That Asian Kid

by Savita Kalhan

Ref: 15799

'A funny and astute book about friendship, dodgy teachers, and a ticking time bomb video that goes viral'. With this early review by one of our top YA authors, Patrice Lawrence, how could we resist getting our greedy paws on an early copy... The opening sequence has all of the perfect ingredients for a thriller complete with eaves dropping, whispers, a sticky web of lies and a dash of voyeurism. After this fizzing exposition, we're drawn in to a brilliantly told saga of contemporary UK teen life which takes in family ties, GCSEs, first crushes, young people's mutual support networks, pink highlights, racism (in both its overt and subtle, institutional permutations) and mobile videos which go viral... All peppered with some delightfully up-to-the-minute references from Brexit to Noughts and Crosses to the conversion of school libraries into 'Information hubs'... The thoughtful, sharp, witty, fallible, self-reflective and absolutely winning (UK-Punjabi) protagonist, Jeevan, is enough to spin out a series. Surely? We're looking forward to That Asian Kid II: The A Level Years [Without Greaves]
Tantalising bite-sized extracts:
"That's something that never gets taught in History. The British government handed out coupons in India for jobs in the UK. They invited people to emigrate here...do we ever get an in-depth look at the British Empire? Never. It's like it was a dirty secret or something"
""If I couldn't feel the cold dampness seeping into my bones from hiding out here in the woods, I might think I'd taken a wrong turn and walked into a fascist rally or secret KKK meeting- they love to hang out in the woods too!"
"Cockroaches. Yes, believe me- you can get away with saying that on TV and in the papers and on every single social networking site...people like Greaves...believe that people like her put the GREAT into Great Britain; that they are right and they have might on their side".
Age 14+, Paperback 320pp

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£7.99

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