Children's Books · Hardback

Watch out for the Boy in the Shadows

Norwegian title: Vær på vakt for gutten i skyggen

Idris and Zakaria live in the same apartment block and have been best friends since they were ten, but now they’re going to go to different high schools.

It’s 2008, and Obama is set to win the US presidential election; meanwhile, the cellars of apartment buildings in Idris’s neighbourhood keep being set on fire and going up in smoke.

One night, everyone in their block is evacuated into the backyard. Idris and Zakaria meet outside. Suddenly they feel like strangers, not best friends.

All Idris wants is to be seen, mostly by Zakaria or by his parents, or perhaps by someone in his new class. He decides to find out who’s starting the fires, to save his neighbourhood and to get interviewed on TV. That way everyone will know who he is. Simple. Right?

A YA psychological thriller about belonging, friendship and the dream of achieving something big.

Material available