Book Review (I)

Title: Sing to the Dawn

Author: Mingfong Ho

Genre: Fiction, History

Awards: 1st Prize Council of Interracial books for Children, New York

Gist of the story:

The frustrations, hardships and political injustices of everyday life in a village in Southeast Asia are dramatically revealed in the story of Dawan, a young Thai village girl who harbors the dream of getting out of her village in the lure of the bright lights in the big city, and to do so, has to fight customs and traditions that girls are meant to be betrothed away early at a young age to someone they loathe, and schools for them are an unnecessary part of life.

In a local examination, where only the best student could get a scholarship to pursue higher education in the city, Dawan came in first in an exam while her brother Kwai was second.

The discrimination, prejudices against women and frustration in the village were portrayed through the struggles of Dawan in her attempts to seek approval from her family to let her continue her education at the city. She has to go against the wishes of her dad who is convinced that city life and further schooling are not for girls as well as to irk Kwai, her brother.

Dawan’s determination to overcome these obstacles and to prove to others that she was worthy of the scholarship was an important experience to her as she has set noble goals to save her village from greedy landlords.

Reflections:

My curiosity in this book was piqued when I learnt about this novel had been shoot into a costly animation movie.

This amazing award-winning novel is a must read for all of you! Minfong Ho had portrayed the life in the village as subtly and rich in imagery. This book will serve to be an effective platform for us to write descriptions in descriptive writing because she never failed to bring out the atmosphere of the surroundings, feelings and emotions of the various characters. Through her detailed writing, she brings out the trivial nuggets of everyday life and the ingrained old-fashioned thinking of the village people, giving much credibility to the characters. The major themes are dealing with prejudices and self-sacrifice.

Examples :

• ... the drizzling of the cool night rain had stopped, and in the calm silence of the after-rain, the deep croaking of the bullfrogs rose and ebbed, like a baby's quiet sobbing


• ... somewhere in the distance, the crowing of a rooster drilled through the fluid stillness


• ... hints of the morning drifted into the sleep-filled home..


• ... the whispering of the weeds, the rhythmic moaning of the bull-frogs, the rustling of thick leaves in the jungle, and the song of the crickets had sifted through so many of this young girl's dream that they seemed absorbed into her being.

The book will show us the injustices of life in a place so close to us, where landlords collect huge rents while not lifting a finger to work, officials ask for huge bribes with forty percent interest because they know that the peasants have no one to turn to, and girls are not even given a chance to study because they are seen as inferior.


This novel is also useful for us to see how we have marched from an era of female gender discrimination to the present era of gender equality. The book will surely open your eyes to the world and the problems that need to be solved. And hopefully, it will inspire you to be like Dawan, who hopes, wants and dares to be the change that she wants to see in her world.

My favourite character in this novel is Dawan. She is intelligent and perceptive, a naturally happy and optimistic person, practical, idealistic and wise beyond her years. On discovery that Pairote created a new lie to oust the villagers from their homes as he plans to build a casino, Dawan and the villagers stall the inevitable destruction against the evil mastermind of Pairote. With the aid of some clever animals in the jungle and the reluctant help of Kwai, her selfless act save the village at the same time, receive her father’s consent to study in the big city, making her dream come true.

By: Chan Jian Da

bored in my hotel room nothing to do....