Review of Kampung Boy

Before reading the Kampung Boy I wasn't really sure what to expect because I didn't really know much about Malays or Malaysia for that matter.And after doing some research on Malaysia it was a bit unclear to me what culture the book would be about because Malaysia consists of people of different ethnicities and backgrounds. Nevertheless, before Kampung Boy I hadn't read many graphic novels or books. The illustrations weren't all that beautiful in my opinion, but they were funny. I especially thought it was funny the way his mom's angry expression was illustrated. It kind of made me laugh because it was something we could all relate to. I am sure there were plenty of times where our mother's would get angry and that's how we thought our mother looked like that.

I am Mexican, but have grown up basically all my life around American culture so as I was reading the book I was comparing it to what I know of both my American and Mexican cultures. Some discoveries I made were mostly on the differences in traditions and customs. Apparently, in Malaysia women would give birth at home and once they had the baby her recovery time was a time of taboo and the baby nor the mother were allowed to leave the house for some time. That's different to how women give birth here, usually it takes place in a hospital and there aren't really any restrictions on leaving home. Another thing I found interesting, but relatable was the shaving of the baby. Some Hispanics also have a tradition of shaving a baby's head in the first few months.  Both my sister-in-laws have done it and they say it's so that the baby either grows more hair, comes out thicker, or even. I personally don't think that's true because genetics plays a huge part in hair texture and how much you have and also because much of it is baby hair anyways. I truly don't know if there is some real meaning behind it. Also, when the father first took Kampung Boy to school he handed over a cane to his teacher and gave him permission to discipline his son if he misbehaves and to treat him as he was his very own. I thought that was interesting because if we did that here we would be in big trouble, but it didn't surprise me because my parents have told me a lot about this custom that they had in Mexico. Teachers would either smack you with a stick or pull your ears. They would treat you like their own because I guess it was their responsibility to discipline and teach you while under their supervision.

As I came upon the part in the book where the young boys undergoes circumcision, I was surprised that it was done at a much later age because I have heard that it is typically done when the baby is born. In the book it also seemed to be an event that involved the whole community.I wish the book would have gone into more detail on that tradition the Malays have as well as others mentioned in the book. I did see however that education is very important to their culture and that they go through things that we go through as well and that are relatable. For example, it seemed to me that the father not only emphasized how important school was, but it also looked like he was also having trouble letting go of his son. Before, his son would await his arrival to be with him, but kampung boy now had his own friends and was spending more time outside with them than with his dad. I thought it was sad to hear near the end of the book that tin might be found in their village and that would change everything and affect the people. The reason why I thought it was sad is because Kampung boy grew up his whole life there and there seemed to be a sense of community and family with everyone in the village. It gave me a sneak peak to how sometimes countries focus a lot of profit, industry, and not enough on what really matters. Those above us seemed to be driven more by ambition and don't care who they have to step on along the way to get there. I would have really liked to know what happened to the village and the people, but overall I enjoyed reading the book and being able to put an illustration to the novel.