Benny and Omar

First we Americans get culture shock meeting Benny Shaw, an Irish lad. Then he gets culture shock when he's relocated to Tunisia and meets an orphan scrabbling for survival on the streets outside the ex-pats' compound. Funny, insightful, sad, exciting, scary, funny some more, and very thought-provoking.

There's a lot to enjoy about this book, but it was too Irish for *me*, let alone most American middle schoolers of my acquaintance. The slang was distracting, and the sport of hurling without any explanation was impenetrable. With a glossary and/or foreword for American audiences a la the Georgia Nicolson books, it could work much better.

Hurling-mad Benny has moved to Tunisia with his family and is a fish out of water. Just outside the compound where he lives is a boy named Omar who has a very different life from Benny's. With no common language, they communicate through phrases from 1990's television. Benny can't seem to stay on the right path and his growing friendship with Omar isn't helping. Funny and heartbreaking.

Personal Response:
I was interested in reading this book when I learned that Eoin Colfer spent time in Tunisia and based this book off of his experiences (http://www.eoincolfer.com/about/). While I enjoyed the teenage irish perspective with a speckling of narration from other characters thrown in, I didn't really enjoy how Benny communicated with Omar. It was unrealistic to me to think that Omar would only speak in "catchphrases" without picking up some useable English that didn't have to be interpreted. A lot of the slang and talk about hurling was lost on me as well as Omar's cryptic references. At first it was amusing, but it quickly became annoying.

I didn't feel comfortable with the references to Omar as "the little Tunisian," even show more though it's probably pretty authentic for a 12-year-old sarcastic irish boy who doesn't care about anyone but himself. The Tunisians in this book are depicted as rude, obnoxious and slightly dumb people, compared to Benny with Omar as the only positive interaction, but even he doesn't come across as a shining star. Benny's one redeeming quality is he seems to disrespect everyone equally. The action/adventure aspect of this story is great as well as the social commentary.

Curricular Connections:
This book could be included in a library programming series featuring the meeting of different cultures and could include a discussion on Tunisia and a special guest to discuss living conditions and issues of the area as well as someone to explain all of the Irish slang. show less

FROM LIBRARY CATALOG:
"Two cultures meet in this hilarious book about a young sports fanatic named Benny who is forced to leave his home in Ireland and move with his family to Tunisia. He wonders how he will survive in such an unfamiliar place. Then he teams up with wild and resourceful Omar, and a madcap friendship between the two boys leads to trouble, escapades, a unique way of communicating, and ultimately a heartbreaking challenge."

read in primary school, remember it being good, recommended.