Review of "Dumb" Orphans

[Jes Reed]

[Following is a volunteer review of ""Dumb" Orphans" by Allan Low.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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“Dumb” Orphans by Allan Low may be written as a children’s story but I thought it was impactful and valuable for all adults to read. It covered some tough topics in a child-friendly way and left me curious enough about some topics to do additional research at the end of the book.

This book is written in three parts. The first part follows a group of orphaned children as they live outside the village and how they fill their days. The Bundu Bunch, as they call themselves, had families to take care of them, until a sickness took their mothers from them. This section of the story was a little slow, but was very necessary to lay the foundation for the rest of their adventures. After the reader is familiar with how the children spend their days and how smart they are, the children start learning how to read and write in secret. This prompts them to earn scholarships, which allows the orphans to attend an actual school.

In the second part, most of the orphan group is away at school, leaving only the oldest orphan, Aiyasha, and the youngest, Elah. This section is told through the point of view of Elah. It follows these two orphans as they flee for their lives after an attempted poisoning. It details some of the travels the girls had to take in order to reach England and attain an education for themselves.

The third section of the book follows Aiyasha’s journey to becoming a gold medalist in the Olympics. This leads to an opportunity to make some powerful changes in her home country’s education system, which included creating access to education for everyone, regardless of economic status. Unfortunately, it also follows her disappearance and the grief the Bundu Bunch and friends experience while trying to find her. This section was my favorite, as it explained what each of the Bundu Bunch were doing as adults and how their experiences that were outlined in the first section influence their careers.

I thought this book was very well written and noticed no grammatical errors. The only recommendation I would make for changes is to add in a time period for the book. I found myself wondering if this book took place in the 2000s, 1980s, or some other time. There were no references to world events and I was curious to know if communities are still experiencing these challenges in 2025. The author did a great job covering the tough subjects and wrote an engaging book appropriate for all ages.

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"Dumb" Orphans
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