| Title:Journey to Jo’burg Publisher:HarperCollins Author:Beverley Naidoo Lexile: [?] 760L ATOS Level: [?] 4.6 Parent Rating: |
 PAUSE For Ages: 9-12 |
SynopsisSeparated from their mother by the harsh social and economic conditions prevalent among blacks in South Africa, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother make a journey of over 300 kilometers to find her in Johannesburg. CommentsA good novel to begin a conversation with your child about how children live in different places. This novel got a ‘pause’ rating because of the complex social themes, including apartheid, and children and babies dying. LanguageNone [?] Sexual ContentNone Drugs/AlcoholNone Violence/DisturbingGirl walks past graves of babies that have died and worries that her baby sister will end up in one. The police are abusive to people. An 8 year-old girl is shot and killed by police. A mother says, ‘Do you know how many children died?” At a hospital, a young woman’s baby dies after they have waited hours and hours for care. Social/FamilyThe kids decide to walk 300 kilometers to where their mother works to tell her that the baby is very sick. There are scenes that deal with apartheid and what that looked like to the black South Africans who lived under it. The children’s father worked in a mine and died of a coughing sickness. A sign students made for a protest march say, ‘BLACKS ARE NOT DUSTBINS’. Religion/SpiritualNone |
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i like this book alot but i didn’t like when they litte sister dyied
at school we have to do a book report on it.