Paddylands: A Story of Malaya (1st Edition) (1947)

This is the story of Malayan family life: of little Hussain and his father, Mat, his mother, Hubiba and baby brother, Sap, who live in a nipah palm hut, built on poles above the padi fields. Hussain goes to the village school and plays with the other children under the coconut trees. He has an adventure with an angry monkey who has picked one of the coveted durian fruits, and goes with his family to the Exhibition, where his grandfather's bull wins the buffalo fight. Whe his father's kerbau (buffalo) is missing one night, there is a chase ending with an exciting scruffle with the robbers before retrieving the stolen beast.

In short, this children’s book is an introduction to Malay culture disguised as a children’s story. The story takes place in a village in Kedah, and is really quite an easy and concise way description of life in a Malay kampung. In this short book, the author manages to incorporate everything considered typically “Malay” – kampung life, durians and other tropical fruit, monkeys, elephants, padi fields, sarongs, Rajahs, sampans and perahus, etc etc etc, – while managing to explain what these are in a succinct manner, and, impressively, without prejudice.

Condition: Fair. No dustjacket. Text clean, binding tight. Missing 4 colour plates. 56pp., app 10″ by 7.5″

Author: Grace P. Garnier, Nora Hamerton (illus)
Publisher: George G. Harrap, 1947. First edition.