The Boy at the Back of the Class
By: Onjali Q. Raúf / Narrated By: Jennifer Jill Araya
Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
Simplistic yet necessary. Wait! Please remember that this is a 55-year old woman listening to a Kids audiobook, so booooo to me for being so heavy-handed…
But truly, I’m kinda a prig when it comes to my Literature for Younguns. I always expect that I, as a woman creeping over that hill and zooming into m’ decline, will be engaged as an adult whilst listening to a Kids audiobook. I have to admit that I found the story and characters a bit on the light side, but the idea of a book for kids that addressed refugees here in a world where Far Right Nationalists decry all and sundry and forget that, dude! Life is imPOSSible elsewhere sometimes, and dude! Sometimes it’s just little kids doing the suffering and dying!
Here in The Boy at the Back of the Class 9-year old Alexa and her 9-year old friends are all agog when the chair that’s been empty for quite some time is suddenly to be filled with young Ahmet, a boy they discover is from Syria and whose family left to avoid being killed in the war-torn country. He’s quiet at first, won’t make eye contact, but Alexa is kinda sorta smitten by the idea of having him join her and her group of friends.
When she discovers that his sister, during the harrowing ordeal in an ocean crossing, was lost at sea (“is in the water”) and that he has no idea where his parents are, Alexa is moved to tears. But when she starts listening to comments from teachers who think they’re not being overheard, when she starts watching the news and finds that England’s Gates Will Be Closed—No More Refugees Allowed In, she and her crew craft a plan.
They will see that the Queen receives a letter they’ve written BEGGING her NOT to close the gates just yet, that they have a new friend who’s been torn from his family. Things kinda sorta go a trifle awry, and the crew wind up in the news.
What follows is a back and forth between supportive individuals who cheer the crew on and treat them like heroes for standing up for a friend, and individuals who loudly decry their efforts and constantly iterate that refugees are No Good, Take Jobs, are Dirty, etc. etc.
Now, the problem I had was that the crafting of the story is reeeeally simplistic with flat characters and characters who are all good guys or completely all bad guys. There’s no educating of the public going on; it’s quite simply people on either side of the question who are wholly and totally entrenched in their worldview. The racist bully at school never sees Ahmet’s humanity etc. etc. And generally the Media is one-sided and is looking for soundbites. Well, okay, maybe thaaaat’s true to life… Alexa and her friends are never truly developed, and they have Hearts O’ Gold from the get-go. And Ahmet? Poor Ahmet is a bit of an afterthought and other than a single case where his pent up emotions come tumbling out, he’s pretty much a passive individual.
Sounds like I’m totally griping, and I’m DEFinitely raining on the parade of what is an important book. This is like Refugee by Alan Gratz but for a MUUUUUCH younger audience. If you want your children to grow up aware of their environment, dooo give this a chance. Author Raúf has made young characters who have been taught to think that p’raps they just might be able to make a difference in the world, and isn’t THAT an awesome lesson for little ones to consider?
Jennifer Jill Araya does a fair job with the narration, but she wound up sounding so much older than a 9-year old. Add to that, this takes place in England… so where’s the British narrator for that? Seriously, am questioning the casting tho’ am in no way questioning Araya’s competence. She’s able; she just sounds like an American squatter in London. Just saying.
ANYway! This might not be the Listening YOU are looking for, but if you’re looking for something for your younger kids, and if you’re open to having good and heartfelt discussions about tough subjects (Yup, just try to explain the Political Divide why doncha!), I do indeed recommend this book.
Just make sure your kids come out of the experience feeling that they can change the world. Yes, this might be fiction with a Happily Ever After that doesn’t come often in Real Life, but yesssss: This is the world we’ve left for them, their inheritance. Darn tootin’ we gotta give them SOME sense of empowerment!!!
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