Puffin Books

August 2002 $14.95

181p pbk

ISBN: 141308389

Winner of 2002 YARA Award

Imagine being really good at soccer but your only field to play on is the hot desert, where you have to dodge around wrecked troop carriers to get to the goal.

Imagine if you kick the ball too far you have to risk your life amongst the landmines to get it back.  Imagine is the soccer ball is home-made, patches on patches, yet it is the most precious possession you have. Imagine if you could get into really serious trouble for playing kicks with your mates. 

Imagine if you were a girl and banned from being outdoors alone, let alone being found playing soccer.

Imagine if the government came in the middle of the night and blew your house up because your mum ran a school for girls.

Jamal and Bibi don't have to imagine it - this is the reality of their life in Afghanistan just twelve months ago before the destruction of the Taliban rulers.

Yusuf's grandfather says “‘Overboard is an English word meaning to do something that is bold, wild, dangerous and crazy,” and when Jamal's parents are reported to the government  and they have to flee the country, Jamal really goes overboard to save his family.  But somehow it is going to take more than becoming an international soccer star.  He needs to call on all the help he can get from his desert warrior ancestors, especially once the precious candlestick is sold for money to pay the people smugglers.

Boy Overboard is classic Gleitzman.  He has woven the true stories of real refugee children who have survived the dangers of being smuggled to Australia into a story that is hard to put down.  It gives us another side of the "asylum seekers"  issue that needs to be told. 

This is a 10/10 book!

Kayla, aged 12, Dubbo, New South Wales