21 Miles

21 Miles

By Nicola Garrad

Genre:-Young Adult Fiction(13-18years)/Fiction about emigration and immigration/Fiction about prejudice and racism/Fiction about family

Pages:-272

Publisher:-HopeRoad Publishing

Blurb:-Gritty and exciting contemporary adventure about teenagers and teenage refugess

Explores cultural differences and expectations

A fast-paced, tender and unflinching depiction of teenage friendship and resilience against the odds

Touches on the Windrush Scandal, climate crisis, looked-after children and child criminal exploitation

Suitable as a PSHE/English classroom resource and for discussions around Black History Month

Nicola Garrard has taught in secondary schools, with over 20 years first-hand experience working with young people

Donny and Zoe are back. This time they must get out of Calais before they both end up in jail. This isn't a holiday. This is a role-swapping, day trip to hell. With football.

 Older, wiser and more confident, life is going well for Donny, 17. He's a former gang member who's escaped a brutal life of criminal exploitation. He and his best friend Zoe plan a day trip to France ahead of their sixth form exams. After a fun morning in Calais, they're about to return to the port when they see a boy, Amin, being attacked. Streetwise Donny chases the man off. Wanting to clothes, and Zoe drives Amin with Donny's and passport to the Eurotunnel terminal to take him to Folkstone.

After all, what could possibly go wrong?

All Donny has to do is lie low at the park until Zoe's return. But, lost in France and arrested as an 'illegal' migrant, he must rely on the help of unaccompanied teenage refugees, living rough in the dunes east of Calais to survive. Can Donny use his boat skills to cross the busiest shipping channel in the world and make it home in time?

 As Nicola Garrard says: 'In 2014 I read a news article about the suffering of separated child refuges in Calais, just 21 miles from our coast. I started to collect donations of food and clothing with the help of other parents. I filled my small campervan and took these essentials to Calais a number of times. There, I volunteered with a grassroots French refugee charity. On one occasion, I met a small thirteen-year-old Eritrean girl in Calais who begged me to take her to England where she had family. Fearing for her safety, I desperately wanted to help. But I didn't agree to take her. People-smuggling is against the law: I might have lost my career, been fined, and sent to prison. It was the right decision. But after we lost touch, I was left with the 'what if' of her request.

Thank you #AD #Gifted and @randomthingstours

Instagram:-@nicolagarrard7 @hoperoadpublishing @randonthingstours @paulalearmouth

X(Twitted):-@nmgarrard @hoperoadpublish @RandomTTours @mamof9

My Review:- In this story we travel with Donny and Zoe on a day trip to France, but it's not going to be like any other day trip. After helping someone out, Donny is left behind in France, he must prove who he is, as well as find a way home. With help from refugees Donny must do what he can to stay safe, even with many obstacles that are in front him. The loved both old and new characters.  The author has put so much into this story that it feels true. Refugees are at the heart of the news, we've all seen and read about boats being full trying to cross the channel.