Pigeon English

Product Information

While at Lydia’s house, Miquita tells Harri that she’s going to teach him how to kiss. However, when Miquita forces Harri’s hand inside her vagina, Harri pushes her away. Miquita and Lydia get into an argument, during which Lydia implies that Killa is a murderer. Hello Yellow - 80 Books to Help Children Nurture Good Mental Health and Support With Anxiety and Wellbeing -

Agnes has a fever, and Harri worries that she is going to die. When her fever goes away, Mamma and Lydia both cry with happiness. Auntie Sonia and her abusive boyfriend Julius buy presents for Lydia and Harri. As a birthday surprise for his sister, Harri takes Lydia to some wet cement, where they both leave footprints and write their names. While Dean and Harri are playing football, Dean finds a wallet, inside of which is a photo of the dead boy smiling with a white girl. The boys discover that the photo has blood on it. I should probably write a long detailed review of this book; it really deserves it. But I am not the most articulate person and I don't feel I could give it it's due praise in words that would convey how I felt about it. Yesterday I bought a book. It was called Pigeon English. It only cost 50p from the cancer shop. I don't think it has cancer though. I bought it because the cover was bo-styles. There was also a bit about an award. The writing is also weird. It's all jumbled, and the sentences are short. It makes you go red-eyes and want to throw the book out the window at first. Then it starts working. It really drags you in then. It's like the person writing can't write. Except he can. The pigeon bits are full of big words that make no sense. They look pretty though, all big and full of letters.

Stephen Kelman Press Reviews

There are three aspects to this debut novel that are probably going to make or break the average reader's reaction to it. The first is that it is largely plotless -- instead it follows an 11-year-old immigrant from Ghana as he makes his way around the impoverished London estate new home. The second is that it is narrated in his broken, or "pidgin" English. And the third is that at the start and end of some chapters, it also features some first-pigeon narration from, well, a pigeon. As well as describing the estate's own "pidgin", "Pigeon English" refers to a feral pigeon Harri comes to believe is watching over him. In the novel's weakest passages, Harri's street-smart observations give way to portentous prose in which this pigeon-protector reflects on magpies, poisoned grain and the fleeting nature of human existence: "I owe it to all of you, a cheap act of confederacy against the drip-dripping of ill-captured sand." The attempt to shoehorn yet more significance into a narrative already heavy with "relevance" falls flat. Sharks never sleep. They have to keep swimming or they’ll die so they’re not allowed to sleep at all, not even for one second. Harri, June

Someone sets the local playground on fire, but firemen arrive and put the fire out. On the last day of school, Harri watches with delight as the Year 11 kids celebrate their newfound freedom. He and Poppy hold hands, and she kisses him. Harri runs home, shouting his love for Poppy, the pigeons, and the trees. When Harri is almost home, a boy jumps out and stabs him. One day, while Miquita is straightening Lydia’s hair, she burns Lydia’s cheek on purpose, asking, “Are you with us or against us?” Lydia assures her she is with them. After school, X-Fire and Dizzy chase Harri and threaten to kill him, but they eventually walk away. The rest of the book is Harri talking. Except the name on the cover is Stephen Kelman, not Harrison Opuku. So I think it might be fake. Or maybe he's using a different name to hide from the killers. They do that on detective shows. Sometimes, it doesn't work. The killers find them anyway, and kill them. There's a dead boy in this story. Harri and his friend Dean are trying to find out who killed him. They do proper detective work and everything. Harri is the protagonist and narrator of Pigeon English. He is an eleven-year-old schoolboy newly arrived in London from his home in Ghana. Harri's family in London consists of his mother, who works in a hospital maternity ward, and his older sister, Lydia. Harri's father, a carpenter, and his baby sister, Agnes, remain in Ghana until they can save enough money to immigrate. Advise yourself, and do not go lightly into this read. It is authentic and original and touching but also a bit exhausting.

Reviews

Chanelle and Miquita get into a fight at school one day. Right as Miquita is about to push Chanelle through the window, teachers come over and break up the fight. Harri notices that Killa displays several “signs of guilt,” and Harri begins to believe that Killa murdered the dead boy with Miquita. Harri and Dean grab Killa’s hands and take his fingerprints with sellotape.

Pigeon English is a book to fall in love with: a funny book, a true book, a shattering book' The Times I read it right after I bought it. It was on the train. The train takes one hour and twenty minutes to get to Waterloo. And then I was on the bus. And then another bus. And all the time I read this book. It was pretty good. It was all about a kid named Harri. Harri lives in the council towers in London. He is from Ghana. He moved to England with his mother and his sister Lydia. His father, his grandma and the baby stayed behind. Jordan is Harri's best friend outside of school. After he is expelled from school, Jordan steals for the Dell Farm Crew in exchange for cigarettes and protection, starting the young boy down a path of juvenile delinquency. Jordan frequently brags about his criminal behavior and pushes Harri to join him in breaking bottles and throwing stones at buses. Eventually, Jordan stabs Harri, killing him. Lydia

About Stephen Kelman

Miquita is Lydia's friend from Dance Club and Killa's girlfriend. As investigations into the dead boy's murder heat up, Miquita becomes progressively more violent; she burns Lydia's face with a flattening iron, physically assaults Chanelle, and sexually molests Harri. Dean Personally, while I tend to prefer plot-driven fiction, I can live with minimal or no plot if there is something to connect with. And in this book, 11-year-old Harrison (aka "Harri") Opoku is such a lovable, naive, child that I couldn't help but connect with his irrepressible spirit. Like Harri, moved from Africa to an alien first-world country at around age 10-11, and found it to be a similarly bewildering and hostile place. Others may find Harri to be too precious or unbelievably innocent, but I fell for him hook, line, and sinker. And to be fair, the book is not entirely plotless, there is a murder mystery to propel things, along with a minor romantic subplot. That's why I have to help him now, he was my friend even if he didn't know about it. He was my first friend who got killed and it hurts too much to forget. Harri, March

This type of experiential learning inherently involves a process of trial and error, which can prove challenging and even dangerous, as Harri is sometimes punished for misunderstanding the customs and expectations that exist in London. For example, when the Dell Farm Crew say they have a “job” for Harri, he says that he doesn’t need a job, not realizing that X-Fire is assigning him a task as a trial for whether Harri can join their group. Although X-Fire forgives Harri’s ignorance in that instance, Harri is later punished for not showing enough respect and deference to the Dell Farm Crew. For young, vulnerable immigrants like Harri, assimilating into a given culture and understanding its language, customs, and social norms, is not just a courtesy, but can—under certain circumstances—be a matter of life and death.Harri begins investigating the dead boy's murder because he feels an inexplicable connection with the murdered teen. Though they never spoke, Harri knew the dead boy by sight and observed his talents, like playing basketball and riding "his bike with no hands." Harri defines his relationship with the dead boy by calling him a friend, "even if he didn't know about it." By calling the dead boy a "friend," Harri indicates that he identifies with the boy; he hoped to be like the dead boy, and the latter's death leads him to understand that anyone can suffer senseless violence. Harri struggles to understand why he feels loss and trauma over the boy's murder even though they were not close. But not everything is positive in Harri’s world. Gangs abound, and as a newcomer, he is tested for inclusion. Daily life is full of insults and casual violence, and Harri is sometimes tempted by these acts. Worst of all, a boy who is the star of the basketball court, is murdered on the streets. The motive? No one knows for sure, maybe even just for his dinner. Harri and his friend Dean decide that they will find the killer. Full of facts gained from CSI shows, they attempt to lift fingerprints and find DNA, sure that they can find the culprit and bring him to justice. Terry Takeaway is an ex-army alcoholic and known thief who lives in Harri's neighborhood. Terry Takeaway owns an unusually friendly pit bull, Asbo, and protects Harri and Dean from the Dell Farm Crew. Julius Mamma likes it best when it’s a child who died. That’s when she prays the hardest. She prays proper hard and squeezes you until you think you’re going to burst. Grown-ups love sad news, it gives them something special to pray for. Harri, April