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The Boy at the Back of the ClassOnjali Q. Raúf
The Boy at the Back of the Class
by Onjali Q. Raúf
A new boy joins the class who does not speak. When his classmates learn he is a refugee separated from his family, they hatch a plan to help.
A story about children, warm and moving in tone. We would put it with children of 8–11, and at a reading age of about 9 for reading alone.
Worth knowing before you buy
- A death or grief
None of this makes it a bad book — often the opposite. It is here so you can decide whether it is right for your child now or in a year or two.
Our take on this book
A quiet boy called Ahmet joins the class and will not speak, and when the narrator and their friends discover he is a refugee who has been separated from his parents, they set about helping in the direct, slightly hare-brained way children do — including a plan involving the Queen. Onjali Q. Raúf tells the whole thing in the voice of a nine-year-old, which keeps a heavy subject buoyant and lets the reader arrive at the seriousness gently. The friendship is warm and the schoolyard detail is exactly right, and the book is careful to show refugees as children first. Ahmet's story includes loss and the frightening things he has come through, touched on rather than dwelt upon, and there is bereavement in his past. For an eight- to eleven-year-old it is a moving, kind-hearted introduction to a subject they are already hearing about, told without a lecture.
If they like this, try these
Chosen by matching age, reading age, tone and subject — not by what is selling.
Because of Winn-DixieKate DiCamillo
Billionaire BoyDavid Walliams
Cloud BustingMalorie Blackman
Coming to EnglandFloella Benjamin
First Term at Malory TowersEnid Blyton
MatildaRoald Dahl
Or let them write their own.
Nothing gets a child reading like a story they invented themselves. Your child plans the characters and the plot, and we write, illustrate and print it as a real book with their name on the cover as the author.
Find another book
Tell us the age, the reading age and what they like, and we will suggest a handful.