Kampung Boy is the adventure-laden and funny story of Mat, a Muslim boy growing up in rural Malaysia in the 1950’s. Mat spends his childhood in a very traditional village, or kampung, before leaving to attend boarding school. There’s so much fantastic detail of everyday living in this book: swimming in the river, preparing meals, school, helping on the rubber plantation. Even though the way of life described will be foreign to many, kids will be able to relate to so much of Mat’s story: getting his head stuck in the fence as a baby, his inability to stay awake during class, his dad doing silly dives into the river to impress them.

Lat is an effortless storyteller, and readers get a real sense of the gradual encroachment of modern life and ‘progress’ on the village. His bold, expressive cartoons remind me a little bit of Murray Ball’s work. I adored Ball’s Footrot Flats when I was around eight or nine, and I can imagine I would have similarly loved this book at that age.

Kampung Boy is funny and sweet and touching and will withstand multiple reads. If you know anyone who has enjoyed Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, you should put a copy of Kampung Boy in their hands. Not only will they get a real feel for a different time and place, but they will also be thoroughly entertained.