New Boy

By Tracy Chevalier,

Book cover of New Boy

Book description

'O felt her presence behind him like a fire at his back.'

Arriving at his fourth school in six years, diplomat's son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day - so he's lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular…

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Why read it?

1 author picked New Boy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a bold exploration of racism, jealousy, revenge, class, and friendship.

Set in an elementary school in the US in the 1970s, this is a bold re-imagination of Shakespeare’s Othello. Although the characters are children, Chevalier doesn’t devolve into simplistic language and emotions.

She handles heavy themes with a deftness of hand that makes this a compulsively readable, if sometimes uncomfortable book. 

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