Malay Boy – Clive Dalton (1970)

S$54.00

Malay Boy – Clive Dalton (1970)

S$54.00

Title: Malay Boy

Author: Clive Dalton, David Knight (illus)

Publisher: Brockhampton Press, 1970. Second impression.

Condition: Harcover, with dust jacket. Good. Slight tears to dust jacket. A stamp to ffep and slight foxing. Text clean, binding tight, with numerous endearing line drawings, including on the endpapers and title page. 120pp., app 7.5″x4.5″.

A children’s story about a Malay boy, Kitchie (real name Abdul), who is best friends with an English boy, Richard, and a Chinese boy, Wong. The three live in a kampung on an island in Malaysia and spend their days out at sea, paddling their canoes to a small island nearby. Kitchie is happy and, like his father, is proud of being an orang laut. 

One day, a violent storm hits the island and Kitchie’s father is lost at sea. Although neither he nor his canoes are to be found, he is presumed dead. Kitchie is then taken to live with his uncle, Hassan, in a rubber plantation on the mainland. Kitchie is scornful of his uncle, who has become a Westernized, urbanized Malay whose newfound wealth makes his scoff at village life. Miserable and desperate to return to the island and his two best friends, Kitchie plots his escape from civilisation.

About the author:

The author, Clive Dalton, wrote several fiction and non-fiction books from 1937 all the way to the 1970s, depicting life and adventure in this region. His works include: A Child in the Sun, Malay Schooner, Mystery of the Malay Schooner, Malay Cruise, Malay Pirate, Malay Treasure, etc.