The Other Side of Truth By Beverley Naidoo
Lying is not in your nature. Mama and I always brought you up to respect the truth. But you have both been thrown into a situation that has forced you to act secretly. Remember that it was your Uncle Tunde and I who sent you out of the country. No child should have to go through what you two have. But the dishonesty and rottenness of those who have power in our country have now gone very deep. You know how much I hate cheating and doing things underhand. Yet I myself used another man's passport.
- The other side of truth by Beverley Naidoo
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There are 2 things that reader need to know before reading this book. The first one is the story of Sade and Femi occurred right after the execution of Nigerian Writer Ken-Saro Wiwa. While this were categorised as fiction, at that time in Nigeria, many writers / journalists were being hunted, killed - simply because of they are critical towards the Nigeria’s Military Regime. The second one, Bevery Naido herself were forced to exile to England after being involved in the Anti Apartheid Movement. Thus, this story were built loosely around the real event and were written by the political refugee herself. It could not get more real than that. The story started with Mr. Folarin Solaja’s wife were being shot and died on the spot. In the early chapter, the story has set up that Mr. Folarin has been the loudest and the most outspoken critics towards the Nigeria government at that time. His wife constantly reminded him that his critics is too extreme but she never stopped him from writing (at least this is what i got from the memory of Sade and Femi of their late mother). Fearing that his kids and his other family members will face the same fate, He decided to leave the country illegally as their passport has been confiscated before. He send the kids first and he will join the journey afterwards. Little did he knew that Sade and Femi will be reported missing, detained by Police, held temporarily as the refugess status were unclear, shifted from one home to another and not to mention the trauma and culture shock of being moved away without any reliable guardian in London. I strongly believe that the story intended to educate us readers what its truly like for the kids to get caught a crossfire for the things that their parents did or the cause that their parents fighting on. While i understand that their father will always stand strong for his principles, i also wondered whether he thought of the repercussion of his action. As what uncle Tunde said to his father : “ Look, Folarin, we all know how brave you are. Braver than most of us. But are you wise? You say our country must have writers to tell the truth. But, tell me, what can you write from the grave? “ Overall, this is an engaging story and definitely not what i expected. My only complaint is there are some part of the story that were not concluded adequately.
. 9780141304762 Sade sees her Mom shot in the driveway of her home in Nigeria because her father who is a journalist has upset powerful people by publishing the truth. Sade and her brother are smuggled out of Nigeria to London to an uncle who lives there. But the woman who smuggles them out leaves them on their own and when they try to find their uncle, he is missing! They are alone in a foreign place and must find a way to survive. I think this book could teach us sympathy for the many students in our schools who have come from awful circumstances in their home countries and deserve our help and friendship. I loved the stories and old sayings of Nigeria in the book. “Tell a lie, play with fire, but don’t complain of the smoke.” “Don’t judge the village by the thief. If the dog steals will you punish the goat?”
Susan Huff, Library Media Specialist 9780141304762 This was such an interesting story of corruption in Nigeria, through the eyes of some children. Very informative and yet easy to read. I really enjoyed it. 9780141304762 It's been a long time since I read a middle grade novel that didn't make me want to tear my hair out because it's so plotless, or there's no character development. As an education student, I feel like I need to make a list of the good ones that I can use as future read-alouds in a classroom, and well-written middle grade novels are increasingly hard to find.
I was a little wary about starting The Other Side of Truth after reading the novel I read just before this, as I knew this too was a young middle grade cultural novel. I am happy to say I was proven wrong.
The story follows twelve year old Sade (Sha-day) and her ten year old brother Femi as they find themselves Nigerian refugees in London, not knowing where their family is. In a lot of middle grade novels with similar themes, I find myself thinking authors don't usually know how to write characters who act the ages they're supposed to be, and instead write characters to be much older. This was not the case at all for Sade.
I recently tried looking at Harry Potter as an eleven year old kid making all the decisions he made at that age. Because of that, it was easy to read The Other Side of Truth in the same way. The things they decided to hide or keep secret based on what they knew of Nigeria, as well as based on what people told them, were all very real issues that kids face in a lot of different aspects. I especially liked the school scenes, because it's rare that I read good, solid, interpersonal school scenes that take place in the narrative of a refugee student. I thought the scenes with the bullies were especially well done, and even more so in the way Sade constantly analyzes them after the fact. I can definitely relate to that behavior.
In a lot of ways, this novel reminded me of Home is Beyond the Mountains, another middle grade refugee novel I appreciated a lot more than I expected to when I first read it in fifth grade. I think stories like these are very valuable to teach kids about the world around them, as well as to represent all students in books. I am always on the lookout for good diverse books to use in a future classroom, and this is definitely among those books. 9780141304762 Personal Response
I read The Other Side of Truth. I liked that the book was about a poor country with a corrupt government. I also liked how the author gave me a point of view of the refugees. I also liked how the author was so realistic with his descriptions and about the children and the situation they were in. It made me sad knowing that there are so many refugees that go to different countries just like Sade and Femi just to be safe.
Plot
Sade and Femi lived in Nigeria, which had a corrupt government. After their mother was killed, Sade’s father and uncle agreed that it was not safe for the children to stay in Nigeria. Sade’s father was a journalist and he published an article about the government. This angered a lot of people which lead to the death of Sade’s mother. Sade and Femi later fled with Mrs. Bankole to England, where they hope to find refuge. When they arrived in England, Mrs. Bankole abandoned the children and left. Without any money and nowhere to go, Sade and Femi decided to go to the college were their uncle Dele worked. They found no sign of their uncle and went to find refuge in a video store, but are mistaken for thiefs and the owner called the police. The police took them to a foster home and the children were later fostered by Mrs. Graham and then by a Jamaican family. The children went to different schools and later became reticent to one another. The children later found out that their father was caught trying to enter England illegally and was being held. They later release him from jail and Sade had hopes that one day they would travel back safely to Nigeria.
Characterization
Sade was the main character in the story. Sade changes at the way she looked at life and her country. With her mother dead, she became mature and knew what she had to do to survive and be safe . When she traveled to England, she saw England as a whole new world.
Sade and Femi were the protagonists all throughout the book. The children had to leave their own country for their safety. The Nigerian government was the antagonists. At the beginning of the book they killed Sade’s mother and threatened their family.
Setting
The setting was a huge part of the plot. Sade and Femi were born in Nigeria to a bad government, who later killed their mother. Sade and Femi later travel to London, England were they met new people. The setting was very important for the plot because it explained why Sade and Femi had to leave Nigeria and travel to a more secure country. This story took place in the present.
Recommendation
I recommend this book high school students because it is a book that has to be read by mature readers. Younger readers would not be able to comprehend the actual reality of this book. This book is an interesting book that can be read by any boy or girl who likes a good fictional book.
9780141304762
This is the story of 12 year-old Sade and her brother Femi who flee to Britain from Nigeria. Their father is a political journalist who refuses to stop criticising the military rulers in Nigeria. Their mother is killed and they are sent to London, with their father promising to follow. Abandoned at Victoria Station by the woman paid to bring them to England as her children, Sade and Femi find themselves alone in a new, often hostile, environment. Seen through the eyes of Sade, the novel explores what it means to be classified as 'illegal' and the difficulties which come with being a refugee. The Other Side of Truth
Sade is slipping her English book into her schoolbag when Mama screams. Two sharp cracks splinter the air. She hears her father's fierce cry, rising, falling.
'No! No!'
The revving of a car engine and skidding of tires smother his voice.
...Papa is kneeling in the driveway, Mama partly curled up against him. One bare leg stretches out in front of her. His strong hands grip her, trying to halt the growing scarlet monster. But it has already spread down her bright white nurse's uniform. It stains the earth around them.
A few seconds, that is all. Later, it will always seem much longer.
Hmm. Can you say, intense opening?
My class this semester is focusing on young adult literature that deals with hardship, death, trauma, etc (we're reading at least four Holocaust books) and weren't exactly eased into this with The Other Side of Truth. It's narrated by 12-year-old Sade, who lives in Nigeria with her parents and younger brother. Her father is a journalist, one of the few who's willing to speak out against the corrupt government, and because of this two gunmen visit the family's home one morning. They try to shoot Sade's father, but hit and kill her mother instead. Dad decides it's high time to get the fuck outta Dodge, so he arranges for the kids to be smuggled out of the country and into London, where they'll stay with their uncle until their dad can join then.
Unfortunately, Sade and her brother Femi arrive in London, are left alone, and find out that their uncle is missing. Eventually they are placed in foster care and sent to school. This all has a happy ending, but things are pretty intense and depressing until then.
The writing is good (it should be, judging by how many awards this book has won) even if it gets repetitive after awhile. Sade has a habit of giving adults nicknames, like Police Business Woman, Video Man, and Cool Gaze, which got old after the second time, and later on Naidoo is pretty determined to make us see that Sade's struggles against two bullies at her school are a parallel to the corrupt government in her home country - but these are all minor complaints. For the most part, it was a very sad but well-done story. Probably not for kids under 10, though, what with all the shooting and stuff.
Read for: Social Justice in Young Adult Literature 9780141304762 Okay, so this novel was not at all like I expected (perhaps I should have read the flap more carefully) but it was still really good. It’s a surprisingly complicated and engaging story about a girl named Sade and her brother Femi who live in Nigeria but have to leave suddenly after their mother is killed by the government. Their father is a controversial journalist who is not afraid to speak the truth and, therefore, is not well-liked by the government. They meant to shoot him but killed mama accidentally and dad is worried they’ll go over the kids next so they have to flee. Dad arranges for them to be smuggled to London, where his brother lives.
Anyway, yes, this is technically a young adult novel but I struggled to view it that way while I was reading. The issues are actually really complex and you have to have a decent grasp on Nigerian history and politics as well as colonization and the relationship that England and Nigeria have in this novel. It’s not talked about explicitly but unless you are aware of certain things, I don’t think the novel would make a lot of sense.
I thought the story felt very realistic overall and Beverly Naidoo was able to convey how the characters felt quite well. I thought it was interesting that a lot of the story comprised of the students’ experiences at school. This part of the novel felt very YA to me but at the same time it’s important for us to realize that immigrants (refugees in particular) face a lot of challenges when they arrive in a new country. They have to get used to the customs, often the language (although Sade already spoke English in this novel), and they have to deal with peer pressure and fitting in.
Other parts, though, all of the dealings with Mama Appiah, Auntie Gracie, their father (in prison), the immigration lawyer, and others all felt way too mature for some younger readers. I did feel like the ending was a bit too optimistic for my liking (again, very YA) but I was glad it turned out the way it did.
I really liked that African proverbs were mixed into much of the story. I think proverbs are wonderful, especially for young adults who need to sort of infer their deeper meaning.
I would have liked for there to be a greater focus on Nigerian culture in this book and I realize now that I can’t use it for the purpose that I had intended (African culture-themed book clubs) but I still think this is a great book that I’m sure I’ll recommend to some people. I’m just not sure yet who. 9780141304762 Before I start to actually review Beverly Naidoo's 2000 Carnegie Medal winning account of Nigerian refugees in the United Kingdom, I will say that in my humble opinion the author certainly seems to speak from what I would call some bona fide personal experience with The Other Side of Truth. For while Beverly Naidoo might be Caucasian, she was in fact arrested in South Africa as a university student and incarcerated in solitary confinement without trial due to her resistance to Apartheid before finally being exiled and deported to England. And while Naidoo's experience as a political refugee in England were certainly a bit less traumatic due to her being White (as she herself has actually also publicly acknowledged), Beverly Naidoo was still forced from her homeland, she was still totally a refugee (in my opinion) when she first arrived in the United Kingdom (and that yes indeed, Naidoo's The Other Side of Truth, while perhaps not in fact an account one can consider as strictly being OwnVoices, definitely for and to me reads like Beverly Naidoo knows and has experienced firsthand much of what Sade and Femi have to deal with when they arrive as Nigerian refugees in England).
And with regard to The Other Side of Truth as a story, while I do at times wish that the author, that Beverly Naidoo would present not so many primary and secondary characters (as this tends to sometimes get a bit textually distracting), in retrospect, I readily admit that all of these are kind of necessary and essential as Naidoo with gripping suspensefulness combined with graceful but never overdone empathy describes in The Other Side of Truth how Sade and her younger bother Femi's comfortable and sheltered home life and world are turned completely upside down and inside-out by events totally beyond and out of their control (first in Nigeria and then later in London, England), with right on the first page of The Other Side of Truth Sade and Femi's mother being shot and killed in front of them by corrupt and dirty on-the-take Nigerian policemen, and she and Femi then spirited out of their home country and to England for their safety and protection. For Sade’s father is an honest but also idealistic and a bit politically naive Nigerian journalist, committed to telling the truth about the ruling Buttons, as he labels and calls the Nigerian Generals (illegally) in charge, and of course, the bullet that killed the mother had in fact been meant for him, for the father.
But sadly, once in the UK, Sade and Femi (penniless and poorly dressed for a cold and rainily dismal November in London), find that the uncle with whom they were supposed to live has disappeared, and suddenly homeless, they are placed in foster care, all the while struggling to officially apply for political asylum in England without further endangering anyone in Nigeria (and this of course primarily means Sade and Femi's father, who is also trying to leave and to hopefully join his children in England). And while the foster homes, the school system, and another refugee from Somalia, Mariam, do provide some comfort and normality for Sade and Femi in The Other Side of Truth (and that it is clearly stated by Beverly Naidoo that the children absolutely did need to be immediately removed from Nigeria, as the entire family, including Sade and Femi are clearly and obviously targets and meant to be executed), as an immigrant myself who totally did NOT AT ALL want to leave Germany when my family relocated to Canada when I was ten (and that I in fact rather despised Canada and really missed Germany for quite a long time), I majorly do appreciate Beverly Naidoo pointing out in The Other Side of Truth that Sade and Femi were taken to England very much against their will and that particularly Sade not only (and with justification) actively resents this but that she also massively misses Nigeria, does not enjoy her new life in England all that much and is experiencing huge instances of culture shock, anger and homesickness (and yes, that Sade missing Nigeria in The Other Side of Truth and having issues with England and English culture etc. is also and happily shown by Beverly Naidoo as being something completely natural, something acceptable, understandable and NOT EVER as a sign of ingratitude, of ungratefulness).
With important sociopolitical messages that children should feel safe and not have to fear for their lives in any country, and that refugees, that immigrants need to both be respected and should also not be simply expected to automatically and easily be able to adjust to their new countries of residence, The Other Side of Truth has for me been a very delightful and engaging, thought-provoking reading experience and with especially my inner ten year old child (who was totally unhappy as a new immigrant in Canada) feeling as though Beverly Naidoo speaks absolutely from my own heart (and for me) and that Sade is also very much a kindred spirit with her feeling isolated, adrift and not easily being able to right away assimilate to England and to British culture (and that this feeling of kingship in The Other Side of Truth with Sade and also with Femi and the sense of personal understanding by and from Beverly Naidoo, yes, my rating for The Other Side of Truth is definitely solidly and glowingly five stars). 9780141304762 Sade lives in Nigeria with her mother (a nurse), her father (a journalist), and her younger brother, Femi. Her father writes articles for the last remaining newspaper in Nigeria that dares to publish the truth about Nigeria's brutal military government.
When their mother is killed by government gunmen, their father hires a woman to pose as their mother and smuggle them into London, where they will stay with an uncle. Their father plans to join them as soon as he can get a fake passport.
Sade and Femi make it to London, but are left alone when their uncle does not meet them at the airport. After some scary experiences while wandering around a strange new city, they are taken in by a government agency that works with refugees. Not wanting to put their father in danger back in Nigeria, they lie about their last name and hometown. When their father makes it to London, he is imprisoned for entering the country with a fake passport.
This is a beautifully written novel and the descriptions and metaphors are stunning. The only part of the story that didn't work for me was the fact that Sade, so brave and true to herself when it comes to bringing her father's story to light, does the opposite when faced with bullies at school. Perhaps it was more realistic the way Naidoo wrote it, but I really wanted to see Sade stand up to her personal bullies just like her dad.
This is a compelling and moving novel. A must-read.
9780141304762 this was a really hard read. don't get me wrong, i really liked it, and the message behind is powerful and important, but it was really difficult for me get through the first half, where the children are mistreated over and over again.
i didn't know a lot about the political situation in nigeria back then, and this book really opened my eyes and let me learn a lot more about it. i'm also really glad that there's a happy ending, both in this novel, and in real-life Nigeria, where democracy was restored. 9780141304762