfully detailed". Similarly, comics journalist Greg McElhatton commented that ''The Kampung Boy'' was "a strange mix of caricature and careful, fine detail." These two views lend support to Muliyadi's assertion that Lat demonstrated his strength in ''The Kampung Boy''; his eye for detail extended to his characters and, more importantly, the surroundings. Lat's characters look, dress, act, and talk like real Malaysians would, and they are placed in environments that are readily identifiable with local jungles, villages, and cities. The faithful details impart a sense of familiarity to Malaysian readers and make the scenes convincing to others.
Adaptations
''
New Straits Times
The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...
'', the paper Lat was working for in the 1970s, was published in English; its directive was to serve a multi-racial readership. Redza commented that Lat understood Malaysian society and the need to engage all of its racial groups. ''The Kampung Boy'' was thus written and published in English. At Lat's request, Berita Publishing hired his friend, Zainon Ahmad, to translate the graphic novel into Malay. This version was published under the title ''Budak Kampung''. By 2008, ''The Kampung Boy'' had been reprinted 16 times, and translated into various languages such as Portuguese, French, and Japanese. Countries that have printed localised versions of ''The Kampung Boy'' include Brazil, Germany, Korea and the United States.
United States adaptation
The United States adaptation, which dropped the
definite article
An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ar ...
from the title, was published by
First Second Books
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...
in 2006. The book is in a smaller format (6 inches by 8 inches) and sported
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
's testimonial—"one of the all-time great cartoon books"—on its cover. According to Gina Gagliano, First Second's Marketing Associate, the publishers left the story mostly untouched; they had not
altered the contents to be more befitting to American tastes. They did, however, change the grammar and spelling from British English (the standard followed by Malaysia) to the American version and lettered the text in a font based on Lat's handwriting. First Second judged that the original book's sprinklings of Malay terms were not huge obstacles to their customers. Most of the Malay words could be clearly understood from context, either through text or with the accompanying illustrations. The clarity of the language left the publisher few terms to explain to North American readers; the few that remained were explained either by inserting definitions within parentheses or by replacing the Malay word with an English equivalent.
Animated television series
The success of ''The Kampung Boy'' led to its adaptation as an animated series. Started in 1995, production took four years to complete and was an international effort, involving companies in countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and the United States. The series uses the characters of the graphic novel, casting them in stories that bear similarities to ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
''. Comprising 26 episodes, ''Kampung Boy'' features themes that focus on the meshing of traditional ways of life with modern living, the balance between environmental conservation and urban development, and local superstitions. One of its episodes, "Oh! Tok", featuring a spooky
banyan tree, won a special
Annecy Award for an animated episode of more than 13 minutes in 1999. Although the pilot episode was shown on television in 1997, the series began broadcasting over the satellite television network Astro in 1999. Aside from Malaysia, ''Kampung Boy'' was broadcast in other countries such as Germany and Canada.
Theatre staging
A theatre staging adaptation, titled ''Lat Kampung Boy Sebuah Muzikal'' co-directed by
Hans Isaac
Gerald Hans Isaac (born 20 August 1971) is a Malaysian actor, producer, and director.
On 10 April 2019, he was appointed as the Chairman of the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS). He resigned as the chairman of the body a ...
and
Harith Iskander
Harith Iskander bin Musa (born 7 August 1966) is a Malaysian actor and comedian. He is considered to be "the Godfather of Stand-Up Comedy" in Malaysia, having also won the Asia's Best Stand-Up Comedian Award 2014 by Top 10 of Asia Magazine.
He ...
and was staged at the
Istana Budaya
The ''Istana Budaya'' or also known as the ''Palace of Culture'', is Malaysia's main venue for all types of theatre including musical theatre, operetta, classical concerts and opera from local and international performances. It is located in he ...
on 16 March to 3 April 2011. The theatre was co-produced by the
Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books
Malaysian may refer to:
* Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia
* Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia
* Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...
and Tall Order Productions. The cast members included
Awie
Ahmad Azhar bin Othman (born 24 November 1968), better known by his stage name Awie, is a Malaysian singer, musician, and actor. Awie is considered one of the greatest Malaysian vocalist of all time.
Born in Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, Awi ...
, Jalil Hamid, Atilia Haron,
Rahim Razali
Dato' Haji Abdul Rahim bin Mohd Razali (born 3 July 1939), better known by his stage name Rahim Razali, is a Malaysian actor, director, producer and sports commentator.
Life and career
English school at Anderson Ipoh High School, Anderson ...
and
Douglas Lim
Douglas Lim (born 11 October 1977) is a Malaysian actor, comedian, television presenter and emcee. He is well known for his involvement in local television, theater and film and comedy show.
Early life
Lim was born on 11 October 1977 in Kual ...
.
Reception and legacy
According to Lat, ''The Kampung Boy''s first print—60,000 to 70,000 copies—was sold out in three to four months; by 1979, at least 100,000 had been sold. ''The Kampung Boy'' is regarded as Lat's finest work and representative of his ''oeuvre''. After being published in the United States, ''Kampung Boy'' won the Children's Book Council and Booklist Editor's Choice award in 2006. It was also awarded the Outstanding International Book for 2007 by the United States Board of Books for Young People.
''The Kampung Boy'' was successful due to its realistic presentation of Malaysia's cultural past. Many Malaysians who grew up in the 1960s or earlier fondly remembered the laidback lives they had in the ''kampung'' upon reading the book. Stevenson said that ''The Kampung Boy''s portrayal of the past would resonate with everyone's fondness for a happy experience in his or her own past. Those unfamiliar with the ways of the ''kampung'' could relate to the "universal themes of childhood, adolescence, and first-love". According to Stevenson, the illustrations help to clarify any unfamiliar terms the reader might face and the narrative force of Lat's story depends more on the protagonist's experiences than on the details. The book's appeal to both children and adults lies in Lat's success in recapturing the innocence of childhood.
Malaysian art historian
Redza Piyadasa
Redza Piyadasa was a Malaysian artist, art critic and art historian.
Piyadasa was born in 1939 in Kuantan, the capital of Pahang, in a family of Sinhalese origin. Initially he followed a study at the Malaysia Teacher's College in Brinsford Lodge ...
said that "''The Kampung Boy'' was a masterpiece that was clearly designed to be read as a novel." He compared the graphical depiction of childhood experience to
Camara Laye
Camara Laye (January 1, 1928 – February 4, 1980) was a writer from Guinea. He was the author of '' The African Child'' (''L'Enfant noir''), a novel based loosely on his own childhood, and ''The Radiance of the King'' (''Le Regard du roi'' ...
's novel ''The African Child'' and viewed ''The Kampung Boy'' as the "finest and most sensitive evocation of a rural Malay childhood ever attempted in
alaysia in any creative medium." Steinberger had the same thoughts, but compared ''The Kampung Boy'' to
Colin Thiele
Colin Milton Thiele AC (; 16 November 1920 – 4 September 2006) was an Australian author and educator. He was renowned for his award-winning children's fiction, most notably the novels '' Storm Boy'', '' Blue Fin'', the '' Sun on the Stubble'' ...
's autobiographical novel ''
Sun on the Stubble
''Sun on the Stubble'' is a novel by Colin Thiele, published in 1961. It tells the story of a German immigrant family living in rural South Australia during the 1930s. Colin Thiele was a South Australian educator and school principal.
Television ...
'', which expounds on the fun and mischief of early childhood.
Lat's success with ''The Kampung Boy'' created new opportunities for him. He set up his own company—Kampung Boy Sendirian Berhad (Village Boy
private limited
A private limited company is any type of business entity in "private" ownership used in many jurisdictions, in contrast to a publicly listed company, with some differences from country to country. Examples include the ''LLC'' in the United St ...
)—to handle the merchandising of his cartoon characters and occasional publishing of his books. Kampung Boy is partnering with
Sanrio
is a Japanese entertainment company. It designs, licenses, and produces products focusing on the ''kawaii'' ("cute") segment of Japanese popular culture. Their products include stationery, school supplies, gifts, and accessories which are sold ...
and
Hit Entertainment
HIT Entertainment Limited (commonly written as HiT) was a British-American entertainment company founded in 1982 as Henson International Television, the international distribution arm of The Jim Henson Company, by Jim Henson, Peter Orton, and Soph ...
in a project to open an indoor theme park in Malaysia by the end of 2012. One of the park's attractions is the showcasing of Lat's characters alongside those of
Hello Kitty
, also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...
and
Bob the Builder
''Bob the Builder'' is a British animated children's television series created by Keith Chapman for HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. The series follows the adventures of Bob, a building contractor, specialising in masonry, along with ...
. The distinctive characters of ''The Kampung Boy'' have become a common sight in Malaysia. They are immortalised on stamps,
financial guides, and aeroplanes.
Sequel and spinoff
Town Boy
''Town Boy'' is the sequel to ''The Kampung Boy''. Published in 1981, it continues Mat's story in the multicultural city of
Ipoh
, image_map =
, map_caption = Location of Ipoh in Perak
, pushpin_map = #Malaysia#Asia#Earth
, pushpin_mapsize = 275px
, pushpin_map_caption = Ipoh in Malaysia
, coordinates ...
, where he attends school, learns of American pop music, and makes new friends of various races, notably a Chinese boy named Frankie. Mat capers through town and gets into mischievous adventures with his friends. He and Frankie bond through their common love of rock-and-roll and playing air-guitar to
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
's tunes above the coffee shop run by Frankie's parents. As Mat grows into his teens, he dates Normah, "the hottest girl in Ipoh." ''Town Boy''s story is a collection of Lat's reminiscences about his teenage days in Ipoh, an account of "the days before
emoved to
the capital city to venture into life as an adult... and later a professional doodler." The cartoonist wanted to publicise his knowledge of music and write a subtle story about friendship. Frankie is representative of the diverse friends Lat made in those days through a common love of music.
The book's layout is more varied than ''The Kampung Boy''s, featuring "short multi-panel sequences with giant double-page-spread-drawings." Comics artist
Seth
Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...
commented that Lat's drawings are filled with "vigor and raw energy", "entirely based on eccentric stylizations but grounded with an eye capable of wonderfully accurate observation of the real world." At certain points, crowd scenes spread across the pages of the book, filled with "Lat's broadly humorous and humane" characters. Comics journalist
Tom Spurgeon
Thomas Martin Spurgeon (December 16, 1968 – November 13, 2019) was an American writer, historian, critic, and editor in the field of comics, notable for his five-year run as editor of ''The Comics Journal'' and his blog ''The Comics Reporter'' ...
said after readings such scenes: "There are times when reading ''Town Boy'' feels like watching through a street fair after it rains, everyday existence altered by an event just enough to make everything stand out. You can get lost in the cityscapes."
The Asian characters occasionally speak in their native tongues, their words rendered in
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
or
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
glyphs without translations. Goldsmith and Ridzwan did not find the foreign words to be a hindrance in understanding and enjoying the work. Instead, they believed the non-English languages aided Lat's construction of his world as one different from a dominantly English-speaking world. Lat's depiction of Mat's visit to Frankie's home transcends culture, portraying realistically the experiences most children feel when visiting the "foreign but familiar staleness" of their new friend's home. Mat and Frankie's growing friendship is a central theme of the book, and their bond as they enjoy rock-and-roll together in Frankie's house has become a notable scene for readers such as journalist Ridzwan A. Rahim. Their friendship marks a shift in the story of Mat's life from a focus on his family in ''The Kampung Boy'' to a focus beyond. As the book revolves around Mat's friendship with Frankie, it ends with the Chinese boy's departure to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
from the
Ipoh railway station.
As of 2005, ''Town Boy'' had been reprinted 16 times. It has also been translated into French and Japanese. Reviews of ''Town Boy'' were positive. Librarian George Galuschak liked the book for its detailed crowd scenes and its diverse cast of characters—both animal and human. The "energy" in Lat's drawings reminded him of
Sergio Aragonés
Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born September 6, 1937) is a Spanish/Mexican cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to '' Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book '' Groo the Wanderer''.
Among his peers and fans, Aragonés is ...
and
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram Groening ( ; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is the creator of the comic strip ''Life in Hell'' (1977–2012) and the television series ''The Simpsons'' (1989–present), ''Fut ...
. Laurel Maury, a reviewer for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', likened the book to a
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...
cartoon, but without the melancholy typical of
Charles M. Schulz
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wi ...
's work. She said that Lat delivered a "rollicking" world and that his characters' interactions made the story unpretentious and heart-warming. Although Spurgeon believed any single scene in ''Town Boy'' was superior to any book from a lesser cartoonist, he preferred the narrower scope of ''The Kampung Boy''; he felt the tighter focus of Lat's first book gave a more personal and deeper insight into the author's growth as a young boy. ''Town Boy'', with its quicker pace, felt to him like a loose collection of heady first-time experiences that failed to explore all possibilities of the encounters.
Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today
John Lent, a scholar of comics, described ''Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today'' as Lat's "crowning achievement". Published in 1993, ''Yesterday and Today'' returns to Lat's roots as a ''kampung'' child as described in ''The Kampung Boy''. It explores in greater detail the games played by Lat and his friends and the lifestyle they had in the 1960s. However, ''Yesterday and Today'' also compares these past events to similar occurrences in the 1980s and '90s, contrasting the two in a humorous light; the opposition of the two time frames is further enhanced by rendering the portrayals of contemporary scenes in watercolour while those of the past remain in black and white. Lat's goal for this book was to "tell his own children how much better it was in the old days."
Like in ''The Kampung Boy'', the scenes in ''Yesterday and Today'' are presented in great detail. Lat shows the children playing with items constructed from simple items found in the household and nature. He also illustrates the toys' schematics. He compares the games with their modern counterparts, lamenting the loss of creativity in modern youths. Other comments on societal changes are in the book. A child is taking a swimming lesson in a pool, intently watched by his parents who have a maid in tow with various items in her hands. While the parents gesticulate wildly at their son, the lifeguard and instructor calmly sit by the pool, watching the boy's smooth progress. This scene is contrasted with Lat's own experience at the hands of his father, who casually tosses the terrified boy into a river, letting him either swim or flounder. Such details, according to Muliyadi, invoke a yearning for the past and help readers "better appreciate
hecartoons".
University lecturer Zaini Ujang viewed ''Yesterday and Today''s comparisons as criticisms of society, putting forth the question of whether people should accept "development" to simply mean discarding the old for the new without regards to its value. Professor Fuziah of the
National University of Malaysia
The National University of Malaysia ( ms, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, abbreviated as UKM) is a public university located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Its teaching hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia ...
interpreted the book's ending as a wakeup call to parents, questioning them if they should deny their children a more relaxed childhood. Lent agreed, saying that Lat had asserted the theme from the start, showing him and his childhood friends "not in a hurry to grow up". Redza hinted that Lat's other goal was to point out the "dehumanising environment" that Malaysian urban children are growing up in. A Japanese edition of ''Yesterday and Today'' was published by Berita Publishing in 1998.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kampung Boy
1979 books
1979 comics debuts
Comics characters introduced in 1979
Autobiographical graphic novels
Malaysian comics titles
Malaysian novels
Malaysian comics
Comics adapted into animated series
Comics adapted into television series
Comics set in Malaysia
First Second Books books