benjamin zephaniah - 3 books - face - refugee boy - teacher's dead

I picked these up the other day for £1 each at the local charity shop, thinking l would give them a go, as l like some of Benjamin Zephaniah's poetry (on the odd occasion l have heard it). I did not realise at the time that the books were aimed at children/teenagers or whatever (with messages contained within), so l managed to get through all of them in one day. The verdicts were....

This one was good for highlighting the fact that people or events cannot always be judged at face value. What seems to be obvious, is sometimes a lot more complicated, so it is best to know as many facts as possible before leaping to a conclusion that could turn out to be wrong. A teacher is stabbed and killed, two boys admit it and plead guilty (and there were a lot of witnesses), and everyone thinks they are just evil scum. But of course there is more to it than that...

This one deals with a refugee coming to the UK with his father, and trying to gain a visa to stay in the country. Sounds a bit boring, but this is the one that nearly made me cry. Mind you, l was tired (and emotional) after slaving away at work, not sleeping enough, and then reading it at 6am when l couldn't sleep. Therefore, l have my excuses for being a big girls blouse (Lord knows l need them).

Some friends get involved with some bad lads, have a crash in a stolen car, one gets burnt, and everyone has to deal with the changes in their group dynamics. The worst one out of the three (in my humble opinion). Yawn.

toodle pip