[Tetralogi Laskar Pelangi 01] • The Rainbow Troops

**From Indonesia, an inspiring, record-breaking bestseller—and a modern-day fairy tale**

Ikal is a student at Muhammadiyah Elementary, on the Indonesian island of Belitong, where graduating from sixth grade is considered a signal achievement. His school is under constant threat of closure. In fact, Ikal and his friends—a group nicknamed the Rainbow Troops—face threats from every angle: pessimistic, corrupt government officials; greedy corporations hardly distinguishable from the colonialism they’ve replaced; deepening poverty and crumbling infrastructure; and their own festering self-confidence.

     But in the form of two extraordinary teachers, they also have hope, and Ikal’s education is an uplifting one, in and out of the classroom. We root for him and his friends as they defy the town’s powerful tin miners. We meet his first love, a hand with half-moon fingernails that passes him the chalk his teacher has instructed him to buy. We cheer for Lintang, the class’s barefoot math genius, as he bests the rich company children in an academic challenge. Above all, we gain an intimate acquaintance with the customs and people of the world’s largest Muslim society.

     First published in 2005, *The Rainbow Troops* , Andrea Hirata’s autobiographical debut novel, sold a record-breaking 5 million copies in Indonesia. Now it promises to captivate audiences across the globe. This is classic storytelling: an engrossing depiction of a milieu we have never encountered before, bursting with charm and verve.