Review by BRIGITTE ROZARIO
AKU & KAMU
Introducing / Aku Meets Kamu
By Asif Bashir; Illustrated by Ali Seteria Has
Publisher:Asian-e Limited
Aku & Kamu is a series of books by author Bashir and illustrator Has. The aim of the series is to teach children to think creatively.
According to the publisher's website:
“The Aku & Kamu products encourage active participation between Teachers, Parents and Children by taking the classroom home. They are designed to help make learning fun whilst engaging more parental activity in the development of their child’s education.
“Central to the underlying framework is the vision that learning should be fun, whether children are doing, thinking or feeling.”
The books are in hardcover and will probably appeal to preschoolers and those in kindergarten. The two main characters are really cute (thanks to the lovely illustrations by Hans).
The story is about a four-year-old polar bear named Aku and a two-year-old koala bear named Kamu. Both hate house chores and have been grumbling about their home. Both dislike learning and as such Aku can't read and Kamu can't count.
Aku says the Arctic is too cold while Kamu doesn't like eating leaves. In some bizarre coincidence, both bears end up taking a long journey on ships bound for Malaysia!
The adventure continues from book to book.
There are Do, Think and Feel exercises at the back of each book. Parents are supposed to use this as a guide to explore the story with their young child.
With about six to seven exercises for each part (Do, Think, Feel), the book ends up looking more like a text book than a story book.
Keep in mind the purpose of the author and the publisher before you get these books. The purpose of taking the classroom home is definitely achieved through these books as they do come across looking, sounding and feeling very much like schoolbooks.
The Aku and Kamu adventure is related from book to book. This means that parents will not be able to jut buy one book.
If you only buy Book 2, your child will be asking you why Kamu is crying at the start of the story. And if you don't buy Book 3 (which isn't out yet, by the way), your child will be hounding you to find out what happens to Aku and Kamu after they finally meet in Malaysia.
That said, the illustrations also had the look and feel of a schoolbook because they were in a confined space (usually a square shape) with the visual on one side and the text on the other.
If you are familiar with children's books and especially picture books, you'll know the trend for some time now has been to allow free flow of text with graphics so that both complement and enhance each other.
But, this is not meant to be a picture book.
I am not sure this series will catch on with kids or parents. Children will want books that are more fun and not schoolbooks. And, chances are most parents are not going to have the time or the will to do the exercises at the back of the books with their kids.