The boy at the back of the class

Review by Booklist Review

An unnamed, ungendered nine-year-old's world changes when a new boy joins the child's London classroom. The mysterious boy is soon revealed to be a Syrian refugee named Ahmet, separated from his family prior to finding shelter in the UK. The protagonist decides to befriend the reclusive boy, while others in the community are more hostile towards refugees. When it's announced that the UK will close its borders to those seeking asylum, the protagonist fears that Ahmet will never be reunited with his family, and thus a plan is formed to help him. Raúf's debut sets out to educate young readers on the refugee crisis, and in that sense it's successful. However, as a result of this didactic approach, the elements of fiction fall flat, and the choice not to describe the protagonist keeps readers at arm's length emotionally. Still, this book (which includes six back matter sections that educate further and prompt discussion) is a valuable resource for educators looking for an engaging way to introduce early middle-graders to the refugee crisis.--Ronny Khuri Copyright 2019 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

When Ahmet, a Syrian refugee, begins attending a suburban London school, he doesn't speak with anyone, but as he gains support through an assistant teacher, a group of students get to know him as a soccer player and friend. As the tensions surrounding refugees and the closing of the country's borders intensifies, Ahmet confides in his new mates that he lost his sister in the journey across the sea and was separated from his parents before his flight to London. With the clock ticking to reunite Ahmet with his family before the borders close, the determined friends go directly to the prime minister and the High Court of Justice to make their plea. Political and cultural undertones are undeniably present in Rauf's timely debut, but it's the themes of kindness, empathy, and tenacity that resonate strongest. Rauf excels at tapping into the thoughts and concerns of contemporary children, providing wholly believable characters who use their voices to help others and create change, as well as offering a safe space for readers to explore and better understand the refugee crisis. Ages 8--12. (Aug.)

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Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4--6--When a new boy named Ahmed joins Alexa's class at her London school, all of the students have questions: Why does the new boy never go to lunch or recess with the other kids, and why doesn't he talk to anyone? Everyone has different theories, but when Alexa and her friends are waiting after school to give Ahmed some fruit and other small gifts, they overhear two adults saying that Ahmed is a refugee and no one speaks his language. Gradually, as they befriend Ahmed and speak to him through the assistant the school hires to translate, they piece together his story: how he and his family escaped from the bombs in Syria, how his little sister drowned in the sea, and how he was separated from his parents and doesn't know how to find them again. When Alexa learns that the United Kingdom is about to close its borders to refugees, she and her friends embark on a bold and dangerous plan to persuade the Queen to intervene on Ahmed's behalf. Filled with engaging characters and a compelling plot, this moving novel adroitly portrays the plight of refugees from Syria and other parts of the world. In her quest to help Ahmed, Alexa is forced to confront not only the school bully but also the bigotry of her neighbor and other adults, some of whom imply that Alexa herself and her Indonesian mother don't belong. She also learns that her own grandmother was a refugee during World War II who not only evaded the Nazis but helped others escape as well. Information about refugees and ways to help are included, as well as discussion questions and an author's note explaining how the novel was inspired by the true story of Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old refugee who drowned during his family's escape across the Aegean Sea. VERDICT This moving and timely debut novel tells an enlightening, empowering, and ultimately hopeful story about how compassion and a willingness to speak out can change the world.--Ashley Larsen, Pacifica Libraries, CA

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Review by Kirkus Book Review

A story about friendship, kindness, and adventure that is centered within the refugee crisis.When Ahmet arrives in the narrator's classroom three weeks after the first day of school, he is silent and doesn't join all the kids for recess. Weeks later, and with the help of an assistant teacher, he gets additional support to learn English and understand what's being taught through translation into his native Kurdish. He gradually adjusts to his new environment and shares his displacement story from Syria to the U.K. and what happened to his family, from whom he's been separated. With persistence and kindness, four classmates succeed in becoming Ahmet's friends. But it is when they learn of an approaching deadline to reunite him with his family that they decide to take action immediately. They plot to engage the queen of Britain herself and end up in newspaper headlines and stirring national debate about refugees. Raf provides well-crafted addenda about refugees, ways to help, and questions to think about, but readers looking for deep characterization will spot great but lost potential in that most of the novel's are one-dimensional, presenting only as good or bad people, with the narrator's group of friends (a multiracial bunch) squarely among the former.An engaging debut novel that simplifies the refugee experience, crisis, and reaction to it for young readersconsider it a starter book. (Fiction. 9-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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There used to be an empty chair at the back of my classroom. It wasn't special--it was just empty because no one was sitting in it. But then one day, just three weeks after school started, the most exciting thing that could ever happen to anyone happened to me and my three best friends. And it all began with that chair.   Usually, the best thing about starting a brand-new semester is that you get extra allowance to buy new school supplies with. Every year, on the last Sunday of the summer break, my mum takes me on an Extra-Special Adventure to hunt down my notebooks for the new school year. Sometimes I get so excited that my feet feel jumpy inside and I don't know which store I want to go into first. There aren't many nice school supply stores where I live--they only ever have boring dinosaur sets for boys or princess sets for girls. So Mum takes me on the bus and then the train into the city, where there are whole streets of stores--even huge department stores that look like tall blocks of apartments from the outside.   Last year, I found a space-themed notebook with pictures of an astronaut floating past the moon. It was on sale, too, so I bought a pencil case, a compass and protractor set, erasers, and a long ruler--and still had nearly a pound left over! The ruler is one of my favorite things, because the astronaut floats across it in water mixed with silver stars. I played with it so much that the astronaut got stuck to one side. But it wasn't my fault. Mr. Thompson, our teacher last year, had such a boring voice that my hands needed something to do. That's why it's important to have fun stuff with you in class--because you never know when you'll need to stop your brain from falling asleep or doing something that might get you into detention.   This year, I bought a Tintin and Snowy set. I love Tintin. Even though he's only a character in a comic book and isn't real, I want to be just like him when I grow up. I think being a reporter and getting to solve mysteries and go on adventures must be the best job in the world. My mum and dad used to buy me a brand-new Tintin comic book for my birthdays, and Mum saves all the comics her library is about to throw away because they're too old or ripped and gives them to me, so I have a whole collection of them now. I've read them all at least fifty times. But I'll have to think of another pet besides Tintin's dog, Snowy, to travel with because I'm allergic to dogs. I don't think cats or hamsters or even trained mice could be half as useful as Snowy. And even though I've thought about it for at least a year now, I still haven't come up with anything.   Because the Tintin school supplies were a lot more expensive than the astronaut ones and weren't on sale, I could only buy a pencil case, a small ruler, and two erasers. I had to think about it for a very long time, but in the end, I decided spending all my allowance at one time was worth it. Not just because everything had Tintin on it, but because if you press a button on the pencil case, Snowy barks and Captain Haddock's voice cries out, "Blistering barnacles!" I've already been yelled at for pressing it in the middle of math class this year, but if you can't press a barking dog button in math, then I don't see the point of it.   I don't like math. Simple math is fine, but this year we're learning about long division and square numbers and all sorts of things that my brain doesn't like doing. Sometimes I ask for help, but it's embarrassing putting your hand up too many times to ask the same question. I'm lucky because Tom and Josie and Michael always help me with the things I get stuck with. They're my best friends and we do everything together.   Tom's got short spiky hair and a side-smile and a big Adam's apple that looks like a Ping-Pong ball got stuck in his throat. He's the smallest in our group but he's also the funniest. He only joined our class last year after his parents moved here from America, but we became friends instantly. He has three older brothers who all tease and bully him. Not seriously--only as a joke. But I think they steal his food, too, which is why he's so skinny and always super hungry. I once saw him eat a whole pizza with extra toppings and a double cheeseburger for lunch and still not feel full! So I hide my snacks and chocolate bars from him when I can.   Josie has large, brown eyes and at least a million freckles across her face. She's tall and gangly and is always chewing on her hair. She's the fastest girl in our year and can kick a soccer ball past any goalie from the other side of the field. She's the coolest person I know, and I've known her since we were three. Our mums say we became instant friends the first day we started preschool, so they decided to become friends too. I don't really remember much about myself at that age, but Josie is in all my school memories. We even got our first detention together last year--all because of a hamster named Herbert.   Josie had heard one of the upper-school bullies say that he was going to flush our class hamster, Herbert, down the toilet at the end of the day. Josie told me, and we decided to go on a Hamster Rescue Mission. We hid Herbert in my backpack before school ended and took him straight to my house. But of course, Mum found out and made me take him back the very next day. I tried to explain to boring Mr. Thompson what had happened, but he wouldn't listen and gave me detention. And even though she didn't have to, Josie stood up and said she had helped to steal Herbert too--just so we could do detention together. You know a friend's a Best Friend when they're willing to sit in detention with you. Excerpted from The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

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