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

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It’s a universal story where two children, faced with great injustice, do something very brave as they try to save their little sister (quote from Beverley Naidoo, http://www. It shows priorities in teaching and how issues of racism, diversity and multiculturalism have been addressed over almost four decades. The draft material also gives us an interesting insight into Beverley's intentions and some of the choices she made whilst drafting. Knowing that only their mother will be able to help her, Naledi and Tiro travel to Johannesburg to find her.

Naidoo found misleadingportrayalsof South Africa, racist perceptions and a very limited, one sided view of a country under apartheid law. Naidoo doesn't explainthe issues of South Africa but portrays them in a way that encourages us to ask questions.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. Of course, the children don't walk the entire distance but, the journey is long and one where they begin to realise the impact and injustice of apartheid law.

It has been a political journey, a one of social history and opinion, and hopefully a step towards a more equal world. Journey to Jo'burg gives the reader a glimpse into the life of a young black girl in South Africa under Apartheid. Following Nelson Mandela’s prison release in 1991, the ban on the book was finally lifted in South Africa. Outside South Africa, the book was a success, winning the Parents' Choice Honor Book for Paperback Literature, USA (1988), the Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, USA (1986), the Child Study Children's Book Committee Award, USA (1986), and The Other Award in the UK (1985).

Most of these drafts include extensive annotation, changes and significant developments which give us insight into how Naidoo works as an author. Through letters, resources and school feedback we can see how Journey to Jo'burg (and many of Naidoo's other books) wasused from its publication in 1985 to today. Although many of her books are set in South Africa, she also focusses on refugees and immigration in her latest stories. This is the notice sent to Beverley's sister-in-law from the Doeane en Aksyns Customs and Excise to inform of the seizure of prohibited material.

Her first published work 'Censoring Reality' analysed the image of South Africa being presented to school children in the 1980s. 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.You may remember that we received Beverley Naidoo's collection early last year and almost as soon as it was unpacked and listed we took some of the Journey to Jo’burg files to a school in County Durham – you can read about the resulting event here . Printed at the beginning of the book are two newspaper articles which draw Naidoo's fiction into reality. 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. The files we hold for 'Censoring Reality' demonstrate Niadoo's active stance against biasedliteraturefor children, working towards an informedportrayalofworld issues and equality.