School Library Journal (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

Gr 9 Up-Patson Moyo's life is perfectly ordinary. He is on the cross-country team with his best friend, Sheena. His father, a teacher, is often a little dreamy but a wonderful storyteller. His perky little sister, Grace, loves to play games on his cell phone. Patson never would have guessed that his smart, university-graduate father, who had won the Outstanding Teacher Award four years in a row, can barely make ends meet, due to government corruption and the massive devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar. Egged on by Patson's stepmother, Sylvia, the Moyos decide to improve their situation by traveling to Marage where Sylvia's brother lives and it is claimed that there are "diamonds for everyone." The power of Patson's story is rooted in the very mundane rites of daily life that even modern American teenagers will find familiarthe emoticon-filled texting between Patson and his sister, the angst and anxiety of a kiss between friendsjuxtaposed with the real and menacing danger of the brutal whims of corrupt army officers and traitorous fellow miners. Diamond Boy is a companion novel to Williams's other book about war-torn Zimbabwe, Now Is the Time for Running (Little Brown, 2013). Readers of his past work will find a few familiar characters here, but even readers new to Williams's fiction will be similarly engrossed by his deft, unflinching prose. Teens will be left haunted by Patson's harsh yet essentially hopeful journey, where greed, despair, luck, and wonder intertwine on the diamond fields of Marage.— Evelyn Khoo Schwartz, Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

Horn Book

Formerly middle-class but made destitute by Zimbabwe's runaway inflation, Patson and his father are forced to become diamond miners. With so much money at stake, the diamond fields are a brutal place--even more so when President Mugabe's army takes over diamond production. Structured around the 2008 Marange diamond field massacre, this is a tale of grim inhumanity told through an optimistic protagonist.

Voice of Youth Advocates

Against his will, teenager Patson Moyo leaves his hometown of Bulawayo with his father, sister Grace, and stepmother for the diamond fields of Zimbabwe. The wife has nagged Patson's schoolteacher father incessantly; he is too poor to support her as she wishes, and "diamonds are for everyone." Besides, her brother owns a huge mining operation there, and they can live with him. During their journey, their driver abandons them in a forest filled with murderous diamond thieves. They are rescued by a huge, badly scarred man, Boubacar, and delivered to Uncle James, who promptly sends Patson and his father into the Marange mines to labor and live under inhumane conditions. Patson befriends several other teens, including HIV-positive orphan Arves, and learns to steal stones by swallowing them, among other methods. As time passes, Patson finds and conceals several "girazi," large pure stones worth thousands, but before he can profit from these and escape with his family, disaster strikes.Award-winning author Williams has written here a companion book using characters from his earlier acclaimed Now Is the Time for Running (Little, Brown, 2011/VOYA August 2011). This is a compelling novel that brings home the desperate lives of exploited poor, and Diamond Boy will give every civilized reader pause. Written in diary format, the story brings the reader into the mind and soul of a young refugee suffering in a hell created by the greed and violence of powerful adults. More than simply a good read, Diamond Boy is a multilayered, teachable novel with a variety of approaches and is highly recommended for middle and high school collections.Laura Woodruff.

ALA Booklist (Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

When Patson's impoverished Zimbabwean family travels to their country's Marange diamond fields in search of a new life, nothing but trouble awaits them. The father's promised job as a teacher doesn't materialize, and both he and Patson find themselves working as miners. Their lives are suddenly at further risk when the military assumes control of the fields. Patson flees and steps on a land mine, losing most of his left leg. Still, against all odds, he must journey to South Africa to rescue his little sister, who has been abducted. In hot pursuit is his bête noire, Commander Jesus, head of the forces that took over the mines and murdered hundreds of miners in the process. Why the evil commander is pursuing Patson can't be revealed here, but suffice it to say, high stakes are involved. Williams' fast-paced, tension-packed story is filled with cliff-hangers, perils, and improbabilities that are occasionally overwhelming and push the story, at times, dangerously close to melodrama. In the end, though, this is a satisfying and eminently readable novel from the author of Crocodile Burning (1992).