Childrens Book Review of M Is for Myanmar: Bilingual Burmese and English Story by Elizabeth Rush

The letters of the Burmese alphabet assume the rounded shapes of broken and intertwining circles. The shapes betray the traditional instruments and materials for writing the language: styluses applied to palm leaves. The stylus configures in the writing of many of the world’s languages, from ancient Sumer’s cuneiform of about 3500 B.C. onward. It cooperates nicely with the Burmese alphabet, which combines consonant letters and vowel notations into units. The Burmese language’s writing system dates back to the tenth or eleventh century. It exists today in a fluid form which responds to:

• Commercial, scientific, and technological updates;
• Latin alphabet transliterations.

It has to count among the world’s prettiest writing systems, as evidenced in M is for Myanmar.

In M is for Myanmar, Hla advises her younger sister -- the only family member born elsewhere -- that:

• Breakfast is cereal-free;
• Everyone may get dunked during Buddhist New Year pre-monsoon festivals;
• Grass-eating buffalos plow rice paddies;
• Both genders prefer skirts (longyi);
• Thanaka (bark ground yellow-white) paste and sugarcane juice protect against heat and sunburn;
• Two-wheeled trishaws rule under traffic-congested Yangon’s periwinkle skies.

She describes:

• Bamboo groves;
• Doorbells;
• Drum-punctuated pwe dramas with flower-carrying, sword-wielding women;
• Monks praying Amhya sahdu (“Share! Well-done!”).

She extols:

• Pickled tea;
• Mohinga noodles with ginger, lemongrass, and river fish;
• Sweet sago soup.

She mentions:

• Inle Lake fishermen’s leg-held oars;
• Mount Kyaiktiyo’s golden rock balanced on Buddha’s hair strand;
• 60-ton gold, wish-granting Shwedagon Pagoda.

Readers of M is for Myanmar appreciate learning how to say “Hello!” (Mingalaba) in Burmese. The book attracts culture- and travel-minded readers to the country’s unique sights and sounds. It benefits from the harmonious inputs of:

• American Burma Buddhist Association as consultant;
• Janet Brown as editor;
• Janet McKelpin as book and cover designer;
• Khin Maung Myint as artist;
• Gill Pattison, River Gallery, Yangon, as curator;
• Elizabeth Rush as author;
• Ma Thanegi as translator;
• ThingsAsian Press as publisher.

Librarians and teachers generally confer upon M is for Myanmar literacy levels of:

• Ages 5 – 9+;
• Grades kindergarten through fourth grade.

But the guide book agelessly cooperates with parents, readers, and teachers intent upon:

• Burmese language-learning;
• Cultural enrichment;
• Educational entertainment.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

"Burmese alphabet" transliterated as mranma akkha.ra in Burmese script
Burmese script sample: Hintha, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burmese_script_sample.svg

aesthetics of Burmese script
Sun U Ponnya Shin-Pagoda, Sagaing, central Myanmar: Gerhard Josef Eichmann (Gerd Eichmann), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sun_U_Ponnya_Shin-Sagaing-Myanmar-04-gje.jpg

Thanaka paste in artistic designs decorate little girl's face as well as protect her skin from sun.
Kuthodaw Pagoda, Mandalay, central Myanmar: Dan Lundberg, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/9508280@N07/12849190115/

Myanmar's golden sites: Kyaiktiyo Pagoda over the Golden Rock on Mount Kyaiktiyo
Small pagoda (24 feet, or 7.3 meters) perches atop granite boulder, pasted with gold leaves, which, in turn, is believed to balance on a strand of Buddha's hair.
Mount Kyaiktiyo, Mon State, southern Myanmar
Ralf-André Lettau, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Rock.JPG

"About Us." ThingsAsian Press.com. Retrieved December 12, 2014.

• Available at: http://thingsasianpress.com/about.htm

Rush, Elizabeth. 2011. M is for Myanmar. Illustrations by Khin Maung Myint. San Francisco, CA: ThingsAsian Press "ThingsAsian Kids."