Testing My Memories

Remember those old days in the 90's, where there weren't that many book publishing company in Malaysia, the ones that mostly existed published translated books.

For example, Enid Blyton's books in Malay

1. Malory Towers -->Seri Melur

2. St. Clare's -->Tengku Ashikin

3. Famous Five --> Lima Sekawan

4. Secret Seven -->Tujuh Penyiasat

5. Five Find Outers --> Lima Penyiasat

Not forgetting,

1. Nancy Drew --> Siri Salma

2. Hardy Boys --> Siri Hadi

And lots more. Now, it's really really very hard to find these books in bookstores because they are really really rare. 

Know what, I miss them! I really do! I spent my childhood reading these books. I spent my duit raya buying a whole set of 'Lima Penyiasat' or something. I reread them over and over again.

I usually borrowed Siri Salma from the public library. I reckon I've read almost all books in the Siri Salma. 

I was delighted to find those original English series of Siri Salma, Seri Melur and so on because truthfully, I read the Malay versions first. Malay versions are much cheaper, you know.

But there is one particular series that I really really adore. It's called Siri Kumpulan Penjejak. A total of 10 books in the series. I love this particular series because the adventures are... how do you call it? Okayla, lain daripada yang lain! 

1. Berjaya Lagi. I forgot what happened. Teehee. But it's the first book that tells about their first adventure.

2. Desa Yang Mengajar. They went to their cousin's house. A farm, something like that.

3. Misteri Alur Guntur. They went to another cousin's house.

4. Misteri Bakawali. Went to a friend's house. Found a secret room.

5. Misteri Ekspedisi. Went on an expedition on bicycles, together with their friends, cousins and family members. AWESOME!

6. Misteri Hantu Pulau. Went to Tanjong Pagar with friends to stay at the family doctor's huge house. Adventures! Went to he Pulau Hantu. Or Pulau yang berhantu, something like that.

7. Misteri Sungai Senang. Stayed at their grandaunt's huge house in Muar. SO COOL!

8. Perkelahan Aneh. Went to cousin's house. Participated in the festival there.

9. Rahsia Gajah Diraja. An elephant kena kidnap something like that.

19. Rahsia Rumah Rakit. Embarked on an adventure naik rumah rakit with their family and cousins.

Of course, they are amateur sleuths, always bound to solve whatever kind of mysteries in every place they've been to.

I bet this Kumpulan Penjejak is the Malay version of whatever English series.

The reason I really like this series is because it shows 4 siblings and their close knitted relationships with their parents, cousins, relatives and friends. And the fact that they are always together in every adventure! 

It's impossible to find a rare not so popular Malay book now. So sad, you know!

I miss another series. Sarah Latif Mystery Series by Matilda Xavier. No image is available from the internet. Hmmphh!

Thank you, dear books for helping me to imagine and getting A for my Penulisan Bahasa Melayu subjek for almost every exams and yeah, UPSR.

I stopped reading these books when I entered secondary school, I guess.

I just want to say that I mostly read MALAY books in my early years. English books are mostly those of Enid Blyton's and Maltilda Xavier. And yeah, Sweet Valley. Those books created a very happy and pleasant childhood years for me. Imaginative, even. And I'm very proud to say that I am much much better in Bahasa Melayu than English. Of course, I'm a MALAY! I can become more poetic and strings sentences that rhymes together in Malay, rather than English. English is quite complicated as I forever have to take note of the correct usage of grammars and sentence structure.