Now Beverley Naido herself was born and raised in South Africa (in 1943), and yes, the author has readily admitted never having been taught to question Apartheid (and the general racial intolerance towards Black South Africans) either in school or at home. I think the book was a bit unrealistic in that one would expect a thirteen year old to know a bit about Apartheid. While this short little novel was an interesting peak into living conditions in South Africa, I found it to be a little didactic. They are portrayed as not exactly horrible people but somewhere near there - "I can't possibly let you go today.

It is a simple storyline however so much discussion can be held in the classroom, including the different relationships between the characters and life in South Africa. This is the story of love, commitment and the flowering of the human spirit against the background of South Africa’s apartheid. I read this to a year 6 class and they really enjoyed it, interested in exploring the history and learning about the issues that faced South Africa.And determined to do everything they can for Dineo, the siblings thus set off on foot, hoping to cover the three-hundred-kilometer distance to find their mother in time. Reading for enjoyment and writing for enjoyment are two of the most powerful ways of getting children interested in books. I stopped and went on Wikipedia (my go-to source on almost everything) to see what the deal with Jo'burg is (it is Johannesburg indeed! In reality, if you dig deeper, you will learn that this was a journey of self-discovery and awareness for them. The period is South Africa's apartheid years, and while I'm rating four for writing, I'm rating another star for the depiction of tendencies towards popular activism and bringing about change.

The story highlights the dangers and adventures the children encounter along the way and the challenges they face in South Africa at the time. Naledi had never thought about it before tonight, but never, never, had she written about wanting to be…say, a doctor.And for children, Journey to Jo'burg is therefore a gentle but also a firm and authentic feeling (with regard to factuality) introduction to this reality (not strictly own voice of course, but considering Beverley Naidoo's biography, I do still consider Journey to Jo'burg to be pretty much from an African perspective and from the pen of a White South African author who actively fought against Apartheid and was also jailed for this). But it's worth all the extra work because the story has so much depth and complexity and kids will enjoy learning and talking about this.

This was a brilliant read and a great introduction to children in KS2 about life in South Africa for black people, the Apartheid and segregation. They realized that there is a lot about South Africa that they don't know, which their schools are not teaching them. Set in South Africa, Naledi, a thirteen year old girl and her younger brother travel from their small village 300 km to get their mother (who works in Johannesburg) because their baby sister is very ill. After going with a friend to a restaurant in Frankfurt, even though it was raining like crazy, it did not stop me from going to Oxfam, where I did behave: I only got this one book (1 euro).

Thirteen-year-old Naledi lives with Nono (her grandmother), Tiro (her brother), and Dineo (her baby sister) in a small South African village 300 kilometers from Johannesburg. The opulent house of the white “Madam’s” for whom their mother works is a stark contrast with their own appalling reality and the realisation that their baby sister is dying from starvation not an incurable disease. Racism: South Africa, at this time, had a system set up through legislation to keep its society racially segregated. It is written from the viewpoint of two young children in South Africa who struggle to understand the injustice they and their families face. In Beverley Naidoo's 1986 (and thus of course before the official end of Apartheid) South-African themed middle grade novel Journey to Jo'burg, when their baby sister Dineo becomes very ill with a dangerous fever (and might perhaps even be dying), thirteen-year old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro decide that they must go and get their mother, but unfortunately Mma is being forced by financial necessity to live and work in the big city, in far-away Johannesburg.