Books and comics during childhood time ^^

In Indonesia, my parents' house was located  very near to the school. It was just five minutes walk from home. All my four siblings studied there from kindergarten to senior high school. It was so good that you saved time and money for the transport. Especially when you forgot to bring things from home. You could just go back home during recess time to collect your thing back.

I studied my kindergarten there but was rejected to enroll my primary school because I was born in late months of the year. The school said I was too young to start (I was not even six years old) and they wanted me to enroll the next year after that. However,  my Mom believed in my capability that I would be able to catch up with the lesson. Therefore, I went to another school that was located very far away from home. 

The kindergarten, primary school,  and junior high school were located in one area, which means no barrier to access to these three places. Only senior high school was separated from these three. 

Just behind the kindergarten,  it was where their library was located. I still remember after I finished school (during primary school time), I would drop by the library there. I would enter the place as if I was the student there. It was quite big place. Sometimes I would enter together with my sister to reduce the suspicion. Of course I couldn't borrow those books back home. I could only read it there.

At that age, I had favorite books to read. It was detective book for children written by M. Monsters. The book was translated into Indonesian language. It was about two children, age twelve, who were neighbor, and stayed in a small and quiet ville. The girl's name was Amy Adams and the boy's name was Hawkeye Collins.

Serial detektif cilik Hawkeye Collins and Amy Adams (Indonesian versions)

Each books consists of several short stories. Both of them would face case and problem in each story. Usually Hawkeye Collins would draw a sketch from the scene and included everything that he saw. Reader would have to read thoroughly about each scenario and looked at the sketch properly in order to be able to solve the problem up.

The answer of each case was put behind the book and it was written the other way around. You need a mirror to read the solution.

Ooohhh.... I loved solving their cases. All stories were interesting and not so difficult to solve. There were numbers of series and I slowly enjoyed reading each of it. That was my recollection on how I started going to library and developing my interest in reading books. Other than that series, I also started to read 'Lima Sekawan' or 'Famous Five', again about children detective stories but this one was more words and less pictures  and the problem was solved by themselves, not by readers.

If I recalled back on how I was so blatant to enter the library and disguised as the student there, I would smile on it :) Luckily the librarian never kicked me out from there and I managed to read quite number of the story books there.

I came from quite big families (five of us) so I didn't dare to ask my parents to buy us books lavishly like other children. At that time we subscribed one children magazine called Bobo. My 3rd sister and I had to fight and snatched, sometimes I even cried when it was delivered to our house as both of us didn't want to read it late.

Majalah Bobo :)

To ease our hunger of reading, we would borrow comics like Tintin, Asterix, Nina, Donal Bebek - all Indonesian versions from friends. 

Childhood time's favorite comics - in Indonesian versions

I would consider myself lucky being able to read those books and comics since very young as many people in other part of the works didn't even know how to read, didn't even have access towards books.