Hong Kong, 26 February 2010 ————– In the time it takes you to read this media release, an estimated 13 hectares of the world’s forests will be lost, according to a recent estimate by WWF-Malaysia.
“Sumatra is one of the most important and fascinating places on the planet right now,” asserts architect and LEED® AP Tom Schmidt, author of the new book Bumbling Through Sumatra. “In today’s era of climate change, the destruction of ancient rainforests, loss of marine and terrestrial habitats, and erosion of traditional cultures around the world is a very serious issue – and Sumatra is a case in point.”
Bumbling Through Sumatra is an educational yet comical adventure through the Strait of Malacca, various ports in Malaysia, and across the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The reader is taken on an entertaining journey of discovery by following the misadventures of a fictitious cast of bumbling characters as they stumble across the natural treasures and indigenous cultures of the Indonesian island of Sumatra – including the environmental challenges they currently face. With over 200 beautifully hand-drawn illustrations, the book’s day-by-day account of the bumbling travellers’ journey through Malaysia and Indonesia seeks to instill the reader with an environmental and cultural awareness of the region’s rapidly changing situation.
Schmidt contends that the unique graphic format of the book series appeals to both young adults, already accustomed to comic book formats, as well as more mature audiences in helping to create environmental awareness.
Bumbling Through Sumatra is the second volume in the award-winning Bumbling Traveller™ Adventure Series, a book series that seeks to promote environmental and cultural awareness through entertaining mysteries and adventures. The first volume in the series, Bumbling Through Borneo, was the recipient of a silver medal in the 2009 IPPY Independent Publishers Book Awards, a bronze medal in the 2009 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, numerous positive media reviews, and is now headed into its second printing.
Bumbling Through Sumatra will be launched on May 2010 in Hong Kong; the book will be available in regional bookstores beginning in May 2010, and can also be ordered from the publisher, Kakibubu Media Limited.