Journey to Jo’Burg (HarperCollins Children’s Modern Classics) (Journey to Jo'Burg Series Book 1)

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It's possible I'm overreading these elements, because I was aware going into it that the book was written by a white woman from South Africa. At the back there is a copy of a letter banning the book's import, which gives greater impact to comprehending the extent of governmental corruption.

Originally banned upon its publication by South Africa’s apartheid government, Beverley Naidoo’s novel still resonates with its universal story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit. It is a simple storyline however so much discussion can be held in the classroom, including the different relationships between the characters and life in South Africa. Thirteen-year-old Naledi lives with Nono (her grandmother), Tiro (her brother), and Dineo (her baby sister) in a small South African village 300 kilometers from Johannesburg. We have used it as a basis for topic work - dressed the room and created an impressive visual display, studied South Africa including its geographical features and compared them with the features of England.Running away from their grandmother, the three siblings begin the long journey to find their mother in Johannesburg. Reading it, I am so impressed how Naidoo has tackled a very brutal and disturbing topic and made it accessible, while thought provoking, to children. Naidoo has a history of standing up for equal rights and speaking out against apartheid, and that's wonderful, of course, but I still don't know how I feel about white people writing stories for PoC. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose.

As well as inspiring powerful writing on characters from a different era, it has helped to draw discussions with some of today’s issue as we have made comparisons with the student uprising ‘Times of Fire’ described in the novel and the riots that took place in London in 2011. The dangers and massive injustices inherent in that system are mentioned and then, weirdly, glossed over quickly, and the ending is a little too pat and trite. This resource book brings you a wealth of inspiring activities, discussion ideas and guided reading notes based on Journey to Jo’burg by Beverly Naidoo. When their baby sister falls gravely ill they courageously decide to travel 300km from their small village to Johannesburg to summon their mother from work. Book reviews cover the content, themes and worldviews of fiction books, not their literary merit, and equip parents to decide whether a book is appropriate for their children.The period is South Africa's apartheid years, and while I'm rating four for writing, I'm rating another star for the depiction of tendencies towards popular activism and bringing about change. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (French former tennis player) has no apparent relation to South Africa (I think I assumed he had).