Given how different everyone is, how does anyone fit in?  If everyone is measured by the same standards in school or work or life in general, there must be as many failures as passes.

35 Kilos of Hope is about a boy who seems destined to be a failure because he cannot measure up to the “normal” standards.  Gregory hates school and school seems to hate him.  He cannot pass any of the tests that keep looming up, he is diagnosed with ADD, he becomes the class clown, he is expelled.  While everyone around him worries about his failure, he knows what the problem is – school does not interest him because it does not let him do what he wants, to make things.

His sick grandfather is the only one whom he feels understands and sympathises, so the time spent tinkering and building in his shed is precious and the foundation of Gregory’s escape from his deep, dark hole.

French writer Anna Gavalda wrote 35 Kilos of Hope for all the “dunces”, the kids who struggle with the tested things but who have wonderful skills as people.  It is told by Gregory as he moves from one crisis to another and it is his voice that makes the story memorable and very real.  

Along the way there are teachers who can see his abilities and try to help but, once he is labelled a “problem,” he has an identity almost impossible to escape.  He behaves as is expected of him, and the vicious cycle continues.  Only when Gregory realises, with his grandfather’s help, that he is the one who must take control of his life, is escape from the cycle possible.

35 Kilos of Hope is a very informative story for parents and teachers, but should be an inspiration for all the Gregorys in our schools, “problems” looking for their own identities.

Review by David Beagley

© 2005 David Beagley