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Franklin Book Program Collection at the Library of Congress

Malay Franklin Books

Please Note: Links to titles on this page will retrieve fuller bibliographic information from the Library of Congress Online Catalog.

Franklin Book Programs, Inc., a private non-profit corporation, was established in 1952 and continued until 1978 as a joint-venture between the American Library Association's International Relations Committee and publishers from the American Book Publishers Council Foreign Trade Committee. The expressed purpose of the initiative was to "assist developing countries in the creation, production, distribution, and use of books and other educational materials" ("Gift Aids Center For the Book,' News from the Library of Congress Press Release, January 10, 1979). The program involved approximately fifteen countries and as many languages. Over the course of more than two decades, the Franklin Book Program helped facilitate the publication of approximately 3,000 titles in languages such as Arabic, Armenian, Bangla, Chinese, Hausa, Igbo, Indonesian, Malay, Persian, Pushtu, Urdu, and Yoruba.

The Franklin Book Program established a field office in Kuala Lumpur under the direction of Ghazali Yunus in 1960 to publish Malay-language books. The Library of Congress holds 65 Malay titles from the Franklin Book Program, all of which are translations of English-language titles. Books from this collection were published in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore through the combined efforts of at least nine publishing houses. Titles from the Malay collection cover a variety of topics and subjects including: Childcare, Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Science, and Fiction. The Franklin Book Program operated in Kuala Lumpur for eight years before being terminated in 1968.

Field Office Leadership

Ghazali Yunus served as director of the field office in Kuala Lumpur from 1960 to 1968. Previously a journalist and magazine editor, he was also a founder and President of the Malay Book Publishers Association from 1968 to1972.

In the summer of 2022, the Asian Division’s Junior Fellow Andrea Decker worked on a project to identify and inventory the Franklin Book Program’s Indonesian and Malay titles. You can read about some research conducted with this collection in Andrea’s post on the Library’s 4 Corners of the World blog: “Franklin Book Program Titles in Indonesian and Malay: Book Publishing through Geopolitical and Linguistic Shifts.” In addition, please see Andrea’s video for more information on this junior fellow project.

Multiple copies of a book may be available. Please check the catalog record or holding division for information about a particular title.

All Malay materials including the items listed here may be accessed in the Asian Reading Room.

Book # ALA-LC Romanized Title Original English Title Publication City Year
M1 Menchari dan memelihara persahabatan Making and keeping friends Kuala Lumpur 1960
M1R Menchari dan memelihara persahabatan Making and keeping friends Kuala Lumpur 1965
M2 Bergaul dengan orang lain Getting along with others Kuala Lumpur 1960
M2R Bergaul dengan orang lain Getting along with others Kuala Lumpur 1965
M3 Magnet Magnets Kuala Lumpur [1961]
M4 Harimau di-lĕmbah pahit Tiger of bitter valley Kuala Lumpur 1961
M5 Binatang-binatang purbakala Animals of yesterday Kuala Lumpur 1961
M5R Binatang-binatang purbakala Animals of yesterday Kuala Lumpur 1965
M6 Mutiara The pearl Kuala Lumpur 1962
M7 Binatang-binatang yang kita kenal Animals we know Kuala Lumpur 1962
M8 Atom yang amat kuat The mighty atom Kuala Lumpur 1962
M9 Panas Heat Kuala Lumpur 1962
M10 Bersama sang surya Ride with the sun Kuala Lumpur 1962
M11 Perjalanan Si Pinto Pinto's journey Kuala Lumpur 1963
M12 Bumi bertuah The good earth Kuala Lumpur 1962
M13 Bunyi Sound Kuala Lumpur 1963
M14 Letrik Electricity Kuala Lumpur 1963
M15 Gayaberat Gravity Kuala Lumpur 1963
M16 Panggilan ka-alam bebas Call of the wild Kuala Lumpur 1963
M17 Akhir-nya ayer-lah yang berkuasa And the waters prevailed Kuala Lumpur 1963
M18 Biar-lah badai mengamok Let the hurricane roar Kuala Lumpur 1963
M19 Ibu yang ku-kenang Mama's bank account Kuala Lumpur 1963
M20 Roboh-nya jembatan San Luis Rey The bridge of San Luis Rey Kuala Lumpur 1963
M21 Bergembira dengan badan yang sehat Health can be fun Kuala Lumpur 1963
M22 Kesah pengembaraan Marco Polo Adventures and discoveries of Marco Polo Kuala Lumpur 1963
M23 Benda-benda hidup Living things Kuala Lumpur 1963
M24 'Ilmu mĕngajar The art of teaching Kuala Lumpur 1963
M25 Chahaya Light Kuala Lumpur 1963
M26 Angin Timor, angin Barat East wind, west wind Kuala Lumpur 1964
M27 Kita sa-bagai misin You as a machine Kuala Lumpur 1964
M28 Jatoh-nya Konstantinopel Fall of Constantinople Kuala Lumpur 1964
M29 Kesah hidup Thomas Alva Edison Thomas Alva Edison Kuala Lumpur 1964
M30 Buku-buku yang merobah dunia Books that changed the world Kuala Lumpur 1964
M31 Kuda merah The red pony Kuala Lumpur 1964
M32 Si-awang labu Robert Francis Weatherbee Kuala Lumpur 1964
M33 Masharakat serangga Insect societies Kuala Lumpur 1964
M34 Tanah Soil Kuala Lumpur 1964
M35 Napoleon dalam pertemporan Waterloo Napoleon and the battle of Waterloo Kuala Lumpur 1964
M36 Sopan santun Where are your manners Kuala Lumpur 1965
M37 Wanita2 terkemuka Lives of girls who became famous Kuala Lumpur 1964
M38 Lima puloh chĕrita tĕladan Fifty famous stories retold Kuala Lumpur 1965
M39 Mari kita ka-perpustakaan Let's go to the library Kuala Lumpur 1966
M39R Mari kita ka-perpustakaan Let's go to the library Kuala Lumpur/Singapore 1967
M41 Anak kambing bernama Gurun Gordon the goat Kuala Lumpur 1966
M42 Serba sadikit kisah dinosaurus The true book of dinosaurs Kuala Lumpur 1966
M43 Rama tukang gunting Billy the barber Kuala Lumpur 1966
M44 Si aman dengan ikan emas-nya Plenty of fish Kuala Lumpur 1966
M45 Dari zaman batu ka-zaman roket From rocks to rockets Kuala Lumpur 1966
M46 Dari-hal laut All about the sea Kota Bharu [1966]
M47 Membantu anak2 maju dalam pelajaran Helping children get along in school Kota Bharu [1966]
M48 Ayam katek berwarna chokelat The little brown hen Kuala Lumpur 1966
M49 Satelit bumi The earth satellite Kuala Lumpur 1966
M50 Gurun Deserts Kuala Lumpur 1967
M51 Siti Sarah gadis berani The courage of Sarah Noble Kuala Lumpur 1967
M52 Pergeseran Friction Kuala Lumpur 1967
M53 Perchubaan2 sains dengan alat-alat yang terdapat di-rumah Science experiences with home equipment Kuala Lumpur 1967
M54 Kisah hidup anak2 miskin yang menjadi mashhor (volume 1) Lives of poor boys who became famous Kuala Lumpur 1967
M55 Kisah hidup anak2 miskin yang menjadi mashhor (volume 2) Lives of poor boys who became famous Kuala Lumpur 1967
M56 Menjaga tingkah laku Manners can be fun Kuala Lumpur 1967
M57 Sayang... si-hitam The black stallion Kuala Lumpur 1967
M58 Apa ada dalam tuboh binatang? What's inside of animals? Kuala Lumpur 1967
M59 Rukun dan bahagia Three promises to you Kuala Lumpur 1967
M60 Seronok tahu membacha Reading can be fun Kuala Lumpur 1967
M61 Bagaimana menjaga kelakuan dan mengapa How to behave and why Kuala Lumpur 1967
M62 Perchubaan2 sains dengan alat-alat yang murah (volume 1) Science experiences with ten-cent store equipment Kuala Lumpur 1967
M63 Perchubaan2 sains dengan alat-alat yang murah (volume 2) Science experiences with ten-cent store equipment Kuala Lumpur 1967
M64 Johan bin Haji Daud John Henry Davis Kuala Lumpur 1967
M65 Kolam chita-chita The wishing pool Kuala Lumpur 1967
M66 Sa-kali peristiwa Once-upon-a-time story book Kuala Lumpur 1967