The Boy With Wings

About this book

Tunde is a short, skinny, dark-skinned, 12-year-old boy who gets picked on a lot at school, mostly because of the colour of his skin.

Tunde is proud to have been adopted by his parents Ruth and Ron, who are scientists at a mysterious laboratory called The Facility. Tunde has three best friends at school – Jiah, Nev and Kylie – and he tells them that he doesn’t care about the identity of his birth parents, but the truth is a lot more complicated. 

One odd thing about his adoptive parents is that they positively discourage Tunde from taking part in sport EVER – anything fast is out of bounds. One day, Tunde finds out why when he defies his parents and experiments with running and football, and ends up sprouting a pair of giant wings! From this point on, this school story turns into a wild fantasy adventure. Tunde not only discovers the truth about his birth parents but he finds out his destiny is to save the world!

This is lovely and exciting story, which doesn’t shy away from themes of bullying, racism, and the challenges of being adopted or fostered. The book is brilliantly inclusive in all regards, including disability. Many children will be able to see themselves reflected in this book, some doubtless for the first time.

As you’d expect with Lenny Henry being the author, The Boy With Wings is very funny, too. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout and has a bonus mini graphic novel by Mark Buckingham at the end.