The Boy At the Back of the Class

By: Onjali Q. Raúf, Pippa Curnick

Narrated by: Imogen Wilde

Told with heart and humour, The Boy at the Back of the Class is a child's perspective on the refugee crisis, highlighting the importance of friendship and kindness in a world that doesn't always make sense.

There used to be an empty chair at the back of my class, but now a new boy called Ahmet is sitting in it.

He's nine years old (just like me), but he's very strange. He never talks and never smiles and doesn't like sweets - not even lemon sherbets, which are my favourite!

But then I learned the truth: Ahmet really isn't very strange at all. He's a refugee who's run away from a War. A real one. With bombs and fires and bullies that hurt people. And the more I find out about him, the more I want to help.

That's where my best friends Josie, Michael and Tom come in. Because you see, together we've come up with a plan. . .

(P) 2018 Hachette Children's Group©2018 Onjali Q. Raúf

Critic reviews

Raul's book is at once tearjerking and chuckle-inducing and will go a long way to restore faith in human nature.

Onjali Raúf's debut, The Boy at the Back of the Class (Orion), illustrated by Pippa Curnick, offers a child's eye view and an ambitious, adventure-filled plot. When a new boy is introduced at school, no one is exactly sure where he has come from; what is a "refugee kid", anyway, and how can Ahmet be helped to feel that he belongs? Though the narrator's voice is overly young at times, this is a lovely, warm-hearted first novel, a celebration of courage and friendship leavened with mischief.

Hope, kindness and love

Loved this story. Children, teenagers and adults should read it! It opens the minds.

The reader evolves in a bubble of kindness + loved reading about the British Crown' s involvement!

Loved the book. Will place a review on my facebook page

To cry and cry

The book touched me so deeply that I spent most of the experience in tears. It simply and powerfully deals with the most fundamental concept of vulnerability. Embodied in the story of a little girl and boy.

Cambridge Stage 4 reading

My daughter loved this story. It's one of her favourite books. Beautiful story to teach young ones about refugees and empathy for people fleeing wars.