Refugee Boy
Benjamin Zephaniah
Bloomsbury 2001

These are stories that need to be told.  There are no easy answers to the events that are shaping our world at present and certainly no easy answers to the questions about refugees and terrorism that many young people are currently asking.  However, reading the stories of others may in some part help with understanding and empathy.   

Parvana is the story of a young Afghani girl who dresses and acts as a boy in order to make a living for her family under a regime where women and girls are not allowed to leave the house without a man.  In Parvana’s Journey, the sequel, Parvana walks across the war ravaged land of Afghanistan in search of her family.  Both may well be the story of many young Afghani girls as they are based on a story told to Deborah Ellis while she was researching for an adult non-fiction book on women in Afghanistan.  These two books also fit easily within a long tradition of children’s literature where the children solve problems largely through heir own initiative and resilience rather than relying on adults.   

Similarly refugee boy, which tells the story of Alem left by his father in London to escape the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, could be the story of any young teenage boy escaping a war torn country and facing the reality of overstretched refugee detention systems.  refugee boy also draws on established literary themes and real life stories of children organising to bring about change both with and without adult help.   

In both books there are adults either contributing to the problems, absent or unable to help.  There are also adults who are supportive of the children, but they remain in the background.  As a result these are stories which present strongly children not only surviving, but able to make real changes within their worlds.  They are not easy stories to read, as each deals honestly with the brutality and arbitrariness of war, yet they are powerful stories of hope and courage as well.

Other books by Deborah Ellis:
Shauzia (Allen & Unwin, 2003)
Looking for X (Allen & Unwin, 2003)
Company of Fools (Allen & Unwin, 2004)
 

Review by Deborah Edwards

© 2003 Deborah Edwards