What Do Our Kids Read?

I recall writing about how I got hooked on reading seriously with the help of Enid Blyton Mystery Series - The Five Find-Outers and Dog. It is a series of children's mystery books first published between 1943 and 1961.

The stories were set in the fictitious village of Peterswood (Bourne End), close to Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The children encountered a mystery almost every school holiday, always solving the puzzle before Mr Goon, the unpleasant village policeman, much to his annoyance.

There were 15 books in the series and I had read them all. I remember the suspense made me read and read oftentimes finishing the book in one day. They were books from the class library. You see, back then each class had a collection for its own little library displayed at a corner of the class. I believe the books must have been distributed to all the classes according to age group material. The proper school library was for the secondary students only.

Occasionally, I would pick up my dad's novel after he and mum had read them. I would know if it was interesting from the discussion they would engage in earlier. That was how I came to enjoy biographies such as those of Churchill, Hitler, Rommel and Soekarno, and the Lobsang Rampa series by the time I was 11 or 12. When I was 13, while many of my classmates were into Mills and Boons stuff, Barbara Cartland, Georgette Heyer, Denise Robins and the likes, I preferred Leon Uris. His Exodus was ultra moving.........and I used to ask "Why?"

When our two kids were little we tried Enid Blyton with them but they ended up collecting the Belgian Georges Remi's The Adventures of Tintin series and French René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo's The Adventures of Asterix Series.

Both had something in common - they were comic strip series. I tried reading some of them but believe me, there was quite a load of reading involved!

Tintin is engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures with elements of fantasy, mysteries, political thrillers, and science fiction. The stories within the Tintin series always feature slapstick humour, offset in later albums by dashes of sophisticated satire and political/cultural commentary.

The Asterix series is one of the most popular Franco-Belgian comics in the world, with the series being translated into over 100 languages, and it is popular in most European countries.

The protagonist, the titular character Asterix, along with his friend Obelix have various adventures. The main setting for the series is an unnamed coastal village in Armorica, a province of Gaul (modern France), in the year 50 BC. Julius Caesar has conquered nearly all of Gaul for the Roman Empire. The little Armorican village, however, has held out because the villagers can gain temporary superhuman strength by drinking a magic potion brewed by the local village druid, Getafix.

Asterix, who, because of his shrewdness, is usually entrusted with the most important affairs of the village. He is aided in his adventures by his rather fat and unintelligent friend, Obelix, who, because he fell into the druid's cauldron of the potion as a baby, has permanent superhuman strength. Obelix is usually accompanied by Dogmatix, his little dog. (Except for Asterix and Obelix, the names of the characters change with the language. For example, Obelix's dog's name is "Dogmatix" in English, but "Idéfix" in the original French edition.)

Asterix and Obelix (and sometimes other members of the village) go on various adventures both within the village and in far away lands. Places visited in the series include parts of Gaul (Lutetia, Corsica etc.), neighbouring nations (Belgium, Spain, Britain, Germany etc.), and far away lands (North America, Middle East, India etc.).

The series employs science-fiction and fantasy elements in the more recent books; for instance, the use of extraterrestrials in Asterix and the Falling Sky and the city of Atlantis in Asterix and Obelix All at Sea.

The distinctive nature of the stories is the humour often centering on puns, caricatures, and tongue-in-cheek stereotypes of contemporary European nations and French regions. There are 34 books in the series.

My first grandchild, Anyssa is now turning 8 on 11/1/2012 and has announced that she wants a book for her birthday....not just any book, definitely not Enid Blyton (I tried!)but the Italian Geronimo Stilton's Series. She insisted she had read the first 7 books and would now wish for No.11 instead. Curiosity drove me to further research Geronimo.

The books are intended for readers in the 8–16 year old age range. The prints prove it so, quite unlike Enid Blyton's Five Find-Outers which is in the same sized font throughout. "Boring" she said of Enid Blyton. Oh my, I thought that was quite blasphemous!

The title character is a talking mouse who lives in New Mouse City on Mouse Island. A best-selling author, Geronimo Stilton works as a journalist and editor for the fictional newspaper, The Rodent's Gazette. No wonder Anyssa was talking about publishers the other day. I had wondered how come she knew the word!

Geronimo has a younger sister named Thea Stilton, a cousin named Trap Stilton and a favorite little nephew, nine-year-old Benjamin Stilton. Geronimo is a nervous, mild-mannered mouse who would like nothing better than to live a quiet life, but he keeps getting involved in far-away adventures with Thea, Trap, and Benjamin. The books are written as though they are autobiographical adventure stories.

There are 50 books in the series. I reckon she would probably move on to other genre before she completes the series.

As for today No. 11 is ready to be wrapped up.....Happy Birthday Anyssa!!

Oh, December!

December is always a crazy month. It is the school term holidays and many people would be on the move clogging shopping malls, holiday resorts and places of attraction. Somehow the Malays make it even more crazy by having engagements and weddings during the same month. It is logical perhaps so that relatives from all corners of the country would be able to attend. I remember those days when I would be stuck with the year-end closing and that alone took us off the road so to speak.

In retirement, December becomes more challenging. What excuse do I now have if I were to send my regrets for not making it to the invitations? Events and invitations can be overlapping and at this age we find it a little tiring to attend more than one or two events in a day. As a matter of fact, a few invitatuions have gone completely off my radar due to mixed up dates! I had more than once gotten ready to leave for the event only to realise later that it was over a day or a week earlier!

This year, we made plans to attend a relative's wedding reception in Seremban and then to "balik kampung" (the Malay popular term for "returning to the village")to attend a niece's engagement the next day. We sent our regrets to another group of relatives for not being able to join them in the usual annual outing in Port Dickson and another cousin for not being able to be present at his house warming "doa" and prayer session. I also informed my daughter and son-in-law of our plans. We left the keys with the neighbour so that the cats may be fed. My son, Najib drove. Anticipating the madness on the North-South Highway, he smartly chose the new alternate Lekas Highway. A good name indeed as "Lekas" means, quick. True enough we made it to Seremban in good time.

Weddings are usually a fantastic time for the relatives to meet and catch up with one another. You must believe me the womenfolks would usually have a mile long issues to recoup....and I mean a mile long!

The wedding dias was so lovely. They had decorated the whole stage looking like a personal boudoir. The wedding dias represents the throne for the new weds to sit and be blessed as a "king and queen for a day". Lunch was a sumptuous affair with the traditional choice of white and briyani rice and a host of chicken, beef and vegetable dishes, deserts, drinks and the traditional wedding eggs symbolising fertility. I had always thought traditionally, the eggs would have been the most versatile thing you could get to decorate and present as gifts and almost every household would have had a chicken coup in the backyard. Well, I think they still are the best door gift today. We wish the couple a most blessed journey henceforth.

December is a freaky month. There is no telling when the rain and storm would appear. Dark clouds are never too far off. In the old days, weddings were usually held outdoors. Many would sought the services of the rain shifters. These are people who are said to be able to shift rain to another place hence saving the ceremony from being rain washed!. There used to be other myths and traditional practices associated with rain prevention like throwing an old shirt on to the roof of the house or placing a lighted oil lamp under the kitchen rafter. I remember well the wedding day of an aunt when I had been put in charge of the oil lamp. But I guess the almighty wasn't listening as it still rained cats and dogs. Then the whispers came saying that the "shifter" must have taken a leak! These days many would hold such events in halls in schools, hotels and community centers. It is usual for the popular venues to have a year long waiting list!

My daughter was also there with her husband and three young kids. Our family was complete. She said that she would be following us back to "balik kampung" instead of joining the other party at Port Dickson. I thought it was a wonderful decision. That would be the two year old's first trip to grandpa's village.

A trip to the "kampung" is always a much anticipated event.It is especially so when our whole family is joining in and making the ride back to Segamat, Johore where gradpa Din was born.

We stopped over at Tampin, Negeri Sembilan and settled down for teatime at a Kopitiam Restaurant ....6 adults and 3 kids. It is a rather new shop and we found it during our previous trip. The garlic bread and mushroom soup were lovely, much to our delight. While sipping our drinks we noticed a market nearby and thought it quite convenient to get something for dinner later on. It is always a good idea to bring something for the pot so that dinner may be served without much problem. My daughter was very thoughtful to also buy some packets of 3 in 1 Nescafe from a nearby grocery shop before we continued our journey. Everyone knows that I do not take white tea that is popular amongst the Segamat folks.

We arrived at Segamat around 8.30pm and soon enough dinner was prepared through the cooperation of all the 5 ladies present. We took some time to drop by at my sister-in-law's place to check on the program for the engagement day. White tea is almost always served in Segamat. Our two years old grandson insisted on having some tea in his bottle which we relented in the end. He relished it but soon enough he gestured a tummy discomfort.......Even on the next morning he was still feeling the discomfort. Poor dear ! I am sure he had learned a valuable lesson there.

The engagement was over the next day with both families in mutual agreement to whatever terms discussed. Here are the happy parents with their daughter soon after the ceremony. Lunch or actually "tunch" was really a Johore affair _Briyani Gam- what else!

When it was time for family get together, the durian feast begun. Segamat is well known for it's durian. It was a delight to watch my 7 years old grand daughter, Anyssa and her second cousins relishing the durian and then rambutans plucked right from the tree nearby. A true Malaysian indeed! However, her younger brother, Amyr would only come near with his two fingers up his nostrils and then disappeared. Bro-in-law "Burn" did the honour of splitting open the durians.

After the durian feast I sent the Charlie Angels to have their faces and hands washed and be sure to take a drink of plain water which they dutifully did. The drink was to prevent any onset of coughing usually associated with the eating of too much durian and rambutans.

When it was time to leave and return to Shah Alam, Anyssa and her cousins bid goodbye to one another. So did the others and I was sure Anyssa enjoyed the short sojourn in the kampung and I hope it would remain in her thoughts for some time.