Jummy At the River School

Publisher: Chicken House

Jummy longs for only one thing – a place at the River School, the best girls’ boarding school in Nigeria. However, she has never been much good at working hard, and depends on her friend Caro, who is from a much poorer family, to help her out. When Caro is sent as a maid to work at the school where Jummy is a pupil, Jummy is forced to face up to injustice.

This is an absolutely joyous book – it put a wide smile on my face. Jummy and her friends are full of so much energy, and their voices swing powerfully through the whole book. This has all the elements that readers of boarding school stories love: intrigue, snobby girls, best friends, school songs, house loyalties, reassuringly kind teachers and reliably nasty ones. At the same time, the setting in a Nigerian boarding school, where girls must weed the yard, steal water for washing, and clean the toilets alongside studying and having midnight feasts, brilliantly subverts the genre.

Hopefully, Jummy and her friends will soon be back, in many more adventures which will entertain children who have a strong curiosity about the world and a love of fair play.

More books like this

Life: An Exploded Diagram

Author: Mal Peet

In this intelligent young adult novel, Clem's coming-of-age story of first love and burgeoning sexuality is woven around a tense account of the mounting Cuban Missile Crisis

Read more about Life: An Exploded Diagram

The Girl who Lost a Leopard

Author: Nizrana Farook Illustrator: David Dean

This exciting adventure raises awareness of the illegal trade in wild animals and encompasses themes of friendship, loyalty and standing up for what is right. The chapter headings are illustrated with striking black-and-white artwork, which will help readers to visualise the characters and setting of this engaging tale.

Read more about The Girl who Lost a Leopard

Share this book with your friends

Use our Bookfinder to discover the perfect children's books for every age...