The most beautiful picture books in Bahasa Malaysia

Little Dina in My Mother's Garden and My Mother's Kitchen by Emila Yusof were first published in English by Oyez!Books. Subsequently Karangkraf, a leading trade publisher in Malaysia, published the Bahasa Malaysia (BM) version.  In our opinion, they are the most beautiful picture books in BM, suitable for children in lower primary school. The BM version is not an exact translation as Emila has added more text. The text is also presented using sukukata or syllables as these books are aimed at helping children read BM.  If you are a collector of picture books, you may not like the text in two colours so we hope Karangkraf will publish a special collector's edition one day!

In addition, there is now a third book in English, My Father's Farm, and we would love to see it in BM. If you agree, please write to Karangkraf or in the comments below! Emila is currently working on the fourth book and our lips are sealed. Can you guess what it will be about? Or what do  you wish to see?

Here are some photos of the BM books and you will see why we say they are the most beautiful picture books in BM. Clearly much thought (and love) have gone into producing them.

Love the butterfly motif endsheet on the left, the dragonfly motif and title page, and the ownership page above

Attractive endsheet, title page (the blue diagonal pattern look like a tablecloth), and ownership page above.

And the good news is you can buy the books here at Oyez!Bookstore: Taman Bunga Emak Saya and Dapur Emak Saya. They cost RM19.90 each. Yes, they are lower priced than the English version. Oyez!Books is a small publisher and we usually start with a 1000 copies print run ( My Mother's Garden is now going into its third print run and My Mother's Kitchen, its second print run). As a result, the per unit cost is higher but we will do our best to keep costs low - support your local small publisher, author, illustrator and printer, so that we can produce more great books! And don't forget, from now until end December (while stocks last), you get a Free Alice in Wonderland print by Emila Yusof for every two books purchased.