Pigeon English

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Julius is the rich man who dates Auntie Sonia. He frequently totes a baseball bat, which he calls “the Persuader,” and physically abuses Auntie Sonia, who eventually flees the country to escape from him… He and his friends come upon a crime scene where an older teen boy is stabbed to death and the remainder of the book very loosely and sloppily becomes a bit of a comedic drama about his thinking processes, amateur sleuthing and his world views. This young boy is a fast runner, full of mischief, sweet, imaginative and very funny. This story is somewhat interesting but often repetitive and too loosey goosey.

As well as describing the estate's own "pidgin", "Pigeon English" refers to a feral pigeon Harri comes to believe is watching over him. In the novel's weakest passages, Harri's street-smart observations give way to portentous prose in which this pigeon-protector reflects on magpies, poisoned grain and the fleeting nature of human existence: "I owe it to all of you, a cheap act of confederacy against the drip-dripping of ill-captured sand." The attempt to shoehorn yet more significance into a narrative already heavy with "relevance" falls flat. X-Fire is a student at Harri’s school and the leader of the Dell Farm Crew. He is the leader because he has the best at basketball, has stolen the most things, and has stabbed…I love going in the lift, it's brutal, especially when you're the only one in there. Then you could be a spirit or a spy. You even forget the pissy smell because you're going so fast. LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. In this quotation, Harri misunderstands why his mother fixates on news stories about child death. Since Mamma enjoys church and advises her children to pray, Harri assumes that any time his mother prays, it is a positive experience. In reality, Harri's mother prays fervently because she knows her children will always be in danger, though she does her best to protect them. This quotation exemplifies Harri's innocence: he is frequently unable to recognize when he is in danger and thus misses chances to ask his family for help. Jordan is one of Harri’s best friends. Like Harri, he lives in Copenhagen House. He is around Harri’s age and has been expelled from school. Jordan’s mom is white, and Jordan is mixed race…

An 11 year old refugee from Ghana moves to a poor neighbourhood in London UK and lives his life with his mother and sister while Dad and baby sister remain in Ghana. Auntie Sonia is Harri’s aunt (presumably on Mamma’s side, although this is never explicitly specified). She is honest, kind, and generous, and gives Harri and Lydia gifts. She has travelled all over the… Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book' The TimesTold from the perspective of Harri, an eleven year old who recently moved from Ghana to an inner city council estate, this novel perfectly depicts the horrifying reality of gangs and knife-crime in London.

In May, there is a carnival in Harri’s neighborhood. On Sunday, church is cancelled because someone smashed the windows and wrote DFC all over the wall. Harri argues with Lydia about the clothes she bleached. Harri insists he saw blood on them, but Lydia tells him that it was Miquita’s blood—“girl’s blood.”

About Stephen Kelman

Harrison finds the dead body of a friend-knifings are increasing in this neighborhood. He and his friends decide to use all the knowledge they have gained from television and shared misunderstandings to solve the case. Someone has scratched the word DEAD onto Harri’s family’s front door. Later, the Dell Farm Crew approach Harri and Dean and try to rob them. Harri is carrying the wallet with the dead boy’s picture inside, and when the Dell Farm Crew grabs the wallet, the picture drops to the floor. Killa is visibly upset, and X-Fire burns the picture with a lighter. Just as X-Fire reaches for his knife and is about to pounce on Dean and Harri, Lydia shouts, and the three of them escape to the library together. Lydia explains that she filmed the whole scene, including X-Fire burning the picture. Tady je ďábel silnější, protože jsou tu hrozně vysoký budovy. Je tu hrozně mrakodrapů, stíněj nebe a Bůh nevidí, co se děje dole.” Harri begins investigating the dead boy's murder because he feels an inexplicable connection with the murdered teen. Though they never spoke, Harri knew the dead boy by sight and observed his talents, like playing basketball and riding "his bike with no hands." Harri defines his relationship with the dead boy by calling him a friend, "even if he didn't know about it." By calling the dead boy a "friend," Harri indicates that he identifies with the boy; he hoped to be like the dead boy, and the latter's death leads him to understand that anyone can suffer senseless violence. Harri struggles to understand why he feels loss and trauma over the boy's murder even though they were not close.

From Autumn 2015, Stephen Kelman's deeply funny, moving idiosyncratic and unforgettable novel will be an AQA GCSE English Literature set text. About This Edition ISBN:That's why I have to help him now, he was my friend even if he didn't know about it. He was my first friend who got killed and it hurts too much to forget. Harri, March to and he was even good at heading. He was good at everything. I wonder if there's dogs like Asbo who steal your ball. That would be funny. I hope in Heaven the animals can all talk, then they can tell you when they're happy so I don't want to sound coldhearted, yes, the story is a sad one. And the ending is even sadder. But that didn't really help me to enjoy reading this book. At all. Both the two of us knew it. We watched the lie go up big and slow between us, then it burst like a spit bubble. They always burst before too long.” This book is about a kid from a Ghanian family living on a rough council estate in London and his experiences after seeing a murdered child. It's told in a very authentic voice, the writing very emotive - the bullies hurt me, the murder worried me, I felt for the family still at home in Africa and I hoped he'd get through, still the same go-for-it, full-off-life kid. There was one irritating note which was that there was a pigeon whose voice could only be 'heard' by the reader. It really spoiled it. The ending was sad and strange and explained the device of the pigeon but, in my opinion anyway, the book would have been improved without it.