Publishing 36 science books for children — in 4 languages, with 95% local illustration.

The science books available to young Malaysian children in 2015 had two problems. The first was language: most age-appropriate science material in print was in English, leaving Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin, and Tamil-speaking households with thinner options at the same age. The second was visual culture: illustration was overwhelmingly imported from the US, UK, or stock libraries — children encountered the natural world through faces and styles that did not look like theirs.

WhyteHouse had been using children's books in classroom practice for years. We decided to commission what we couldn't find: a Malaysian children's science library, written for early-years readers, illustrated by local Malaysian artists, and distributed widely enough that schools beyond ours could use it.

The series scoped 36 titles across the natural and physical sciences — from Reptiles and Mammals through Bridges, Electricity, Volcanoes, and Microorganisms — at a reading level appropriate for preschool and early primary children. Each book was structured around concrete observable phenomena children encounter in everyday life, not abstract textbook framings.

The illustration commitment was load-bearing: 95% of the artwork was commissioned from local Malaysian illustrators, deliberately keeping the work and the budget within the country's creative economy. Twenty of the 36 titles were launched on a single day in June 2018, earning the Malaysia Book of Records for Most Number of Science Books for Children Published in a Single Event, with the launch conducted by the Governor of Penang.

A companion title — Papa Mama & Me: Baby Sensory Edition — was translated into Bahasa Melayu, English, Mandarin, and Tamil, with 25,000 copies printed under sponsorship from the Penang State Government via YB Chong Eng's office.

10,000 copies of the series have been distributed to Malaysia's National Library and state libraries, making the books reachable for children whose families don't own them.

The parenting title, distributed in all four languages, has reached households the WhyteHouse classroom never directly serves — particularly through Penang Public Library Corporation hosting and the state government's distribution channels. For educators outside the WhyteHouse network, this is the most tangible piece of WhyteHouse's pedagogical work they're likely to encounter first.