Benjamin Zephaniah is one of the most high-profile international authors writing today, with an enormous breadth of appeal, equally popular with adults and children. Well known for his performance poetry with a political edge for adults and groundbreaking performance poetry for children, Benjamin has also written several urban novels for teenagers. Benjamin has his own rap/reggae band and has appeared on Desert Island Discs. He travels the world speaking about his books and poetry.

Just what do you do with talent from the wrong side of town? Benjamin Zephaniah draws on his own experiences with school and the music business to create a novel that speaks with passion and immediacy about the rap scene.

Ray has trouble at home, and he has trouble at school - until he's permanently excluded and ends up sleeping on the floor of a record shop. What happens to a boy like Ray? If he's lucky, maybe he gets a chance to shine.

The story of three boys who aren't easy. They don't fit in. They seem to attract trouble. But they know what they want, and they've got the talent to back it up ...

Brilliantly written and with a real ear for dialogue, fans of Angie Thomas and Malorie Blackman will love Benjamin Zephaniah's novels for young adult readers:

Refugee Boy

Face

Gangsta Rap

Teacher's Dead

The authority with which the story is written leaves the reader no choice but to be drawn in - and indeed educated - into the world of gangsta rap, with all the appropriate vocabulary. Not for a long time have I read a book with such a 'pick me up again' factor

A fairytale of hip-hop success ... teens will enjoy the thrilling music fantasy, while many will identify with the smart, talented boys who grow up quickly and rescue themselves

Benjamin Zephaniah rides straight through everybody's taboos, everybody's prejudices, everybody's niceties and gets straight to the heart of the matter . Strong, honest, democratic, accessible to all, Teacher's Dead comes highly recommended

A brilliant first novel

A lively and positive account of a boy who is badly scarred in a joyriding crash, and how he comes to terms with it ... incredibly well told

An impressive debut, carefully researched ... Zephaniah writes wonderfully natural dialogue with the same ease as he spins out rhyming couplets

The playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah's writing shines through ... hilarious and later heartbreaking

Sweet, funny, highly inventive

Humour and innocence are both to the fore as is a sweetness of tone ... more street than poetic, and personal yet universal, Refugee Boy is well told by an impassioned writer