Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

Twelve-year-old-Sade must flee her native Nigeria with her younger brother—after their mother is killed in a shooting intended for her father—and must learn quickly how to fight for what she holds dear. In a starred review, <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">PW called it a "sophisticated and emotional novel, poignant and accessible." Ages 10-up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Jan.)

Starred Review ALA Booklist

Starred Review Like Naidoo's best-selling Journey to Jo'burg (1986), this story humanizes contemporary politics through the eyes of a child. On the first page Sade Solaja, 12, sees her mother shot dead outside their home in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1995. The soldiers really wanted to kill Sade's papa, an outspoken journalist. The next day Sade and her younger brother, Femi, 10, must board a plane and flee with false papers and false names to London. The arrangements in England fall through, and the children find themselves alone on the cold streets of the huge unknown city. Eventually, the welfare office finds them a kind foster home, but always there's the chance that Papa will be assassinated before he can join them in England. Meanwhile, Sade must go to school and live with her grief and fear. Part survival adventure, part docudrama, the narrative stays true to Sade's viewpoint, whether she's remembering what she left behind, trying to care for her nearly silent brother, or coping with the bullies at her new school ("Don't need to spell in the bush," they jeer at her, though her English is better than theirs). The school cruelty is almost unbearable to read; so is the heartbreaking reunion with Papa in a London prison ("in a great arc, his arms swept up the children"). And there's no simple upbeat resolution: Papa is right ("bad men succeed when the rest of us look away"), and yet, because Papa wrote the truth, Mama is dead. Winner of the British Carnegie Medal, this powerful novel brings the news images very close by showing how anyone can become part of those winding lines of refugees.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-With political insight, sensitivity, and passion, Naidoo presents the harrowing story of two Nigerian children caught in the civil strife of their beloved homeland in the mid-1990s. Eighth-grader Sade Solaja and her fifth-grade brother, Femi, are hastily stowed out of Nigeria after their mother is shot and killed by assassins' bullets meant for their outspoken journalist father. The children are abandoned in London and are unable to locate their uncle, a university professor who has been threatened and has gone into hiding. Picked up first by the police and then by immigration authorities, the youngsters remain silent, afraid to reveal their true names and background. They are placed in a foster home where kindness does not relieve their loneliness and alienation. School is a frightening plunge into Western culture, relaxed discipline, ethnic harassment, and peer intimidation. When their father, who has illegally entered the country, contacts them from a detention center, the children are jubilant. However, their excitement is overshadowed by his imprisonment and subsequent hunger strike. Sade enacts a plan to tell "Mr. Seven O'Clock News" her father's story. Public attention and support follow, prompting his release. Tension and hope alternately drive the story as Sade and Femi grapple with an avalanche of decisions, disappointments, and discoveries. Traditions temper Sade's despair as she remembers times at Family House in Ibadan, and her mother's quiet admonition to be true to yourself. Through these compelling characters, Naidoo has captured and revealed the personal anguish and universality of the refugee experience.-Gerry Larson, Durham School of the Arts, NC Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Gripping suspense rules as Naidoo describes a young girl's world turned upside down by political events, first in Nigeria and then London. On the first page, Sade's mother is shot and killed by policemen, and she and her younger brother Femi are suddenly spirited out of their home country. Sade's father is an idealistic honest journalist, committed to telling the truth about the ruling "Buttons," as he terms the Generals. Things go from bad to worse as the roadblocks and officials in Nigeria turn out to be less dangerous than their accompanying protectoress. Abandoned penniless and poorly dressed for November in London, Sade and Femi find their uncle has disappeared and they are homeless. Hoping only that they can hang on until their father can leave Nigeria as well, the two find themselves thrown into the social-services mill and taken into a foster home, struggling to apply for political asylum without endangering anyone in Nigeria. The foster homes, school system, and another refugee from Somalia, Mariam, alternately provide comfort and challenge. Naidoo ably sticks to Sade's immediate need to be true to her own values and needs, focusing on her memories of home and cultural icons as she looks for help. The larger political message that children should feel safe and not have to fear for their lives in any country is effortlessly apparent, as is the fact that both Nigeria and Britain have a way to go in claiming safety and justice for all. Far from being a patronizing glimpse of life in the third world, this is a vivid portrayal of complex people caught in complex webs using their own culture for strength in a time of need. Real-world scary. (Fiction. 10-14)

Horn Book

In 1995 Lagos, Nigeria, twelve-year-old Sade's mother is shot to death by gunmen aiming for Sade's journalist father. To ensure his children's safety, her father arranges false identities and sends Sade and her younger brother to London. This scrupulously well-observed narrative stays snug inside Sade's head, giving scenes immediacy and vividness. The book honors its political and ethical engagements and succeeds as a first-rate escape-adventure story as well. Glos.