LoveReading4Kids Says
LoveReading4Kids Says
Selected by a distinguished independent panel of experts including our editorial expert, Julia Eccleshare, for Diverse Voices - 50 of the best Children's Books celebrating cultural diversity in the UK.
Haunting, tragic and distressing in what it reveals about man’s inhumanity to man, Refugee Boy is also an affirming story of one boy’s amazing courage and several other individual’s goodness and integrity. Caught up in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Alem’s life is in danger at home. To make sure he survives, Alem’s father brings him to Britain and abandons him to seek asylum and find a new and better life. The story of how Alem retains his dignity and independence in the most challenging of circumstances while also adapting to the demands of a new life is strongly told.
Perfect for Reluctant Readers as well as keen readers. To view other titles we think are suitable for reluctant readers please click here.
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About
Refugee Boy Synopsis
Alem is on holiday with his father for a few days in London. He has never been out of Ethiopia before and is very excited. They have a great few days togther until one morning when Alem wakes up in the bed and breakfast they are staying at to find the unthinkable. His father has left him. It is only when the owner of the bed and breakfast hands him a letter that Alem is given an explanation. Alem's father admits that because of the political problems in Ethiopia both he and Alem's mother felt Alem would be safer in London - even though it is breaking their hearts to do this. Alem is now on his own, in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council. He lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear from his father, and in particular about his mother, who has now gone missing... A powerful, gripping new novel from the popular Benjamin Zephaniah
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9780747550860 |
| Publication date: |
28th August 2001 |
| Author: |
Benjamin Zephaniah |
| Publisher: |
Bloomsbury Children's Books an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Format: |
Paperback |
| Pagination: |
291 pages |
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Press Reviews
Benjamin Zephaniah Press Reviews
'[The] story of a young Ethiopian boy, whose parents abandon him in London to save his life.' - Katy Guest, literary editor for The Independent on Sunday
Author
About Benjamin Zephaniah
Poet, novelist and playwright Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-2023) grew up in Jamaica and the Handsworth district of Birmingham, England, leaving school at 14. He moved to London in 1979 and published his first poetry collection, Pen Rhythm, in 1980.
Benjamin Zephaniah is an internationally renowned performance poet and acclaimed author of bestselling YA novels: Face, Gangsta Rap, Teacher's Dead, Refugee Boy and Terror Kid.
He was a Writer in Residence at the Africa Arts Collective in Liverpool and Creative Artist in Residence at Cambridge University, and was a candidate for the post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Arts and Humanities from the University of North London (1998), was made a Doctor of Letters by the University of Central England (1999).
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