Bryce Courtenay: The Power of One (Young Reader's Edition)

Bryce Courtenay first published the adult version of The Power of One in 1989 and it became an international bestseller. It has been translated into 10 languages, with more than four million copies sold worldwide. His debut novel, The Power of One is loosely based on his early life in South Africa, until the age of 16.

This abridged children's version came about after hundreds of requests from parents and teachers who felt that the story of Peekay's childhood would be of interest to young readers. While all of the power and emotion of the original novel is retained, in this edition the language has been simplified and some of the more adult themes are only hinted at.

Our young hero, Peekay, is born in the early 1930s to English parents in a South Africa scarred by deeply entrenched racism. The English are hated by the Afrikaans, descendants of the Boers, while the African tribespeople are reduced to being the serving class in their own country.

While we never really learn about what happened to Peekay's father, his mother clearly struggles to bring up a son alone. As a result, Peekay spends most of his pre-school years with his wise and loving Zulu nanny, and with the other servants on his grandfather's farm.

When Peekay is 5, his mother has a nervous breakdown and he is sent to boarding school. There Peekay discovers racism and hatred, as he is not only the youngest pupil but also the only English-speaking child in a world dominated by Afrikaans.

From the first day he becomes the victim of bullying at the hands of a teenage boy, nicknamed the Judge, and his gang. The violence becomes even worse after Peekay starts wetting his bed at night. Unfortunately the teachers at the school are equally as brutal as Peekay's fellow pupils.

When Peekay goes home for his first holiday, he tells his nanny what has been happening to him and she enlists the help of the old medicine man, who not only cures Peekay of his bed wetting, but also provides him with strategies for dealing with the bullying.

Peekay's delight at finally leaving the boarding school at the end of that year, turns to concern when he discovers that instead of returning to his grandfather's farm, he will be going to live with his mother at her new home.

The 6-year-old must travel across South Africa by train for two days and two nights. He is placed in the care of a boxer called Hoppe, and their trip together becomes a rite of passage. Peekay learns from Hoppe that, "Small can beat big if you have a plan". In Peekay's words, Hoppe "had given me the power of one, one idea, one heart, one mind, one plan, one determination".

The lessons he learns from Hoppe, together with a newly acquired passion for boxing, prove invaluable throughout the rest of Peekay's childhood.

The Power of One is an inspiring piece of storytelling about one boy's struggle to remain true to himself in the face of personal hardship and racial hatred.

It's a wonderful "link" novel for young readers who are ready for more complex themes than those normally found in children's books, but are not quite ready for the hard-hitting contemporary content found in many modern teenage novels.

Publisher: Puffin

Price: $16.99

Age: 10-plus