Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
A high-profile international author with an enormous breadth of appeal, Benjamin Zephaniah was perhaps best known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults and ground-breaking performance poetry for children. Alongside his poetry he created novels and plays, wrote and performed music and had a recurring role as preacher Jeremiah Jesus in the BBC series Peaky Blinders. In his novels for young people, which include Face, Refugee Boy, Gangsta Rap and Teacher’s Dead, Zephaniah tackled vital themes that resonate as much today as they did upon their first publication.The authority with which the story is written leaves the reader no choice but to be drawn in – and indeed educated – into the world of gangsta rap, with all the appropriate vocabulary. Not for a long time have I read a book with such a ‘pick me up again’ factor
Independent on Sunday on GANGSTA RAP
A fairytale of hip-hop success ... teens will enjoy the thrilling music fantasy, while many will identify with the smart, talented boys who grow up quickly and rescue themselves
Booklist on GANGSTA RAP
Benjamin Zephaniah rides straight through everybody’s taboos, everybody’s prejudices, everybody’s niceties and gets straight to the heart of the matter … Strong, honest, democratic, accessible to all, <i>Teacher</i>’<i>s Dead</i> comes highly recommended
The Bookbag’s Jill Murphy on TEACHER’S DEAD
A brilliant first novel
Guardian on FACE
A lively and positive account of a boy who is badly scarred in a joyriding crash, and how he comes to terms with it ... incredibly well told
Irish Times on FACE
An impressive debut, carefully researched ... Zephaniah writes wonderfully natural dialogue with the same ease as he spins out rhyming couplets
Herald on FACE
The playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah’s writing shines through ... hilarious and later heartbreaking
Alfred Hickling, Guardian on REFUGEE BOY
Sweet, funny, highly inventive
Yorkshire Post on REFUGEE BOY
Humour and innocence are both to the fore as is a sweetness of tone ... more street than poetic, and personal yet universal, <i>Refugee Boy</i> is well told by an impassioned writer
York Press on REFUGEE BOY