 Young Themba lives in poverty with his mother and younger sister in rural South Africa and dreams of becoming a famous soccer player. This is a rags to riches story about hope, triumph, and family love, but it is also an eye-opening story about the secretiveness and shame surrounding HIV/AIDS. The novel was made into an international movie which won the UNICEF Child Rights Award in 2010. mjw |
| Title: Themba: A Boy Called Hope Author: Lutz Van Dijk Publisher: Aurora Metro Books Copyright: 2011 Original language: German Translator: Karin Chubb Original title: Themba Original publisher: cbj Verlag, Muenchen a division of Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH Original copyright: 2006 ISBN: 978-1-906582-21-0 Paperback pages: 166 Age range: 12 up Genre: Fiction Book setting: South Africa Author’s residence: South Africa Awards: Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation Shortlist Subjects: AIDS, Africa, Bafana, Secrecy, Soccer, South Africa |
Themba: A Boy Called Hope
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In this cautionary ecological parable, best friends Hulda and Brimir, live on a beautiful, tranquil blue planet that is inhabited by children who never grow old. One day, a grown-up, Gleesome Goodday, “Dream Come True Maker and joy bringer,” crashes his spaceship on the beach. He sprinkles all the children with sun-activated fly powder, nails the sun in the sky so it can always be play time, and charges them a bit of their youth. When the children fly to the other side of the planet and see sickly, pale, dying children, they realize the Goodday is not all that he seems. mjw
In 1884, in Washington Territory just miles from the British Columbia border, 15-year-old George Gillies and his siblings discover a local white settler murdered. Suspicion falls on 14-year-old Louie Sam, a member of the Stó:lo tribe. George and his friend Pete secretly follow a lynch mob into Canada, where Louie Sam is seized and hanged. But, George and his father have doubts about Louie Sam’s guilt. Based on the only recorded lynching to occur on Canadian soil, this is a gripping story about racism, injustice, mob mentality, and discrimination. A final note provides historical facts. mjw
This semi-autobiographical wordless graphic novel illustrates the story of a young boy who emigrates with his family from an Asian land to New York City. Facial expressions, body language, and colors in the whimsical, abstract watercolor and digital art depict his transition and triumph in discovering his new place in a foreign landscape. An author’s note describes her journey at age four from Korea to Washington D.C. This universal tale would be useful with immigrant populations in any community. mjw
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