Showing results by narrator "Jude Owusu" in All Categories

Fifteen-year-old Andrew Aziza lives in Kontagora, Nigeria, where his days are spent about town with his droogs, Slim and Morocca, grappling with his fantasies about white girls – especially blondes – and wondering who his father is. When he’s not in church, at school or attempting to form ‘Africa’s first superheroes’, he obsesses over mathematical theorems, ideas of black power and HXVX: the Curse of Africa. Sure enough, the reluctantly nicknamed ‘Andy Africa’ soon falls hopelessly and inappropriately in love with the first white girl he lays eyes on, Eileen.

Bright and precocious ten-year-old Kwame Akromah knows how to behave. He knows the importance of good manners, how to stay at the top of the class and out of the way when his mother and father are angry with each other. But when his charismatic cousin Yaw arrives from Ghana to live with the family while he looks for work, the rules Kwame has learned about the world can no longer guide him. Twenty years later, Kwame is a secondary-school teacher, popular with his students and depended on by his friends.

When seventeen-year-old Femi and his brother accompany their father on a top-secret business trip to a remote and mysterious island, they are looking forward to a summer they'll never forget. Filled with spectacular species of animal and out-of-this-world technology, the island resort welcomes them with open arms, as does its impressive curator Richard Jenkins. But beneath the sparkle and the wonder, the island is hiding a terrible secret - and it's biding its time.

This book will make you kinder by introducing you to your empathy and by pointing out what limits that empathy. Not just the everyday kindness of taking out your neighbour's bins - the strong, courageous, moral kindness of fighting cruelty. It's needed now more than ever. Empathy is what makes us kind, but it must be combined with a conscious effort to learn about different kinds of people. A world in which everyone acted on their empathy would be a very kind world indeed. Let's work towards that world.

When Kwasi and his family move abruptly from one side of London to the other, he sets out to explore his new home. Escaping the watchful eyes of Ma and Da and his irrepressible Aunties, he discovers the local high street and a hidden river. Back at the yellow house, he spends hours drawing, distracting himself from thoughts of the new school that awaits. As the years pass, the high street remains a source of fascination for Kwasi. But behind the ever-changing shopfronts, it's a different story.

Hot on the heels of the 500 Words: Black Lives Matter competition hosted by Virgin Radio this month, Bonnier Books UK is publishing a collection of 100 inspiring, moving and poignant short stories submitted by children from across the country. Almost 6,000 children, aged between 5 and 13, submitted stories expressing their personal experiences, tales of empathy, learning and respect, building on the international conversation around Black Lives Matter.

The Totally Football Yearbook isn't just a collection of statistics. It's analysis, insight, authority and irreverence. It's the views of some of the biggest names in football writing, the same names that make The Totally Football Show one of the world's biggest independent football podcasts. It's the breathless story of the season just passed and an eager look ahead to the season still to come. But yes, there's loads of statistics as well. I mean, we couldn't stop ourselves if we tried.

When Ghana achieved independence from Britain in 1957, it instantly became a target for home-grown opportunists and rapacious Western interests determined to claim whatever assets colonialism hadn’t already stripped. A CIA-funded military junta ousted the new nation’s inspiring president, Kwame Nkrumah, then falsely accused him of hiding the country’s gold overseas. Into this big lie stepped one of history’s most charismatic scammers, a con man to rival the trickster god Anansi.

The road to Rome is long and full of peril. Following his retirement, ex-legionnaire Carbo journeys back to Rome, blissfully unaware of the dangers that await him. On the way, he encounters many adventures, strives to solve a mysterious theft, and meets an old friend getting ready for gladiatorial combat. In other stories, we visit Elissa, the evil priestess, and Vespillo, the trusty watchman, and discover more about their colourful histories. We see a young boy’s first battle and travel all the way to the barbaric Hadrian’s Wall.

Andrew Aziza is an unusually smart fifteen-year-old in Kontagora, Nigeria. He lives with his fiercely protective mother, Gloria, and fantasizes obsessively about white girls—especially blondes. When he's not in church, at school, or hanging about town with his droogs wishing to become one of “Africa’s first superheroes,” he's contemplating the larger questions with his teacher Zahrah and his equally brilliant friend Fatima, a Hausa-Fulani girl who has feelings for him. Together they discuss mathematical theorems, Black power, and what Andy has deemed the Curse of Africa.