Broken Glass

by Sally Grindley

Sandeep and Suresh haven’t always lived on an island in India, collecting pieces of glass just to half-survive, but going to school every day dressed in smart clothes and shoes . But after their father loses his job and so Sandeep and Suresh are forced to leave home, under fear of possible violence from their father. Not knowing where to go, Sandeep and Suresh escape into a big city and with Suresh thinking he could get a job, life doesn’t seem so bad. But after asking around, it seems clear to Suresh that he wouldn’t get a job unless he had a proper address and was at least sixteen.

  

They soon meet a group of street boys who were ready to welcome them into their ranks. Vikas, who seemed to be the leader of the gang of street boys said that they could become ragpickers and collect glass to sell to a dealer called Mr. Roy. I felt  very moved and appalled that children actually learn to live in such terrible conditions.Suresh and Sandeep had lots of fun being ragpickers and collecting glass all day.Soon, problems started to occur.Sandeep was involved in a robbery and Suresh wonders if Sandeep is coping as well as he thought he was.I can’t relate to anything or anybody I know who has gone through anything like Suresh and Sandeep. It is a pity that, even in reality, people go through this daily. Will Suresh ever get a job and will they ever be able to live in peace without worrying at night about what they would eat the next day?

Sally Grindley is a captivating and enthralling author. The style of writing was easy to read and comprehend, unlike some books in which you can get easily mixed up in the text.  

 I have read another book by her, Torn Pages. Her books focus on the living conditions of the specific countries the book is based on. Torn Pages is set in Africa and follows the lives of two orphan sisters and their orphan brother.

The Glittering Eye

by L.J Adlington

 

Shabati wakes up in a barley field, no memories, no past. Amy spends her Christmas in Egypt to visit her father, a T.V personality for the T.V show Action Archaeology. This book follows Shabati and Amy, two children with a huge time difference, but both in Egypt , Shabati in ancient Egypt while Amy in the modern Egypt.

Amy is pushed out of a normal Christmas at home into a wild adventure in Egypt. Finding himself in a barley field ,Shabati  remembers nothing of his past life .Shabati gets chased by animals and is found by the vicious Master Hob. Since Master Hob keeps on calling him shabati, he assumes his name really is Shabati,which means magical servant in Arabic. Amy finds herself in the company of her dad, Jason, who also is on the Action Archaeology!  T.V show, Kev and Dez, the cameramen, Ellie Powell, a  field archaeologist , Farouk, the Egyptian overseer  and Mazen, Farouk’s son, Anubis ,Mazen’s dog, Dr Rosa Hassan, the X-ray and CAT scan speicilist and Dan the technician .Amy is having a normal holiday (well as normal as you can get while going into tombs nearly every day )until  she  finds an entrance to a new tomb.Everyone gets to know about it and the work is abandoned from the Chariot Tomb, which was what the Action Arcaeology! team liked to call it and moved to the Cat Tomb, the nickname for the tomb that Amy had found. What is so special about the Cat Tomb and will Shabati ever be free from Master Hob’s rule? This entire adventure makes this book very interesting. This book gave me a glimpse of modern and ancient Egypt.