Terror kid

Benjamin Zephaniah, Hot Key Books, 304 pages, £6.99

Benjamin Zephaniah is probably one of the most high-profile international authors writing today, with an enormous breadth of appeal, equally popular with adults and children.

Best-known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults, and ground-breaking performance poetry for children, he has also written several urban novels for teenagers.

His latest book for young people is topical and very well judged.

Rico knows trouble. He knows the look of it and the sound of it. He also knows to stay away from it as best as he can. Because if there’s one thing his Romany background has taught him, it’s that he will always be a suspect.

Despite his best efforts to stay on the right side of the law, Rico is angry and frustrated at the injustices he sees happening at home and around the world. He wants to do something — but what?

When he is approached by Speech, a mysterious man who shares Rico’s hacktivist interests, Rico is given the perfect opportunity to speak out about injustice. After all, what harm can a peaceful cyber protest do?

Zephaniah, who also wrote the bestselling Refugee boy, gives us a powerful novel about justice, trust and idealism gone wrong that will make you look again at your definition of a terrorist.

Reviews contributed by the Bookmarks socialist bookshop. Order online at www.bookmarksbookshop.co.uk