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Told from the perspective of a bully, this book explores themes of homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good.-*+ Inspired by Onjali's own childhood experiences of growing up in London and seeing the impact of homelessness on those around her, The Night Bus Hero follows an unlikely friendship between our narrator and Thomas - who lives in the park.
Can they get to the bottom of some unusual thefts taking place across the city, and discover what it takes to be a real hero?
With the exception of some proper cartoony villains - acceptable as they aren't remotely the focus of the story - this is a strikingly realistic story featuring bullying, homelessness and redemption.
Hector has a (not entirely undeserved) reputation as a bully and a liar. He objects to it, though; he never tells a lie, and it seems like he's more drifted from pranks into bullying because of his friends rather than actually meant to become a bully. His parents and teachers have started to give up on him, though, and the less they believe in him the less inclined he is to do anything good or helpful.
It hurt watching the way he's treated, although it also hurt to see the casual way he talked about bullying other children. However, watching him slowly realise that other things are important was great. It didn't happen all at once, either, he came to it slowly over quite a long time.
The side characters were great. I wasn't so fond of Hector's parents, but they were nice to him at the end. Mei Li was brilliant. I enjoyed the action at the climax, too; Hector is much smarter than he gives himself credit for. And what an unusual story style, to tell it from the bully's point of view, and even more so not to demonise his victims!
A fantastic read. I'd love to see more people reading it, as I think it really needs to be known about.
The Night Bus Hero publishes on the 15th October, 2020.
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