Product Description

if only Mma was here
Naledi wished over and over...

Mma lives and works in Johannesburg, far from the village where thirteen-year-old Naledi and her nine-year-old brother, Tiro, live with their aunt, grandmother, and a baby sister who has suddenly become very sick. Naledi and Tiro know, deep down, that only one person can save the baby. So, brave and alone, they begin the journey to find Mma and bring her back.

On the road, the children recall a school chant:

Beware that policeman, He'll want to see your pass, He'll say it's not in order, That day may be your last!

They don't understand the song's warning until they arrive in Jo'burg. There they watch, in amazement and fear, while the police storm their train, attacking and arresting people, and the song takes on new meaning. On the crowded city buses, in the sprawling suburbs, and on an unexpected visit to Soweto, Naledi and Tiro begin to see the painful struggle for freedom and dignity going on in the "City of Gold. " And slowly they realize that their own journey has just begun.

JOURNEY TO JO'BURG is a thoughtprovoking story young readers will want to ponder and share.

Notable 1986 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
1986 Children's Books (NY Public Library)
1986 Children's Book Award (Child Study Association)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1965619 in Books
• Published on: 1986-04-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Library Binding
• 96 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Naledi, 13, and her younger brother Tiro live with their grandmother and their aunt while their mother works in far-away Johannesburg. When Dineo, their baby sister, gets sick, Naledi and Tiro decide to find Mma (mother in Tswana) and bring her home. The trip takes several days, carrying them into a world that is both larger than they imagined, and more restricted for blacks than they ever thought possible. Mma is located; she goes home with them, even though her white employer threatens to hire a new maid in her absence. Mma takes Dineo to the hospital, and the baby lives. Naledi has begun her own journey: she has witnessed an innocent black youth's arrest; she met Grace, who has lost family in the struggle for freedom. And she gains a new understanding of her country. There are many viewpoints in this story: Mma is trying to survive; Grace struggles for dignity. But the author's gift is in translating violent TV images into a provocative, eloquent story about the human spirit, from its first flicker to full flame.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

--School Library Journal
"This well-written [story] has no equal. Evocative and haunting." (Starred review)

–- Publishers Weekly
"A provocative, eloquent story about the human spirit."