City Boy

By importer | Published: October 1, 2009

Set in contemporary Malawi, a poignant account of an orphaned boy’s transition from city life to village life. Sam’s widowed mother has died from “the Disease,” and Sam is claimed by his aunt Mercy, who lives in the small African village where Sam’s mother was born and raised. The gap between Sam’s life in the city, where he had his own room, attended private school, and used a computer, and his new life in the dirt-floored one-room hut, which he is to share with his aunt and cousins, is vast beyond imagining. Grief, loneliness, and the absence of everything familiar make for a rocky transition to a traditional culture where possessions count for little and everyone is expected to do his or her share.

This entry was posted in Africa, Malawi, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult (Gr. 9-12) and tagged , , , Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

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  1. By WOW Currents » Windows to the Worlds — Part 3 on January 18, 2010 at 12:08 am

    [...] that contrasts the life some children experience in the city versus life in African villages is City Boy by Jan Michael. The story is set in Malawi. It begins in an unnamed city, where Sam, a preteen has [...]

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