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00:00 Hi everyone, welcome back. You're still with us here on the Sea Morning Show.
00:05 And as mentioned prior to this segment, this is April the 23rd.
00:09 We are celebrating International Book Day.
00:12 Therefore, in our signature segment, Book Talk, we're going to discuss a book
00:16 that aims to educate and provide learning tools for our children.
00:20 Yes, and now we have Junissa Bienda-Hardianto,
00:23 who is the author and illustrator of her latest book,
00:26 Mengenal Untuk Mencintai Hewan-Hewan Dalam Al-Quran.
00:29 So, good morning. Hi.
00:31 Hi, good morning.
00:32 Hi, Junissa.
00:33 So happy to be here.
00:34 Thanks for coming.
00:35 Happy International Book Day.
00:36 Yeah, International Book Day.
00:38 Alright, we're going to talk about your latest book.
00:41 This is the book, Mengenal Untuk Mencintai Hewan-Hewan Dalam Al-Quran.
00:45 Maybe you can talk about this.
00:46 Get to know and love animals that are from the Al-Quran, right?
00:50 Yeah, in English it's like that, exactly.
00:52 So, this is a continuation of the series that I've already made.
00:57 So, this is the fourth book, actually, of the Karim and Kalio series.
01:02 And what's more special about this book is that I collaborated with Batas.
01:07 Batas is a Muslim learning platform,
01:10 and they're the one who provided the information from the Quran,
01:14 so that it's really specialized.
01:19 They're really specialized in those kind of things.
01:21 So, it's for accuracy purposes, correct?
01:24 Yes, they acted as an editor.
01:26 And also, I collaborated with Jaga Satwa,
01:29 which is the owner is a family friend,
01:32 and they're willing to see the animal facts in the book,
01:36 and they correct it if there are any mistakes.
01:39 Very cool. Very unique concept.
01:43 Awesome.
01:44 Can you tell us a bit about the process of writing a children's book?
01:49 I know, I think it's a bit different than writing, say, a fiction,
01:53 or just another novel, but can you tell us about the process,
01:57 from start to finish, about writing a book like this?
02:00 Okay.
02:01 So, originally, I only illustrate because that's my work,
02:05 but this is one of the books that I authored myself.
02:09 So, firstly, I decide on the theme.
02:12 So, basically, Karim and Kalio has been going on since 2021,
02:16 through the pandemic years.
02:18 So, through that, I wrote books.
02:21 And on the fourth one, I tried to write something that's a little more different.
02:27 So, it's a story, but it's also an encyclopedia.
02:30 And maybe I can show you a little bit.
02:34 Yeah.
02:35 So, inside, the story is about Karim and Kalio.
02:42 They're the two characters.
02:43 Yeah. So, Karim is the boy, and Kalio is the cat.
02:47 Oh!
02:48 Yeah.
02:49 So, this is a fiction book for children, and it's also an encyclopedia.
02:55 And so, the story includes the two main ayats in the Al-Quran
03:01 as the main inspiration of the story.
03:04 I see. A lesson, so to speak.
03:06 Yeah. But it's really light. It's really light.
03:09 So, it's good for bedtime stories.
03:11 By the way, the illustrations I was just saying, it's so amazing.
03:14 It's very relatable for kids.
03:17 Yeah.
03:18 Very colorful.
03:19 Thank you.
03:20 And so, they just traveled and then find the animals in the Al-Quran.
03:24 Oh, that's awesome.
03:25 And there are…
03:26 All of them.
03:27 Yeah. We translate it in Bahasa Indonesia, but originally I wrote in English.
03:31 Okay.
03:32 Because most of my clients are English, so I'm used to their flow of work.
03:37 Okay. So, there you see, for example, you give a little fun facts as well about the animals.
03:42 Yeah. That's why I asked Jaga Satwa to correct the…
03:46 Because we're not animal experts, right?
03:48 Sure.
03:49 You talk about metamorphosis.
03:52 Metamorphosis. I check with them, is it correct?
03:54 And in the end, they learn about the coexistence of animals.
04:04 Hood-hood.
04:05 Hood-hood. Yeah. In Jaga Satwa, they have the birds also.
04:09 Okay. Not just for kids.
04:11 Yeah. Not just for kids.
04:12 That's something new for me.
04:13 I didn't know there's a bird called hood-hood.
04:16 Yeah. It's mentioned a couple of times in the Quran.
04:19 Animals that are in the desert.
04:22 Yeah.
04:23 It's an animal.
04:24 So, it's an adventure from beginning to end.
04:26 From the forest, the desert.
04:29 Yeah. So, I hope that the kids will be not like super…
04:34 Oh, it's an educational book. It's more of a storybook, so it has a flow and a plot.
04:40 And you mentioned that you're used to writing in English, but this is translated to Indonesian.
04:47 Yes.
04:48 But for this book specifically, there's two versions of it in both English and Indonesian.
04:52 Hopefully, this year we're going to publish the English version.
04:56 Okay. That's nice. I think these days, our kids are all bilingual and here in Indonesia.
05:01 Oh, you've got like the ecosystem, the food chain.
05:05 Oh, nice.
05:06 That's amazing.
05:07 So, this is like one of the conclusions that we as human beings actually have to coexist with the animals.
05:14 And because through this book, I want the children to see that Allah created all of the things for us.
05:21 And it's our responsibility to protect them.
05:26 I want to, you know, since you mentioned it, we had a little short conversation before this discussion.
05:32 I want you to expand further on what you said there.
05:34 Because you mentioned something that was very interesting to me in regards to why children should be connected to God these days.
05:41 Yeah. I don't know.
05:43 Because growing up, I kind of learned it in a different way.
05:48 Whereas like we as human beings, we have to serve God, but we don't understand why.
05:56 So, the why is because Allah loves us more than we love Him, apparently.
06:03 So, I want through Karim and Khalil, the children to learn that through all the things that they're facing, you know, that God is always with them.
06:13 And one of the ways to learn is to have like something that makes them connect.
06:20 You know, like animals are, you know, very relatable to kids.
06:24 Absolutely. I agree.
06:25 So, you have to find the right approach.
06:26 And you also mentioned that a lot of these days, a lot of kids are connected to these things.
06:30 Yeah.
06:31 And it's much better to connect with nature's beings as opposed to these things that we've created, right?
06:37 Yeah. And the topics that I took are mostly nature.
06:40 So, hopefully it gets kids to want to learn more about the animals, not just like playing games and gadgets and outdoors.
06:48 But I want to know, why do you think that connecting with nature can, you know, expand your connection with God?
06:57 I think like nature is God's gift, right?
07:02 So, if we realize that nature is all around us and that we are actually abundantly supported by Allah in many, many ways,
07:11 like everything made here is from Allah, like it's from nature.
07:15 So, through religion, I think we have to take that kind of perspective, not that just we have to pray or do five salat a day.
07:25 Yeah, because a lot of times, I ask my adult friends all the time, like, "Hey, do you know the reason why you pray five times a day?"
07:32 And they say, "Because when I was a kid, they told me to."
07:35 Yeah.
07:36 And then they say, "You know, I wish I can expand more."
07:39 But unfortunately, as a kid, back then, they didn't explain these things to us more.
07:42 And I think it's educational tools like this that help kids to understand why we do the things that we do, right?
07:48 Yeah.
07:49 So, can you tell us a little bit about Karim and Khalil?
07:52 What was the inspiration behind those characters and the cat as well?
07:57 You have a cat.
07:58 I have a cat.
07:59 And one of the cat is actually Khalil.
08:01 Oh, okay.
08:02 There we go.
08:03 Yeah.
08:04 So, very personal.
08:05 In cat language.
08:08 Yeah.
08:09 Okay, so there you go.
08:10 So, tell us about the idea of why you decided to use a character of a boy and a cat.
08:15 Yeah, basically, the boy is still five years old, so it's the same market age as the book.
08:21 Okay.
08:22 So, I want the kids to feel like they have the ownership, whereas they see themselves as the main character.
08:28 Right.
08:29 So, throughout all the series, we don't have the adult telling them what's right and wrong.
08:33 So, they eventually find out it for themselves.
08:37 Learn it on their own.
08:38 Yeah, and I hope that encourages kids to have more critical thinking skills.
08:42 Yeah.
08:43 I mean, which maybe they find, "Oh, Karim was able to question these kind of things.
08:48 I think I should try to know more about it."
08:51 And then, in this book, we can see that some of the pages have the Quran reference of the animals right here.
09:04 Ah, yes.
09:05 Sorry.
09:06 Right here.
09:07 Where you can find it in the Quran.
09:08 Yeah.
09:09 And that hopefully encourages them to want to open the Quran themselves without the parents telling them.
09:15 There you go.
09:16 Again, that goes back to what I was saying, right?
09:18 You need to find ways to make them want to connect on their own as opposed to, "Oh, just because I have to."
09:23 Yeah, but there's curiosity.
09:25 Absolutely.
09:26 I want to talk a little bit about you, Janissa.
09:29 Okay.
09:30 This is a fairly new kind of venture for you.
09:32 You mentioned that your work involved illustrating.
09:35 But I suppose years ago, being a children's book author was not really in the cards for you.
09:41 You never thought of this.
09:42 What made you decide to shift in this direction?
09:45 And where do you foresee yourself now that you've come up with a few publications already?
09:49 Yeah.
09:50 So, I illustrate mostly for work.
09:53 And mostly it's for children's book publishers from New York, Singapore, and London.
10:01 But throughout my days as an illustrator, I didn't know which direction I want to go to.
10:09 But realizing how important it is for literacy for children, I decided to take my master's degree in children's book illustration.
10:19 Wow.
10:20 Yeah.
10:21 And remembering my fond memories with my family, knowing that family bonding is very important for children, especially from age one to seven, I heard.
10:32 So, that hopefully makes children have more fond memories, the same as I have when I was a kid.
10:40 Especially at the age where they aren't able to read by themselves fully yet.
10:44 Yeah.
10:45 That's a chance for you to read to them.
10:46 I know sometimes it's tiring.
10:47 It's getting late at night.
10:48 And my kid will always say, "I want to read a book."
10:50 And I'm like, "Oh, man, it's getting kind of late."
10:52 But you should always try to make... I'm guilty of this, by the way.
10:54 But you should always try and make the time, if not every day, at least once in a while, right?
10:58 Yeah, definitely.
10:59 All right.
11:00 So, yeah, let's go ahead.
11:02 I was as much as...
11:03 You're eyeing those.
11:04 I want to know about the rest of the books.
11:06 Karim and Khalil's other adventures.
11:08 Yeah.
11:09 This one is specifically about books.
11:10 It's Axemore of an encyclopedia for the animals in Alcoran.
11:13 But what about the others?
11:14 So it's funny that I make Karim and Khalil through the pandemic.
11:18 So the pandemic makes people more creative, right?
11:21 Yeah.
11:22 In a way.
11:23 So the first one is like, as you asked about the closeness to God, it's about finding Allah.
11:33 Okay.
11:34 So I think this is one of the crucial questions that parents...
11:39 Yeah.
11:40 Really hard to explain to kids, right?
11:41 Yes, very true.
11:42 Who is Allah?
11:43 Yeah.
11:44 Why do we have to pray?
11:45 And then from there, I concluded that Allah is everywhere and Allah is around us through
11:52 the creations that he has bestowed for us.
11:56 Okay.
11:57 And again, it goes a lot to nature, right?
12:00 Yeah.
12:01 So they find the food that they eat, the animals in the forest, the abundant sea, and then
12:07 they went into space to...
12:10 So they thought Allah is in outer space.
12:12 Because we're all thinking up there somewhere.
12:14 Yeah, they thought heaven is up there, right?
12:16 So...
12:17 So you went to space.
12:18 They went to space.
12:19 Aww.
12:20 Aww.
12:21 Yeah.
12:22 He's right over there.
12:23 They thought Allah is in Neptune, so...
12:26 Okay.
12:27 Yeah.
12:28 Oh, with this four books, six books you've mentioned, what are the feedbacks from the
12:34 five-year-old?
12:35 What are they saying about this book?
12:37 And their parents.
12:38 And their parents.
12:39 Yeah.
12:40 So, the kids relate to the book, thankfully.
12:43 And they...
12:44 Because I think I made it in the pandemic stage, parents try to find something to entertain
12:50 their kids, right?
12:51 That's very true.
12:52 And themselves.
12:53 Yeah.
12:54 And make them rest a little bit, right?
12:57 So, this one I made is because all the amusement parks are closed.
13:02 Yes.
13:03 So I make it based on an amusement park.
13:06 Oh, that's amazing.
13:07 So they kind of relive their memory of not...
13:11 Cannot go there.
13:12 You're right.
13:13 Yeah.
13:14 Wow.
13:15 Oh, there's...
13:16 So, yeah.
13:17 So this is about the Ayah that is...
13:20 He lost his hat.
13:21 He lost his hat.
13:22 He lost his hat.
13:23 Yeah.
13:24 But apparently when he was trying to find it, he finds a lot of his friends lost their
13:29 hats, too.
13:30 So he set aside what he was trying to find, and then he actually helped his friends.
13:35 Which is the overlying kind of lesson there, isn't it?
13:39 Yeah.
13:40 To help others.
13:41 Yeah.
13:42 Wow, it's very cool.
13:43 Yeah.
13:44 And then in the end, the one who found the hat is a friend that they haven't met before,
13:48 in which that...
13:49 Oh, a bunny.
13:50 This friend...
13:51 Yeah, it's a bunny.
13:53 Was trying his best to find Khalil.
13:55 So it's like...
13:57 Oh.
13:58 So it's destiny.
13:59 Yes, destiny.
14:00 You're right.
14:01 If you're doing good things, inshallah, Allah will give you good things, too.
14:05 That's love.
14:06 Wow.
14:07 Yeah.
14:08 Sounds like a Christopher Nolan story.
14:09 Yeah.
14:10 I was about to say.
14:11 It's a twist at the end there.
14:12 It's very philosophical.
14:13 I wasn't expecting that.
14:14 Spoiler alert, guys.
14:15 Still worth the read.
14:16 I think it's for a 36-year-old.
14:17 Yeah.
14:18 And this one is the story after pandemic, I made it.
14:23 Okay.
14:24 Yeah, it's about the grateful heart because through pandemic, we learned that the small
14:28 things in life is the most important.
14:30 Yeah, even health is more important than anything else.
14:34 And this is based on that.
14:35 And I made this a month after I gave birth.
14:39 Oh.
14:40 Wow.
14:41 Wow.
14:42 A month after.
14:43 It's basically like a reflection of a mother writing a book.
14:46 So here.
14:48 And this is your third one?
14:50 Third book.
14:51 Third one.
14:52 Okay, right before this one.
14:53 And this is the latest one.
14:54 Got it.
14:55 It seems to me that a lot of the stories are basically coming from your own life and the
14:59 experiences that you happen to be going through at the time, right?
15:02 Yeah.
15:03 Yeah.
15:04 And basically it kind of relates to a lot of people.
15:06 Surprisingly.
15:07 Very relatable.
15:08 Yeah, surprisingly because we're all in this together.
15:10 I was going to say, we're all going through the same thing at the same time, especially
15:13 through those pandemic times.
15:14 Yeah.
15:15 New mothers, I totally can relate.
15:18 For example, my wife after giving birth would always kind of reflect on how she's glad everything
15:23 went smoothly, a million things could have gone wrong.
15:26 So we need to be more grateful.
15:28 And that's exactly what it is, right?
15:29 The grateful heart.
15:30 That's what the title is.
15:31 Yeah.
15:32 And become more aware, you know, like more acute to little things, right?
15:36 So cool.
15:37 This is my new favorite book.
15:39 Mine's the missing half.
15:42 So today's International Book Day.
15:44 So considering that you have been on this kind of self-discovery and also sharing your stories
15:51 through children's books out there, what are your hopes for the future, especially when
15:55 it comes for the world of books here in Indonesia?
15:58 I hope that the world of books in Indonesia can expand more.
16:04 And like, we can like take an example of JK Rowling where Harry Potter becomes like a
16:09 theme park and then becomes merchandise.
16:11 And I hope that as a creator myself, we don't settle on only making books, but we expand
16:18 from the books to the other media also.
16:21 And we want to be collectively beat each other's backbone.
16:28 And we want to provide the best content for kids as much as possible.
16:32 Yeah.
16:33 Amen.
16:34 Well said.
16:35 If Karim and Khalil ever have a theme park, I'm going to be there.
16:38 First one there with my kids.
16:40 Amen.
16:41 Thank you so much for being here.
16:43 Thank you so much to have you here.
16:45 Yeah.
16:46 Happy International Book Day.
16:47 Happy International Book Day.
16:48 And we're still going to talk about books after this.
16:51 We have book recommendations for you.
16:53 So stay with us on The Steam Morning Show.
16:55 The Steam Morning Show.
17:03 Bye.
17:14 you