The Boy At the Back of the Class: Onjali Rauf

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A story of a new boy in class called Ahmet, who is befriended by the main character and her 3 friends who learn from him about what it's like to be a refugee, overcome bullying together and help him find Ahmet's parents.

I wish this book gets translated and children everywhere can read it with their parents. I wish I had some children to read it to, but to be honest, I would probably cry a lot while reading it to them :D Happy tears, of course :) This Book is Amazing. It is mixed with friendship, adventure and action. It also teaches us life lessons and refugees. I would recommend this book to whoever likes books about friendship, adventure and action. This story is about immigration, I like how the main character isn’t the refugee boy himself but one of his class mates so you’re able to take on the view that other children in the class take towards this boy. No one, as my wife likes to say, leaves their home because they want to. No one wants to be a refugee. And in this book, it is clear that Ahmet would have loved to stay in Syria. His sister died in the crossing of the Mediterranean and his mother and father are missing. The author wrote the kids really well. Sometimes with children's books the kids don't come across as the age that is mentioned, but these kids were their age.Though some adults and a teacher behave in a bigoted, unsupportive way, the openhearted, helpful adults support the kids in their efforts to help Ahmet and other refugees. The narrator's [arents are seen as smart, admirable, loving and wise. The narrator's Uncle Lenny brings food when there's not enough, and is emotionally supportive. It was heartwarming listening to their discussions about refugees, they were very empathetic and sympathetic towards the refugee boy in the book. recommend. It's beautiful. Just finished this book with my 10 year old son and we both loved it, it is now "our book". It's funny, thought-provoking, kind and it presents many lessons about today's world and how kindness, friendship and avoiding stereotypes is so important. Highly recommended and look forward to reading again with my youngest. Will be a great film soon! It's a really good book. I think everyone should read it and it's a good way to think about everyone less fortunate than us. First, your class will draw a table like the one in the resource and complete each section with their different accounts of what has happened. One has been done as an example to show your Year 5 | Year 6 class.

It was slightly cliched at the end. But don’t forget it is a children’s book and in the context it really worked. You wanted to cheer, you wanted best friends like Ahmet found, a head teacher like Mrs Saunders and those biscuits that were eaten on the tube. Lots of those please!This UKS2 task looks at the different viewpoints of the characters: the children and Mr Irons in chapter 7. I’ve been getting into trouble for as long I can remember. Usually I don’t mind ‘cos some of my best, most brilliant ideas have come from sitting in detention. It's so innocently beautiful. Many of it's writing can teach kids about being kind to people. The language is also easy to be understood and makes the story easy to be imagined, especially for the non english reader. Very recommended for children and adults. But the truth is, Ahmet really isn't very strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to be his friend. I like how the friends try to help Ahmet. He isn’t the person they all think he is going to be. It teaches us a life lesson: that we don’t have to make up what people are. It helps us to understand a refugee’s experience.

It is such a nice and heartwarming story told from a perspective of 9 and 3/4 year old girl talking about very important issues of today. The best part is that the story is told with that beautiful uncompromised child's view of the world. They love, they cherish and they don't judge. We don't know the name or gender of the narrator until the very end of the book. How does gender affect the telling of a story? Does it matter to you if the narrator is a boy or a girl? Our narrator and her friends come up with a plan to reunite Ahmet with his family, and this leads all of them into a very big adventure. But would a gaggle of nine-year-olds write to Queen Elizabeth to ask her to support Ahmet and be naive enough to expect a reply? Book Club wise the children loved trying pomegranates. We learnt a few words in Kurdish and are all far more aware of the issues highlighted in the book. Above all though we enjoyed a really uplifting, positive story about a brave little boy and his fabulous friends. Heartwarming He's nine years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn't like sweets - not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!The bullying also put me off from things and along with the teacher caused me to give this book 0.5 stars less. I am sorry, I am a big no no against bullying, and then especially when bullies seem to get away quite often with the crap they pull. I am happy with the ending, HOWEVER, I would have liked some more repercussions for the boys. Because bullies will be bullies. But then I learned the truth: Ahmet really isn’t very strange at all. He’s a refugee who’s run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to help. When I was in the fourth grade, a new girl came to our class, a refugee from Lebanon. We didn’t understand quite what that meant, when we were first told, just as Alexa and her friends don’t quite understand either. Sadly, the adult characters in the story fare no better than the syrupy kids. Rauf’s presentation of single-parent mum, racist gossip and anti-refugee member of parliament are all taken from the “lazy stereotyping” drawer. Cardboard adults to match cardboard kids.