Most Popular Books by Beverley Naidoo

A collection of short stories - four previously published and three new - linked by the theme of young people experiencing personal dilemmas. All are set in South Africa, first under apartheid and then after the first democratic elections. They cover the period from 1950 to 2000 and reflect the lives of a range of young people, black and white, living in what was for many years seen as the world''s most openly racist society.

Will the truth harm them -- or save them? When Nigeria''s corrupt military government kills their mother, twelve-year-old Sade and her brother Femi think their lives are over. Out of fear for their safety, their father, an outspoken journalist, decides to smuggle the children out of Nigeria and into London, where their uncle lives. But when they get to the cold and massive city, they find themselves lost and alone, with no one to trust and no idea when -- or if -- they will ever see their father again. The Other Side of Truth is a gripping adventure story about courage, family, and the power of truth.

NO TURNING BACK by Carnegie-medal winning author Beverley Naidoo is the powerful and moving story of Sipho and his struggle to survive on the city streets of Johannesburg in the 1990s. It is one of The Originals from Penguin - iconic, outspoken, first. South African society is on the brink of a huge change as apartheid comes to an end, but will it make any difference to the tough life of Sipho and the other street kids? The Originals are the pioneers of fiction for young adults. From political awakening, war and unrequited love to addiction, teenage pregnancy and nuclear holocaust, The Originals confront big issues and articulate difficult truths. The collection includes: The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton, I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith, Postcards from No Man''s Land - Aidan Chambers, After the First Death - Robert Cormier, Dear Nobody - Berlie Doherty, The Endless Steppe - Esther Hautzig, Buddy - Nigel Hinton, Across the Barricades - Joan Lingard, The Twelfth Day of July - Joan Lingard, No Turning Back - Beverley Naidoo, Z for Zachariah - Richard C. O''Brien, The Wave - Morton Rhue, The Red Pony - John Steinbeck, The Pearl - John Steinbeck, Stone Cold - Robert Swindells.

For use in teaching literature to high school students.

The Mau Mau - the name of a secret society that once struck terror into the hearts of British settlers in Kenya. An episode in history that ended in a State of Emergency, with violent and brutal acts dividing a nation. This is an intensely personal and vivid story of two boys: one black, one white. Once they were friends even though their circumstances are very different. But in a country driven by fear and prejudice, even the best of friends can betray one another . . . Internationally acclaimed and award-winning author Beverley Naidoo explores new territory in this beautifully realized and moving story set in Britain''s colonial past.

Two years after their flight from Nigeria, 14-yr-old Sade, her younger brother Femi and her father are living in a council flat in London, waiting for their claim for asylum to be approved. Sade is upset when Femi is drawn into a violent possibly drug-dealing gang, and even more upset when their father doesn''t seem to notice. He''s too taken up with his new friend Mrs Wallace, a refugee from Sierra Leone. But when Femi is arrested for murder, and the gang set fire to their flat, the family has to pull together to get through this most difficult time.

A powerful novel by Carnegie Medal–winning author Beverley Naidoo that is in turns heart-wrenching, infuriating, and inspiring—and at its core, a call to readers to make a better world than they have found. Adam and his sister, Leila, are Nons—second-class citizens, living under the Permitted ruling class. Though their life in the Stone City is filled with family, stories, and music, they must carefully follow the rules, have all paperwork on hand, and never, ever do anything to anger a Permitted. When their father unexpectedly dies, they are even restricted in how they are allowed to grieve. Soon, Adam and Leila are back to school and practicing music again. But when Adam’s friend Zak plays a bold prank on a group of Permitted boys, and Adam is implicated in Zak’s “crime,” Adam knows their lives will never be the same again. Not to be missed by any reader who was moved by Veera Hiranandani’s The Night Diary or Alan Gratz’s Refugee.

Set in South Africa at the height of the apartheid regime, when the government started a policy of ethnic cleansing, forcibly removing people from their homes and moving them to so-called ''homelands''. Schoolchildren Naledi and Tiro are caught up in the protests and resistance as they and their grandmother are threatened with removal from their village. Protestors are arrested and beaten, but still people fight on. Freedom lies at the end of a long road.

Death of an Idealist is the biography of Neil Aggett, the only white person to die while being held in custody by South Africa''s apartheid security police. A medical doctor who worked most of the week as an unpaid trade union organiser, Aggett''s stark non-materialism, shared by his partner Dr Elizabeth Floyd, aroused suspicions. When their names appeared on a list of ''Close Comrades'' prepared for opposition leaders in exile they were among a swathe of union activists detained in 1981. After 70 days in detention Aggett was found hanging from the bars of the steel grille in his cell in John Vorster Square. He was the 51st person, and the first white person, to die in detention. He was 28. His death provoked an enormous public outcry, his funeral attended by thousands of workers who marched through the streets of Johannesburg. This quiet, intense young man was, in death, a ''people''s hero''. Born to settler parents in Kenya in 1953, Neil Aggett moved with his family to South Africa in early childhood. He attended school in Grahamstown before studying medicine at the University of Cape Town. Death of an Idealist explores the metamorphosis of a high-achieving, sports-loving schoolboy into a dedicated activist and unpaid trade union organiser. Beverley Naidoo traces Neil Aggett''s life, in particular the years leading up to his detention as a result of a Security Branch ''sting'' operation, the weeks of interrogation, and the inquest that followed his death. She recreates the momentous events of his life and, in doing so, reveals the extraordinary impact Neil''s life had on those around him including his family, friends and comrades. Today, a generation later, South Africa is free and democratic. Yet the idealism and sacrifice displayed by Neil Aggett and so many others appears to have been replaced by cynicism and hand-wringing. Death of an Idealist is as much the story of a remarkable young man as it is a reminder that every generation needs its idealists.

Beautifully retold by the award-winning author Beverley Naidoo, this earliest-known version of Cinderella is brought to life for the modern-day reader. Rhodopis is a Greek girl who is sold into slavery by bandits and taken to Egypt. Along the way she becomes friends with the storyteller Aesop and a host of playful animals. Her master gives her a pair of beautiful rose-red slippers, making three other servants jealous. But when Horus, the falcon, sweeps in to steal her slipper, Rhodopis has little idea that this act will lead her to the King of Egypt. The first in our ''One Story, Many Voices'' series, this ancient story of Cinderella finds its echo in fairy tales all over the world.

We read what we are" or "we are what we read"? This is the story of a year in an English class where all the literature read by the 13/14-year-old white students was written from perspectives strongly indicting racism. The reader-response work with students, both written and oral, provides fascinating insight into the transaction between reader and text.

After their mother''s murder, 12-year-old Sade and her younger brother are smuggled out of Nigeria by their journalist father to escape the corrupt government and growing violence. They are sent to their uncle in London, but when they arrive he is missing. Their father escapes Nigeria and comes for them, but he will be sent back unless Sade can find a way to tell the world what happened to her family.