Andrea Hirata

Laskar Pelangi (http://sastrabelitong.multiply.com/journal/item/2)

Until this time, my favorite novels are “Laskar Pelangi”, “Sang pemimpi”, and “Edensor”. These books are the serials of The Tetralogy of Laskar Pelangi. In English, “Laskar Pelangi” means The Rainbow Warriors and “Sang Pemimpi” means The Dreamer. “Laskar Pelangi” starts with a dramatic story about the new students of the poorest and the only school in the village. This little school was almost closed by the government if the school did not get the target to get 10 students in its first year. In the last second of the time, the quota has not been fulfilled yet. The new students and the teachers are ready to take the disappointment. Fortunately, in the last second, a boy came and the school still kept going. These 10 children is the “Laskar Pelangi”. “Laskar Pelangi” shared all the things together for 9 years in the same school, same class, and same seat. This situation made them strong in friendship, with the teacher and the principal, too. “Laskar Pelangi” is Lintang, the super genius boy, Mahar, the great artist, Flo, the rich tomboy girl, Sahara, the grumpy girl, Kucai, a boy who want to be an expert of politic, Samson, the big boy, Syahdan, the boy who want to be an actor, A Kiong, the shy one, Harun, a “little boy who is trapped on an adult body”, Trapani, the handsome boy, Borek, the mess maker, and Ikal, the main character of the story.

Sang Pemimpi (http://klub-sastra-bentang. blogspot.com/2006/07/ bukubaru-sang-pemimpi.html)

“Sang Pemimpi” tell us about a group of the poor kids in Belitong, Indonesia, worked as the roughest workers in the harbor. They worked that rough job only to get money for school. They are Ikal, the main character of the story, Arai, Ikal’s brother, and Jimbron, the boy who have a compulsive obsession for horses. Even though they were naughty, Ikal and Arai always got the top rank in their school. Even though they came from a poor family, they have a dream. These kids did not only dream, but they worked hard to make it real. And their dream is not a little dream, but their dream is big. They want to go to school in Paris. Their struggle to go to school in Paris started with their journey to Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. They must survive in Jakarta without any preparation. In the end of the story, they got the scholarship to Sorbonne.

Edensor (http://sastrabelitong. multiply.com/journal/item/4)

Every person must have dreams. But, not every person can make their dream as the way of life and try to make it true. Ikal and Arai was a brave dreamer. Even though they were born in a poor family in Belitong, they have a big dream. They have been motivated by their principal in Senior High School to explore the world and took all the things that they can get. In “Sang Pemimpi”, the main character tells us about their struggle to make their dream come true, but in “Edensor”, their dream has come true. In this novel, the main character also tells us about his struggle to survive in Europe until he found a village that he knew from James Harriot's book.

Andrea Hirata (http://regoljogja.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/andrea-hirata.gif)

The stories in these books are based on the author’s life, Andrea Hirata. He wrote everything that he got in his life with very attractive words. If we read his book, we will feel like we were there. Andrea Hirata is the fourth son of a mine worker in Belitong, Indonesia. He was born in 24 October, the same date when United Nations was founded. Actually, he must be born on 23 October, but his mother wanted to wait until 24 October. She hoped her son would become the peacemaker of the United Nations.

Edensor (village) (papabonbon.wordpress.com)

His elementary school is the poorest and the oldest school in Belitong. At noon, people used the building as the school, but at night, people used the building as the stable. But, in the old school like that, he could learn about friendship and the importance of school. When his friend, Lintang, could not continue his school, he realized that the world is unfair. Many ordinary people can finish their study and become a success person. But, in other case, Lintang, the genius boy cannot finish his study because of the poorness.

He becomes my hero because of his spirit to get the scholarship to Europe. He never surrendered to get his dream to get the knowledge as high as the sky. Even though he was only the son of the mineworker; he had a big dream to get the knowledge as high as the sky. He wanted to go to every part of the world and got what he has dreamed of. He had a big dream and he wanted to survive to make his dream came true. Even he must pass big obstacles, he still survives and never surrenders to get what he wants. He truly inspires me to get the scholarship to Singapore. I want to get the scholarship because I come from an ordinary family and my family does not have much money to pay my school. I want to help my family and survive to make my dream come true. Same like Andrea Hirata who survived in an injustice world for school.

“I just want you to know, we have nothing but spirit and dreams, and we will fight for those dreams.” (“Sang Pemimpi”)