Jummy at the River School

Although Jummy is excited because she has earned a place at River School, the best girls' boarding school in Nigeria, she is upset that her best friend, Caro, won't be joining her. River School is everything she dreamed of and she quickly settles into her new school house. Every year, the school holds a competition, the Harmattan Games, and Jummy is determined to help Nile House beat the other school houses and win.  But when Caro does arrive at school, working as a maid, Jummy is determined to get her friend the education she deserves.

Beautifully told, Jummy at River School brilliantly brings to life rich, vibrant, colourful scenes from Nigeria. Full of detail, the writing transports the reader River School, where hard work and excellence are celebrated, but all the rivalries, difficulties, fun and friendships of school life are also experienced. The fierce rivalry between the houses, particularly Nile and Limpopo, the midnight feasts and sporting events offer all the classic hallmarks of a boarding school story and the story romps along at a pleasing pace!

Jummy is a very likeable heroine who develops over the course of the story to reflect on things which she has always taken for granted - the comfortable circumstances of her family life - as she observes behaviours in others which she intensely dislikes and is concerned to consider that they might reflect her own attitudes. In her determination to help her friend, she resolves to change her behaviour and be different to Bonjali, a reluctant member of Nile House, and others like her.

The story makes its readers consider the inequalities in access to education experienced by children in Nigeria, opening discussions about the importance of free education for all. Jummy at River School is an enjoyable, accessible read!

272 pages / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 9+