That time when you’re just about to enter your teens is a magical place to be. The whole world is opening up to you and there’s a spirit of adventure that comes with exploring new ideas and doing new things. I wanted to create something that spoke to these experiences, full of surprises, discoveries, fun, lots of humour and adventure. It’s an age group that understands how the world can be full of opportunity and danger too, so a perfect audience to create an adventure for. Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer is a whole journey, trust me. Nothing at the moment but I’m very tempted to rewatch The Wire. Possibly some of the best long form television ever made. I really enjoyed reading all the lyrics used in the story and the way it showed that rap is for everyone. It even inspired me to do my Shakespeare homework as a rap which went down well at school. I liked how rapping and the cypher circle gave some of the bullied and quieter kids more confidence and the take downs were brilliant and so funny. Small Island adapted to the stage from the original novel by Andrea Levy. My wife and I both agreed that we’d watch it again instantly. Wonderful.

Everyone at school is obsessed with the music but nobody knows the words and so Paper Jam is a big success. But another ingenious scheme to make money by cheating arcade games, gets them involved with Leroy and his gang and almost lands his Uncle Delroy in jail. Kofi’s optimism is shaken by seeing prejudice in action and he has to learn what it means to be a true friend and what matters more than money. Kofi has a loving, nurturing family to help him find a way through his problems and Leroy’s bullying also turns out to be the catalyst for discovering Kelvin’s rapping talent and for transforming the playground cussing battles into rap circles that celebrate creativity and community, not cruelty. It’s also very true. Books really are a way to explore new places and enter experiences that you can’t have in real life. It’s one of the reasons that we keep reading (and writing) them.Unfortunately, all his grand plans land him in hot water, and then in detention. To make matters worse, he seems to be getting involved with some shady characters from his estate and takes a main role in getting fake coins to use in gaming competitions at the arcade.

I was surprised at the narrative decision to have multiple voices each taking paragraphs, sharing the story. Not something I'm used to. While it worked fine, it felt a little disjointed and the rule of 'show don't tell' of exposition was broken a few times, some things didn't need explaining to the audience who could have worked things out for themselves.The book is set in the 1990’s so I didn’t understand some of the things they were talking about, especially the TV show which is mentioned regularly but I looked it up and I wish it was on now because it looked brilliant and I can see why the characters family liked it so much. We caught up with him to understand why now was the time to write his first fiction book for young people, and how being marginalised is a super power … Author of Kofi and the Rap Battle Summer Jeffrey Boakye shares how important it is for children to read books in different settings. But the latest venture doesn’t make Kofi popular with the teachers, who find him using the school photocopier for Paper Jam. And although Kofi’s scheme at the arcade is also making money, he’s having issues with Leroy, a new friend who’s mean to Kelvin. Where do Kofi’s loyalties really lie? And is the money worth losing a friend over?