Review of "Dumb" Orphans

[Tristan Outhier]

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

---

5 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

“Dumb” Orphans: The Bundu Bunch Trilogy by Allan Low is a heartwarming coming-of-age story about a group of orphaned South African children doing their best to survive in the middle of the AIDS pandemic. Cast out by their village, they are assigned to be looked after by a fifteen-year-old girl named Aiyasha. Treated cruelly and banished from attending the local school, the children live a life of labor tending to the village leader's cattle. Eventually, the bright young children convince Aiyasha to start teaching them how to read, write, and do math. Soon after, they are given the chance to compete with the other children in the village for a scholarship to attend school. This opens up a world of opportunity that leads to the children achieving true and positive changes in the world, for themselves as well as their home country.

This was a wonderful book, with many aspects to love. Low is a talented storyteller who demonstrates a vast knowledge of African culture and child psychology. The characters are so well-written and easy to fall in love with. They each have their own unique personalities. I especially enjoyed how they bring their individual strengths together to solve whatever problems they are faced with. Also, the illustrations provided by Elizabeth Sparg did a fantastic job of bringing the story to life. The only drawback to this book that I found was that the book is marketed to children as young as eight. I felt that it may be difficult for children that young to fully comprehend the careers the children grow up to have and how those careers were able to influence the world. However, this was very minor and did not detract from the story itself.

This story was exceptionally edited, as I found no spelling or grammar errors at all. For this reason, combined with the reasons previously stated, I rate this book a five out of five stars. This book is intended for children as young as eight, but I would recommend this book to readers of all ages who enjoy a story of adventure and love.

******
"Dumb" Orphans
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon