Journey to Jo'burg (Essential Modern Classics) (HarperCollins Children’s Modern Classics)

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Another baby has died in the village and Naledi knows that her little sister Dineo might die too. But what can she do? Their grandmother has no money and there are no doctors in their village. So Naledi makes up her mind. She will have to get Mma who works more than 300 kilometres away in Johannesburg. The only way to let her know was to get to the big road and walk. So Naledi and her brother Tiro did just that…

was one of the first books to portray life as it actually was in apartheid South Africa. Both then as contemporary fiction and now as a historical novel, it tells the story of children who must show enormous courage in the face of injustice Beverley Naidoo grew up in apartheid South Africa. As a student, she protested against it and in 1965 was exiled for her participation. She came to England, her father’s home country, and decided to write Journey to Jo’burg based on the experiences she had seen and lived through.

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Banned by the apartheid government in South Africa, this is the story of two children’s courage and determination to find their mother and bring her home. When I sent two copies of my first children’s book to nephews and nieces in South Africa in 1985, they never received the parcel. Instead, my sister-in-law received a letter telling her that the books had been seized and banned. However Journey to Jo’burg soon found its way into many different countries, in English and in translations, so that hundreds of thousands of children elsewhere were soon reading it. It was only after the release of Nelson Mandela from jail that the book was unbanned. so simple and straightforward that it makes accessible even to quite young children the difficult and the profound. From the first notes to the last batch of fan letters it has been a long journey for Naledi and Tiro. It has been a political journey, a one of social history and opinion, and hopefully a step towards a more equal world. This month's mode of transport isn't technically a mode of transport but it does get people to where they need to be. Walking is a very prominent feature in Beverley Naidoo's Journey to Jo’burg, a story that delivers a subtle and powerful message about apartheid South Africa.

This summer we took a much smaller selection of Journey to Jo'burgmaterial to our Team Creative summer school attendees; this time we only used a selection of Naidoo's research and her drafts. It was a great reminder of how moving the story can be with one of Team Creative explaining to us that the session left him feeling sad and angry that people aren't treated equally. Education Shed Ltd, Severn House, Severn Bridge, Riverside North, Bewdley, Worcestershire, UK, DY12 1AB The sun rose higher. On they walked. The heat sank into them and they felt the sweat on their bodies. On they walked. Alone again… My first illustrated response to Journey to Jo’burg in 1985, thanks to a schoolboy Jeffrey CooperThere are eight full drafts of Journey to Jo'burgin our collection. Most of these drafts include extensive annotation, changes and significant developments which give us insight into how Naidoo works as an author. We may say it a lot on this blog, but everybody has a different approach to writing and Beverley Naidoo's collection is so rich with development work - there are post it notes, letters from her many proof readers and lots and lots of draft material.