Fatimah's Kampung

This book, Fatimah's Kampung by Iain Buchanan, is a children's book that will fascinate adults. It certainly is one of my favourite books - well written and richly illustrated by the author, and with an important message.

A geography lecturer, who "had no experience of writing for children... and no art training of any kind', Buchanan succeeded in producing "a picture book for children about the life and death of a landscape." All the illustrations were done by hand, he says, "everything on a scale many times greater than the final scale... to do justice to the subject, and to capture details, textures, perspectives which would otherwise be lost."

The book is obviously a labour of love, on which Buchanan persevered over eight years. Writes Buchanan in his preface, "It was a full-time job, which meant I wasn't earning - and so Maznoor (his Malaysian wife) went out to work to help pay the bills... For two retired academics, both well into their fifties, new worlds had been opened."

Words cannot describe the beauty of the book so I'll let these pages say it for me:

Every page, like the above, is a work of art. The book was published in 2008 by the Consumers Association of Penang. When I first heard about it, I quickly went to a nearby MPH bookstore and managed to get hold of the only copy on the shelf. I don't know whether it's still in print. It's a pity if it isn't.