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Rowena (Bookseller) Review; I found "Children of the Stone City" to be a thought provoking, balanced story about a city divided, told though the eyes of siblings Adam & Liela. Within the novel there is;
Joy - told though the love of music, friendship, community & a skateboard.
Grief - with the sudden loss of their father.
Injustice - Adam hatches a plan to ensure their mother's permit is renewed.
Conflict - when Adam & his close friend Zac are wrongfully accused of a crime, after a prank goes wrong & their fight for justice.
Woven throughout the story are memories of their father & their Grandma's stories from the "time before" to inspire their own reactions & choices.
Although the ending, isn't a "happy ever after" - it gives hope & a voice to those effected by injustice.
Set in a world where Adam and Leila and their friend Zak live as Nons under the Permitted ruling class. Then, when Adam and Leila's father dies unexpectedly, their mother faces losing her permit to live in the Stone City with deportation to where she was born. Before music-loving Adam can implement his plan to save Mama, Zak is arrested for a bold prank that goes wrong, with far-reaching repercussions for them all . . .
The eagerly awaited new children's book comes from award-winning author Beverley Naidoo, winner of the Carnegie Medal for The Other Side of Truth. Beverley's first novel, Journey to Jo'burg, has never been out of print in the UK and US since its publication in 1985. It now appears in the HarperCollins Modern Classics list and is frequently read in schools worldwide.
Children & Places
Age: From 8 years
Paperback
Beverley Naidoo
272 pages
H: 198mm W: 129mm Spine: 17mm
Weight: 270 grams