Siapa Alien?

This post is originally published by Hidayah in her blog One Day At A Time. Thanks, Hidayah, for the permission for me to re-publish this review. This books sound good, and I can't wait to buy one for my children. Here's her pretty blog badge. (I picked the one with books in it, of course :) )

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."

— Emilie Buchwald

Hehe.. Just thought I would review this new children's book by our very own local celebrity, Wardina Safiyyah. (Thanks to Ardi for getting my kids a signed copy.)

Title: Siapa Alien?

Author: Wardina Safiyyah

Illustrator: Uneh

Price: RM 19 (MPH)

Brief synopsis

This colourful book is about an inquisitive little alien named Ali who loves to explore and learn new things.

What I liked most about the book:

I still have difficulty in finding good quality Malay books for my pre-schoolers. Most are simply English fairytales or Asian folklore translated to Malay. So it was refreshing to find a book with its own theme and an original concept. Plus there are several additional interesting features, including little notes labelled "Soalan", "Nota" and "Fakta" to make the book more interactive. The illustrations by Uneh are suitably colourful and vibrant, drawing the child into the story.


What I disliked about the book:

It's a children's book, so there is not much to dislike. My only qualm is that some of the facts are not really ones that I personally would have chosen to highlight. For example: when discussing cities, the examples given were:

"kota terbaik untuk didiami di dunia ialah Vienna, Austria. Kota tercantik terletak di Eropah seperti Paris, Venice dan Vienna"

I guess, it's good that the author tries to introduce the child to cities all over the world but for me concepts like "terbaik" and "tercantik" are relative and subjective. Perhaps a discussion on "ibu kota" (capital cities) and which cities the child would like to visit may also be an option.


Additional points

There is also a very helpful guide for parents to fully make use of the book and a very interesting Activities section at the end of the book.


Rating: 4/5

All in all a very good first effort. All the best for future endevours!

~She's right. Always dare to dream, and make the dream a reality.~
pic googled