A powerful book in graphic black and white images, showing the true relationships between diamonds, the mine diggers and gift receivers. Through the images we follow a journey from a home, where the mother is explaining about diamonds to her daughter before she goes out. The young girl is put to bed by her African Nanny Amina, and later has a nightmare.
It is a book for us all, as we learn more about the differences between wealth and poverty, and the corruption the diamond industry brings to financing wars and conflicts. It is a hard hitting book. The Afterword by Riccardo Noury, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, Italy,explains how the diamond industry works, and how there is now a certification process called the ‘Kimberley Process’ which aims to reduce the sales of diamonds to finance conflict.
Armin Greder lives in Australia and is an artist who illustrates highly impactful graphic novels in startling black and white style, packed with meaning. Other books include The Island and The Mediterranean. There is an excellent review on Playing by the Book about Armin.
Allen and Unwin are Australian publishers who have an excellent commitment to books which enable us to think outside the box and not accept our world as it is.
Definitely a book to engage with students and with your own mind on issues today and stop our complacency in our Western world.
Sue Martin
Ifeoma Onyefulu is more than just a children’s writer. Her books show the colour and vibrance of Africa just as it is, a wealth of culture and life that produce riches all of their own.
Other titles she has written are A is for Africa, which is a complete alphabet of places in Africa. (
At a Children’s Centre opening, where we were holding a City Story event. Ifeoma was famously doing some games with the children on the floor. Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children and Families was opening the Centre and he joined in too, as well as the head teacher.