The Crossing

Product Information

Thank you Netgalley UK and Penguin Random House Children’s UK for sending me an advance reader copy in exchange of an honest review.

Sherwin, Adam (10 February 2022). "Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlist shows TikTok influencers driving sales surge". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 May 2023 . Retrieved 28 May 2023. Manjeet Mann’s dramatisation of her novel Run, Rebel is vibrant and touching. Amber (played dynamically by Jessica Carr) has huge issues to cope with – bullying, family poverty, abuse, adolescent rejection and friendships, among many other issues. It closely follows the book and the verse narrative is spoken throughout and with huge, aggressive energy by Jessica Carr. This energy is physically portrayed in her passion for running, and her bitter disappointment at being forbidden by her father to stay in the running team is keenly felt. THE SHORTLIST". The DB Awards. Archived from the original on 7 October 2022 . Retrieved 8 June 2023. It taught me a great deal about the suffering of refugees and the brutality of oppressive regimes. It also taught me to realise how many young people are reaching out, on their own, for help from the rest of the world.In May 2020, The Guardian included Run, Rebel on their list of the "best books and audiobooks of 2020 so far." [6] Awards for Mann's writing YA Book Prize 2022 – Shortlist Announced!". Literacy Hive. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023 . Retrieved 8 June 2023. Believe in your voice. Don’t try and write like someone else. Don’t write what you think you "should" be writing. Write the stories YOU want to tell, in your own unique voice. I say this because recently I tied myself in knots thinking I had to change my style and write something more "commercial". I convinced myself the stories I wanted to tell were not good enough and my style wasn’t ‘clever’ enough. I didn’t write a word for six months. So, to the writers out there…don’t concern yourself with what anyone else is doing, or their success. Just do you. It’s good enough. YOU are good enough. What songs would be on a playlist for your book? Mann's first novel, Run Rebel, was released in 2020 and received the Shadowers’ Choice Award for Carnegie Medal [3] and the UKLA Book Award for Ages 11–14+; [4] it was shortlisted for several other awards. She later adapted the novel into a play, directed by Tessa Walker and produced by Pilot Theatre. [1]

Described as a verse novel, The Crossing is neither prose nor poetry. It is written in very short interrupted and stark sentences. This makes it both easy and difficult to read. As a lover of the flowing sentences of English narrative prose, I found myself trying to ignore the end of line spaces and to complete each written thought in one go. After a time, though, I fell into reading the book to a different kind of rhythm, persuaded by the author’s strong narrative voice. The clipped style makes for a very fast read and is a clever structural device.Waterstones Children's Book Prize shortlists announced". Books+Publishing. 11 February 2022. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022 . Retrieved 12 February 2022.

This April, the Ed Team has been inspired by the Carnegie Medal shortlist and SDG Target 4.7, Global Citizenship. We recommend reading The Crossing by Manjeet Mann.* Every high school library should have this book to teach students about human rights and promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence. The book tells the parallel stories of Sammy, a 17-year-old boy trying to escape from Eritea, and Natalie, a 16-year-old girl who lives on the receiving end of refugees in Dover, England. Both are mourning the recent loss of parents and trying to find hope. The two stories are told simultaneously and are connected to each other. We see how Sammy suffers as he tries to reach the UK as a refugee, and how Natalie finds she must help refugees by swimming the Channel to raise money for a refugee charity. Both learn that one should “Never be afraid to speak up for what is right” and that even though refugees are “choiceless voiceless hopeless helpless,” we are all connected and can feel each other’s pain. As the author says, her book is about connection; it’s “about loss, but it is also about hope and wanting more than anything to belong and feel safe.” That’s what we all want and what everyone deserves. At times the issue of her father’s violent, drunken behaviour towards his wife and daughters overshadows the more significant matter of his refusal to let them live in a more western way. He is a frightened man, living in a country whose language he does not speak and whose ways he does not understand. In one beautiful scene we are allowed to see another side of him, gentle, loving, where he and Amber dance together.I loved Mann’s storytelling throughout The Crossing and both Nat and Sammy are such endearing protagonists that you simply fall in love with and don’t want to leave. The story is also so beautifully told in the form of poems that intertwine with one another which truly combines the two stories into one and creates a captivating narrative that you cannot help but be drawn to and devour (possibly even in one sitting like I did!). Mann started her career as an actress performing in many theatre productions, radio plays as well as minor roles on screen before turning her hand to writing. David Almond introduces his new picture book, A Way to the Stars, a story about perseverance and finding a way to make dreams come true. Both characters have huge issues to face. Sammy’s seem more obviously dangerous and overwhelming, though Natalie’s are equally as difficult - without the imminent danger. Told through a narrative poem using both voices to alternately express their fears, dilemmas and friendships this is a book you really can’t put down. You have to know if Sammy and Natalie do get to meet. I’d recommend "North Star Rising" an animated documentary short told in verse inspired by the true testimonies of four Eritrean refugees who fled their homes to make the dangerous journey across Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya to Europe.