Notes

294 pages
Adapted for young readers
Summary: Born to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss father at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison, Trevor was kept indoors for most of his early life, in hiding from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the fall of apartheid, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure into the dangers and opportunities of a new South Africa. Born a Crime follows the story of a mischievous boy as he grows into a restless young man, struggling to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It also tells the story of that young man's fearless, rebellious and fervently religious mother - a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence and abuse that ultimately threatens her own life. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Noah illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and an unflinching honesty. Born a Crime is an unforgettable portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humour - and his mother's unconventional, unconditional love