Pigeon English - Softcover

Stephen Kelman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408810638 ISBN 13: 9781408810637

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2011

Synopsis

Newly arrived from Ghana with his mother and older sister, eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku lives on the ninth floor of a block of flats on an inner-city housing estate. The second best runner in the whole of Year 7, Harri races through his new life in his personalised trainers - the Adidas stripes drawn on with marker pen - blissfully unaware of the very real threat all around him. With equal fascination for the local gang - the Dell Farm Crew - and the pigeon who visits his balcony, Harri absorbs the many strange elements of his new life in England: watching, listening, and learning the tricks of urban survival. But when a boy is knifed to death on the high street and a police appeal for witnesses draws only silence, Harri decides to start a murder investigation of his own. In doing so, he unwittingly endangers the fragile web his mother has spun around her family to try and keep them safe. A story of innocence and experience, hope and harsh reality, Pigeon English is a spellbinding portrayal of a boy balancing on the edge of manhood and of the forces around him that try to shape the way he falls.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Intelligent, observant." "The New Yorker"
"If your patrons liked Roddy Doyle s "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" and if they rooted for Jamal Malik in "Slumdog Millionaire," they will love Harri Opuku." "Library Journal," starred review
"In turns funny and tragic . . . Its message is universal." "Huffington Post"
Advise yourself! Jump into "Pigeon English" and experience the jubilant, infectious voice of Harrison Opuku a boy awed by the city, obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to everyone he meets. See why he is "bo-styles." How being the fastest runner in Year 7 makes him "dope-fine." And how crazy things get when Harri and his best friend launch their own investigation into the murder of a classmate and one of the Dell Farm Crew s "hutious "criminals feels them closing in on him. You ll want this book to last "donkey hours," and you ll see why Harri is truly a hero for our times. *
"Like "Room ." . . and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" . . . "Pigeon English" is a novel for adults told in the remarkable voice of a child. In this fine company, Kelman's novel stands out." "Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"
"Since Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, there have been certain rules observed when children play detective. Stephen Kelman throws them all out." "Christian Science Monitor"
Stephen Kelman grew up in the housing projects of Luton, England. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, "Pigeon English "has been published in twenty countries; it is his first novel.
*" Mail on Sunday" (UK)
Look for the Reader s Guide at www.marinerreadersguides.com
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From the Inside Flap

Advise yourself! It's time to jump into "Pigeon English" and experience the jubilant, infectious voice of Harrison Opuku. See why he is bo-styles. How being the fastest runner in Year 7 makes him dope-fine. And why, when a hutious criminal feels Harri closing in on him, it just feels crazy. You'll want this book to last donkey hours.
Harri begins his story when he finds himself facing the body of one of his classmates, a boy known for his crazy basketball skills, a boy who seems to have been murdered for his dinner. The police have no leads, so Harri and his best friend launch into action. Armed with camouflage binoculars and detective techniques absorbed from television, they gather evidence -- fingerprints lifted from windows with sellotape, a wallet stained with blood -- and lay traps to flush out the murderer.
Recently emigrated from Ghana to London and its enormous housing projects, Harri is awed by the city. Filled with curiosity and ebullience -- obsessed with gummy candy, a friend to everyone he meets (even the pigeon that visits his balcony) -- Harri is still tempted by the glamour and power of the gangs running his neighborhood. His world will be forever altered by the Dell Farm Crew.
And your world will be forever altered by the discovery of the searing, endearing, and virtuosic writing of Stephen Kelman, who, in the great tradition of "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," takes us deeply and fully into one boy's life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1408810638
• ISBN 13: 9781408810637
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288