The Boy at the Back of the Class

My next assignment - reading The Boy At the Back of the Class by Onjali Rauf. Lovely, I thought! Not a textbook or reference in sight! Just lovely easy reading. How wrong I was....

*Spoiler alert*

As book aimed at upper KS2, I'm not saying that it was hard to read, but I found it quite emotional and thought provoking.

The book is written from the perspective of a 9 year old child and their friends who wants to get to know the new boy (Ahmet), who turns out to be a refugee from Syria. It follows their gorgeous journey of getting to know him (mainly through the use of lemon sherbets and fruit with stickers on) and becoming a close group of friends. Along the way, we get to know a bit more about the narrator's home life. The plot peaks when the children discover that Ahmet's parents are missing and the 'gates' to England are about to close. We then see the lengths the children go to to find Ahmet's family and keep the gates open. They appeal to the Prime Minister, the press, the border police and eventually the Queen!

Their tenacity is rewarded in the end with tea with Her Majesty and even better, Ahmet's parents being found and granted asylum!

The book is brilliantly written and I can see children really enjoying the style of the it, written from the perspective of someone the same age(ish) as them. There is a wonderful innocence in the way the narrator makes sense of the world and of how they are determined to do the right thing.

There are also some references to racist and anti-refugee sentiment within the story - a school bully, parents, MP, which would be a great conversation starter in a class. It gives a real insight into how hard it must be for refugee children to come to a new country and have to learn the language and make new friends, and put up with racist sentiments, all on top of the trauma they might have suffered from leaving their home and possibly being parted from their family.

From a classroom perspective, there are so many points which could be picked up on such as how we might make life easier for refugees, British Values (which a meant to be 'actively promoted' within schools - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guidance-on-promoting-british-values-in-schools-published).

There are also some great teaching ideas at the back of the book too.

I was sad to finish reading it to be honest - it was lovely to read a children's book!!!