LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
In her first picturebook, the award-winning author returns to the issue of the arrival of refugees in our schools, which she tackled so memorably in the bestselling The Boy at the Back of the Class. Perfectly pitched for younger children and with stunningly effective illustrations, this story is told by Adam, a young boy in a very diverse classroom who tells us about the arrival of a new girl to join their class. She does not speak or answer him and does not want to join in any of the activities, but their teacher suggests she could draw instead. Adams tells us she drew things ‘I had never seen before’ like broken tents, orange boats and houses on fire and in every picture, there was a little girl crying: ‘that made me want to cry too’ . He wanted to know why she drew such things and did not speak, and he asked the cleverest people he knew. His teacher, his dad and his grandma all tried to explain, and their answers made him sad, but made him want to be her friend even more. He came up with a beautiful plan. A huge collage painting on the wall telling a new story for her and this breaks the ice for Layla. His friendship makes the difference.
The book ends with a page of five ideas that can be used to help refugee children feel welcome. This is an absolute must have for empathy collections and the explanations given to Adam will really help young children to understand that refugee children are just like them and to understand what they have had to face.
Joy Court
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About
The Girl at the Front of the Class Synopsis
There's a new girl in my class. She has eyes as wide and as golden as a tiger's, a face as pale as a glass of milk, and hair as shiny as a mirror. I'd like to be her friend. But she never wants to play with me in the playground or makes sandcastles in the sandpit.
The cleverest people I know say that the new girl is sad because she had to leave her home, her family, her school, her toys, her books and all her friends too.
But I've got a plan! There's something I can do to make her feel better when she's missing everything she's left behind . . .
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781526364654 |
| Publication date: |
12th September 2024 |
| Author: |
Onjali Q. Raúf |
| Illustrator: |
Pippa Curnick |
| Publisher: |
Hodder Children's Books an imprint of Hachette Children's Group |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
32 pages |
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Press Reviews
Onjali Q. Raúf Press Reviews
Praise for The Boy at the Back of the Class:
‘A celebration of courage and friendship leavened with mischief.’ - The Guardian
‘Utterly delightful.’ - The Mail on Sunday
Author
About Onjali Q. Raúf
Onjali Q. Raúf is a multi-award-winning children’s author and women’s and refugee human rights activist. She is the founder and CEO of Making Herstory which works to end the abuse, enslavement and trafficking of women and girls in the UK, and O’s Refugee Aid Team which mobilises aid convoys and funds to help frontline refugee response teams across northern France and beyond. She is the author of Sunday Times bestseller, The Boy at the Back of the Class, which won the Blue Peter Award and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in 2019, the Sakura Medal of Japan in 2020 and the Prix Janusz Korczak Prize in 2022 amongst others. Her follow-up stories include The Star Outside My Window, The Night Bus Hero, The Great Food Bank Heist, The Lion Above the Door, a non-fiction title, Hope on the Horizon, and most recently, Where Magic Grows: a book of seven original fairy tales inspired by her travels and best-loved sayings. She was awarded an MBE in 2022 for her services to women’s rights and children’s literature, and in 2023, was recipient of the NEU Fred and Anne Jarvis Award for services to education and her humanitarian works.
Onjali is also a Patron of VIP Reading, Facefront Theatre, and NIA Women; an Ambassador for Walk With Amal, and a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2’s Pause for Thought. An alumnus of the Cambridge University Senior Faith in Leadership programme, she was listed as one of BBC’s 100 most influential women from around the world in 2019. Her first children’s play, The Hero Next Door, was staged and toured in England and Wales in 2023. An adaptation of The Boy at the Back of the Class for the stage launches at London’s Rose Theatre in February 2024, and will be touring across England until June 2024.
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