They realized that there is a lot about South Africa that they don't know, which their schools are not teaching them. As a student, she began to question the apartheid regime and was later arrested for her actions as part of the resistance movement in South Africa.

It is written from the viewpoint of two young children in South Africa who struggle to understand the injustice they and their families face. An additional book is available to purchase containing photocopiable activities, guided reading notes, speaking and listening activities, writing projects and creative ideas – all from a bestselling, tried-and-trusted series that’s a firm favourite with teachers. Thirteen-year-old Naledi lives with Nono (her grandmother), Tiro (her brother), and Dineo (her baby sister) in a small South African village 300 kilometers from Johannesburg. As well as clear character descriptions and vivid imagery, there are many themes running through the story as it deals with racism and prejudice along with family, love and determination. After accidentally trying to board a whites-only bus, the siblings find the right bus and meet a young woman named Grace.My father is from South Africa originally and I still have family there, so I was interested in seeing how whites were portrayed in this book. In Beverley Naidoo's 1986 (and thus of course before the official end of Apartheid) South-African themed middle grade novel Journey to Jo'burg, when their baby sister Dineo becomes very ill with a dangerous fever (and might perhaps even be dying), thirteen-year old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro decide that they must go and get their mother, but unfortunately Mma is being forced by financial necessity to live and work in the big city, in far-away Johannesburg. The brother and sister mature very quickly from their trip to and from Jo'Burg because they learn more about the world around them, what their peers are fighting for, and the realities that are forced upon them. I have often wondered how, as a child, I never really saw or understood how shocking apartheid and racism were.

Frightened that their baby sister Dineo will die, thirteen-year-old Naledi and her younger brother Tiro run away from their grandmother to Johannesburg to find their mother, who works there as a maid. While this short little novel was an interesting peak into living conditions in South Africa, I found it to be a little didactic. I had the privilege of ‘meeting’ Beverley Naidoo in a Zoom lecture recently and was so inspired by her and her story I knew I had to pick this book up immediately.All those lesson on writing letters…for jobs as servants…always writing how good they were at cooking, cleaning, washing, gardening…always ending with “Yours obediently.