The Kampung Boy

"Kampung Boy" redirects here—the article about the autobiographical comic. For the animated cartoon, see Kampung Boy (TV series). The term "kampung boy" refers to a boy from a kampung.

The Kampung Boy
A little naked boy stands in the space under a wooden house that is on stilts. Chickens peck the ground for food. The word "Lat" is at the top left of the image and "the Kampung Boy" at the bottom.
Front cover of the 1979 first print
AuthorLat
LanguageMalglish, a pidgin form of English
GenreAutobiographical comics
PublisherBerita Publishing
Publication date
1979
Publication placeMalaysia
Media typePrint
Pages144 pp (first edition)
OCLC5960451
741.59595
LC ClassPZ7.L3298
Followed byTown Boy 

The Kampung Boy, also known as Lat, the Kampung Boy or simply Kampung Boy, is a graphic novel by Lat about a young boy's experience growing up in rural Perak in the 1950s. The book is an autobiographical account of the artist's life, telling of his adventures in the jungles and tin mines, his circumcision, family, and school life. It is also the basis for the eponymous animated series broadcast in 1999 and a musical theatre staging in 2011. First published in 1979 by Berita Publishing, The Kampung Boy was a commercial and critical success; its first printing (of at least 60,000 copies, 16 times) was sold out within four months of its release. Narrated in English with a smattering of Malay, the work has been translated into other languages, such as Japanese and French, and sold abroad.

The book made Lat an international figure and a highly regarded cartoonist in Malaysia. It won several awards when released as Kampung Boy in the United States, such as Outstanding International Book for 2007 and the Children's Book Council and Booklist Editor's Choice for 2006. The Kampung Boy became a franchise, with the characters of The Kampung Boy decorating calendars, stamps, and aeroplanes. A Malaysian theme park is scheduled to open in 2012 with the fictional characters as part of its attractions. The Kampung Boy is very popular in Southeast Asia and has gone through 18 reprints. A sequel, Town Boy, which followed the protagonist in his teenage years in the city, was published in 1981 and a spin-off, Kampung Boy: Yesterday and Today, in 1993. The latter reused the setting of The Kampung Boy to compare and contrast the differences between Malaysian childhood experiences in the 1950s and 1980s.