Book description
The children of a South African village eagerly gather at the crossroads to welcome their fathers, who have been away for months working in the mines. The children wait, but the men don't come. So the children keep waiting. And waiting. They wait all through the night, until the dawn…
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Why read it?
1 author picked At the Crossroads as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
A brilliant book (who would dare publish this today?) by the author of the equally brilliant Ben’s Trumpet. In a South African township, some children expect their migrant-labourer fathers to arrive home after 10 months away. They wait, in a celebratory mood at first, but with increasing tiredness and uncertainty as the day and the night go by. They tell stories to stay awake. But the youngest falls asleep. A truck pulls up. It’s not their dads. Then the day dawns. And, with it, the fathers arrive.
There’s hardly any characterisation of the dads. They come to life through…
From Sean's list on greatest books for young readers featuring dads.
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