where Alem's father leaves him in hopes that his boy will be able to gain refugee status, and safety. I knew jack-all about that!Īfter that, Alem and his father go on a 'holiday' to England.

And I am gonna admit now that before this book. It's a really strong start that paints so vividly the conflict between the two places. then the second chapter is almost word for word exactly the same - the only difference being now they are in Eritrea, and his mother is being called a traitor because her husband is Ethiopian. So I don't know if things were changed or what, but I LOVED the start - how in the first chapter they are in Ethiopia, and Alem's father is being called a traitor because his wife is Eritrean. I read an 'uncorrected proof' because that just happened to be the copy I found (in a secondhand bookstore).

It might be for young people, but it's powerful enough to speak to us all.Ībsolutely incredible story - I was stunned to find out at the end that it was fictional! I honestly thought this was a true story. So, if that kind of thing bothers you, read the book. I couldn't help focus on it above the story and that annoyed me even more. Seriously, why bother? The rest of the book is excellently read and Ben Bailey Smith has a wonderful voice, but accents done badly is like nails on a blackboard to me. I usually love audio but this suffers from my pet peeve, a narrator that tries and fails to do regional accents. Yet that's so often the last thing we hear. That's it, that's all that should need to be said. And so his story reminds us of what we should already know- that refugees are people. It's a daunting and dehumanising process. A refugee from war and violence, his safety and security relies on him facing the bureaucracy of the English asylum system. This is the tale of a 14 year old boy, written as him, and that's reflected in the vocabulary used in the novel. He manages to say so much with only the most basic language. Benjamin Zephaniah is a master of simple storytelling.

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah