**From Indonesia, an inspiring, record-breaking bestseller--and a
modern-day fairy tale
**
Published in Indonesia in 2005, The Rainbow Troops, Andrea Hirata's
closely autobiographical debut novel, sold more than five million
copies, shattering records. Now it promises to captivate audiences
around the globe.
Ikal is a student at the poorest village school on the Indonesian island
of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered remarkable.
His school is under constant threat of closure. Ikal and his friends--a
group nicknamed the Rainbow Troops--face threats from every angle:
skeptical government officials, greedy corporations, deepening poverty,
crumbling infrastructure, and their own low self-confidence.
But the students also have hope, which comes in the form of two
extraordinary teachers, and Ikal's education in and out of the classroom
is an uplifting one. We root for him as he defies the island's tin mine
officials. We meet his first love, the unseen girl who sells chalk from
behind a shop screen, whose pretty hands capture Ikal's heart. We cheer
for Lintang, the class's barefoot math genius, as he bests the students
of the mining corporation's school in an academic challenge. Above all,
we gain an intimate acquaintance with the customs and people of the
world's largest Muslim society.
This is classic storytelling in the spirit of Khaled Hosseini's The
Kite Runner: an engrossing depiction of a milieu we have never
encountered before, bursting with charm and verve.
