Ali and his friend Sami are living their dream, playing football for the school team and swimming in their friend Mark's new luxury pool. But money goes missing and racism rears its ugly head when their friend Aadam is accused of stealing it. Trying to prove Aadam's innocence will test their friendships and their family loyalties.
A sequel to Dassu's award-winning debut, Boy, Everywhere, Kicked Out finds Sami and his friend Ali living their dream, playing football for the school team and swimming in their friend Mark's new luxury pool. But money goes missing and racism rears its ugly head when their friend Aadam is accused of being the thief. Kicked out of Mark's house and banned from seeing him, Sami and Ali resolve to prove Aadam's innocence and hatch a plan to raise the money he needs to fight a threatened deportation. But it's not just racism and the legal system they're fighting as the limits of their friendship are tested: family bonds and loyalty are called into question when Ali's long-lost father reappears and Mark's mother's new boyfriend reveals his true character. Ultimately, they're going to need to draw on the strength of all their relationships – and the help of a famous new friend – to achieve their dream.
Written from the heart, this is a powerful novel with a valuable message about resilience, self-worth and friendship.
Creators
A. M. Dassu is the internationally acclaimed and award-winning author of Boy, Everywhere. She is a Director of Inclusive Minds, an organisation for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children's literature, and one of the National Literacy Trust's Connecting Stories campaign authors, aiming to help inspire a love of reading and writing in children and young people. She was also a World Book Day 2023 author.
Reviews
A powerful and empowering portrayal of hope against adversity. A. M. Dassu is one of our most authentic voices in children’s literature.
Warm and perfectly observed. Dassu writes the best child characters out there – flawed, messy, cheeky and utterly believable.
This is a great story about friendship, courage, determination and kindness! Friends who don’t focus on where they came from. Instead, they see the humanity in each other and make positive change! How much do we need this right now!
An absolute must read!
Boy, Everywhere was one of the best debuts I’ve ever read so I was nervous about revisiting Sami & Ali, but it was wonderful to see how their friendship had grown and their support for one another through thick and thin. Aadam’s story was upsettingly realistic but, as ever, Dassu shows readers there is always something we can do.
