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Benny Shaw #1
Benny y Omar
In my old school, we had fighting, no pool and there'd be vicious matches against the other schools . . . I miss all that stuff!
Moving to Africa is the worst thing that has ever happened to Benny Shaw. No one plays hurling (the best game on the planet) and the local school is run by hippies who like to talk about feelings. As if.
But when Benny meets wisecracking Omar (the name's Bond, James Bond Omar) who only speaks English in TV catchphrases, he decides that maybe life in this new country can be fun after all . . .
236 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Eoin Colfer
132 books12k followersEoin Colfer (pronounced Owen) was born in Wexford on the South-East coast of Ireland in 1965, where he and his four brothers were brought up by his father and mother, who were both educators.
He received his degree from Dublin University and began teaching primary school in Wexford. He has lived and worked all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. After the publication of the Artemis Fowl novels, Eoin retired from teaching and now writes full time. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.
He received his degree from Dublin University and began teaching primary school in Wexford. He has lived and worked all over the world, including Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Italy. After the publication of the Artemis Fowl novels, Eoin retired from teaching and now writes full time. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
March 23, 2010
This book MUST be listened to, not just read. The reader has the best Irish brogue and the story is just hilarious. I had moments of helpless laughter while driving to work. It doesn't get any better than that.
Benny's family is moved to Tunisia when his father's company downsizes and their adjustment is not at all smooth. Benny is always looking to cause trouble and when he meets Omar they fall right into step. Benny makes the transition from self-absorbed youngster to someone who is willing to sacrifice for friends and family right before our eyes.
Benny's family is moved to Tunisia when his father's company downsizes and their adjustment is not at all smooth. Benny is always looking to cause trouble and when he meets Omar they fall right into step. Benny makes the transition from self-absorbed youngster to someone who is willing to sacrifice for friends and family right before our eyes.
October 5, 2015
I had to read this book for school in Year 8. I didn't really like it, I just found it boring and uneventful, and the writing style was plain. It wasn't terrible, but yeah I didn't enjoy it.
January 16, 2025
I named my two goldfish Benny and Omar after this book. So sad, so beautiful, GOAT book.
September 18, 2019
Not so great in my opinion,and if you want to learn about ways of writing literature that are fairly formal and standard,do not even bother of reading the title.
January 10, 2026
it is quite literally FOUL to have this as a children's book. I am sick over the ending
August 19, 2008
This was a nifty little book about a sort of selfish, sheltered kid having to leave his happy life as a hurling player in Ireland to move with his family to Tunisia because of his dad's job. I really liked that it showed how his family (and the other people from white-majority/industrialized nations) was having a very different experience of Africa than do the native Tunisians, and the way Benny acted out and talked back to teachers and other students to establish himself as NOT a victim was pretty intriguing. I also did like his relationship with Omar. What I didn't like (or really believe) was the way the two communicated. Sometimes I couldn't actually even follow it, and other times I just thought it was improbable that Omar would be able to communicate in catch phrases from television if they were literally the only English he knew. (If he didn't know those words outside of the catch phrases, I don't know why he knew when to use them. I could buy a few of them, like singing a Pepsi jingle to explain that you want a soda, but other than that it seemed really unlikely.) I thought it was interesting how the story could also get you sort of invested in what was going on with hurling even if you had no personal knowledge or interest in the sport. I was kinda expecting hurling to become more central to the plot as it went on, and it became less and less important.
I didn't like some of the condescending, emasculating names Benny called his brother and the comparison of his supposed femininity with weakness, and I didn't like that there was some really weird mentally-ill-fat-character stuff that was kind of embarrassing to read (they basically made this one intellectually disabled kid an overenthusiastic fat joke, requiring the other characters to stop him from causing the protagonist bodily harm by bribing him with candy). There were just some weird choices made by the way the story was told, not the way the characters showed their values. I thought some of the character growth for Benny was well handled, and I did enjoy reading it most of the time, but kinda just like hurling, it wasn't the kind of thing that really gets me going.
I didn't like some of the condescending, emasculating names Benny called his brother and the comparison of his supposed femininity with weakness, and I didn't like that there was some really weird mentally-ill-fat-character stuff that was kind of embarrassing to read (they basically made this one intellectually disabled kid an overenthusiastic fat joke, requiring the other characters to stop him from causing the protagonist bodily harm by bribing him with candy). There were just some weird choices made by the way the story was told, not the way the characters showed their values. I thought some of the character growth for Benny was well handled, and I did enjoy reading it most of the time, but kinda just like hurling, it wasn't the kind of thing that really gets me going.
April 22, 2014
Benny was a happy Irish kid obsessed with the sport of hurling, with some wisecracking and tormenting his younger brother on the side . . . until his father's job situation plopped him in Africa and forced him to change everything from his everyday activities to what he takes for granted. Newly transplanted to Tunisia, Benny flounders for his bearings until he develops a rivalry and then a friendship with a Tunisian kid named Omar. Even though they don't speak the same language, they find common ground. Benny soon faces circumstances that have him learning what brotherhood means . . . in more ways than one.
I didn't really buy the premise of a Tunisian kid speaking in television phrases as the only English he knows, because he'd have to know context for them too and it seemed improbable that he'd be able to make himself understood outside the odd advertising jingle. I also thought the perspective choices were weird; it was written in third person primarily tied to Benny's point of view, but occasionally it entered other characters' heads briefly for convenience's sake, and sometimes the narration even cut away to talk to the reader. I found it distracting, and was also sort of irritated by some of the portrayal of mentally ill folks (not the way they were treated by characters in the story, but by the way the narration spoke of them). However, I did enjoy Benny's character because the way he learned his lessons was not contrived or caused by one singular event, and he was still sort of a little jerk throughout--he didn't have a ridiculous moment of redemption that rendered him unrecognizable from his previous self. Some of the stuff he valued and tried was kind of adorable, and I did like that he questioned his privilege (and that the book showed the well-meaning white people camping out in Africa as some self-congratulatory hippies, which is true to life in many ways), but overall even though the book held my attention I didn't find it enthralling.
I didn't really buy the premise of a Tunisian kid speaking in television phrases as the only English he knows, because he'd have to know context for them too and it seemed improbable that he'd be able to make himself understood outside the odd advertising jingle. I also thought the perspective choices were weird; it was written in third person primarily tied to Benny's point of view, but occasionally it entered other characters' heads briefly for convenience's sake, and sometimes the narration even cut away to talk to the reader. I found it distracting, and was also sort of irritated by some of the portrayal of mentally ill folks (not the way they were treated by characters in the story, but by the way the narration spoke of them). However, I did enjoy Benny's character because the way he learned his lessons was not contrived or caused by one singular event, and he was still sort of a little jerk throughout--he didn't have a ridiculous moment of redemption that rendered him unrecognizable from his previous self. Some of the stuff he valued and tried was kind of adorable, and I did like that he questioned his privilege (and that the book showed the well-meaning white people camping out in Africa as some self-congratulatory hippies, which is true to life in many ways), but overall even though the book held my attention I didn't find it enthralling.
May 31, 2011
Benny is uprooted from everything he loves and values when it's either no job or a promotion for his dad--in Tunisia. The family settles into a "village"--a settlement funded and maintained by Eurogas, his dad's employer. There are many luxuries, including a swimming pool--but just on the other side of the wall Benny discovers a street kid, Omar, whose survival mode lifestyle makes Benny rethink everything he has. But it doesn't really hit home until the day Omar takes him to see his sister, who is restrained to a bed and drugged out of her mind at the local psychiatric institution. Benny learns what happened to Omar and his family--and realizes that if Omar needs his help, Benny needs to give it--but the consequences are not easy. This is a powerfully written story, often times very funny, but with a serious undertone--readers will be moved and enchanted. Sometimes hard to get through the Irish slang but this is a minor detail. Junior high and up.
May 16, 2017
I listened to this book on audio, which is recommended because of the accents that the narrator skillfully employed. I enjoyed the writing and the humor, although reviews of this book are very mixed. I found this story of a self-centered, teenage Irish boy learning to adjust to life in Tunisia an engaging and entertaining one.
June 22, 2018
I thought this book was a little rough to read with the Irish and Arabic slang topped of with "TV speak" I wonder how kids would relate to it today. I read it over ten years ago and it was sweet and memorable.
February 28, 2017
Written in Colfer's wry style, this one leaves lots unsaid about privilege but it walks right up to it and shows it to you. Leaves lots of open room for discussion. It is also funny and sad.
June 22, 2022
“Africa is going to crack open your skull like an old dog with a legless crab. He understood that now. It was like people here didn’t have childhoods. They hadn’t the luxury of playing, or making mistakes, or sulking. You just had a hard life and that was about the size of it. And here he was, smack bang in the middle of all this living…He was in the land of camels.”
Jesus told his disciples, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:24-26 is my prayer for Tunisia, the land of camels, and like Eoin Colfer’s Benny and Omar, I won’t be in it alone.
“We’re all going on a journey together. And I mean that in more ways than one. I want you to see this trip as more than just a drive down some dusty road. See it as a journey into yourself…Whenever you spend time with a group of people, you have the opportunity to become truly one with the group. Drop that mask you’re wearin’. Let’s see what the real you looks like…This ain’t just a road trip, compadres. This is a mission. And I’m givin’ it a name: Operation Clean Slate!”
“For a split second, he grasped how simple it would be for him to fit in. All he had to do was to accept everyone here at face value. No more smart aleckry, just be nice for a change. His brain was about to unfold this revelation, when he noticed a mosquito straddling his shinbone.” And isn’t that the truth?! Distractions like mosquitos, sunburn like sin.
“The sneaky thing about sunburn is that it doesn’t come up until later on. You think you’re grand. You think you’ve already got enough of a base tan to protect you. But then as soon as you try to go to sleep, the agony begins…There is always great rejoicing in the world of men when a smart aleck gets his comeuppance…Take your revenge and choke on it.” As a teacher, one of my favorite quotes is “Can’t and won’t…They’re just can and will plus negative attitude.” Instead, I prefer, “‘Al-hamdu li’llah’…Another baby step on her voyage back to the land of the living.” Eoin Colfer’s Benny and Omar is a metamorphosis!
Jesus told his disciples, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God…With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:24-26 is my prayer for Tunisia, the land of camels, and like Eoin Colfer’s Benny and Omar, I won’t be in it alone.
“We’re all going on a journey together. And I mean that in more ways than one. I want you to see this trip as more than just a drive down some dusty road. See it as a journey into yourself…Whenever you spend time with a group of people, you have the opportunity to become truly one with the group. Drop that mask you’re wearin’. Let’s see what the real you looks like…This ain’t just a road trip, compadres. This is a mission. And I’m givin’ it a name: Operation Clean Slate!”
“For a split second, he grasped how simple it would be for him to fit in. All he had to do was to accept everyone here at face value. No more smart aleckry, just be nice for a change. His brain was about to unfold this revelation, when he noticed a mosquito straddling his shinbone.” And isn’t that the truth?! Distractions like mosquitos, sunburn like sin.
“The sneaky thing about sunburn is that it doesn’t come up until later on. You think you’re grand. You think you’ve already got enough of a base tan to protect you. But then as soon as you try to go to sleep, the agony begins…There is always great rejoicing in the world of men when a smart aleck gets his comeuppance…Take your revenge and choke on it.” As a teacher, one of my favorite quotes is “Can’t and won’t…They’re just can and will plus negative attitude.” Instead, I prefer, “‘Al-hamdu li’llah’…Another baby step on her voyage back to the land of the living.” Eoin Colfer’s Benny and Omar is a metamorphosis!
August 10, 2026
I jumped into this book based on my history with Colfer's other work--the Artemis Fowl series, sure, but also The Supernaturalist and Half-Moon Investigations, which persist in my mind as just some of the best experiences I've had reading as a kid. Going back to the start of his career was, thus, an interesting prospect. The results, though, are mixed. Parts of the book just haven't aged well in terms of attitudes and language, and the storytelling is much more stilted than his later efforts. Most of the cultural strangeness can be forgiven because of the sensitivity the story has to its characters and the overall moral that it's actually imparting, this really is a book with a lot of good things to say. Weirdly, though, I think it could have said them faster and more straightforwardly than it actually did. My main complaint is that for a book where pretty minimal things happen, it felt fairly bloated at times, was just way longer than it necessarily needed to be. Additionally, none of the characters really have the charm that you want from a YA novel about sensitive topics; Benny is a good creation, but never really transcends the sarcasm that he starts the story with. He learns lessons and gets closer to redemption than I'd have thought possible, but still comes across as mostly one-note even as the story races towards its conclusion. Still had a decent time with this one, but its age and problems show through just a bit too harshly.
May 11, 2024
eponymous sentence:
p87: Benny and Omar's level of sneakiness were virtually nil.
punctuation:
p11: Too late the keeper, who was already eating a victory burger in his head, realized the danger.
le mot juste:
p40: He grabbed the handle of Georgie's backpack, thinking that perhaps a little rabbit-punch to the kidneys would be suitable retribution, but the girl from the pool was watching him.
p91: There were a few chunks of cracked cement along the frame where the wall wasn't quite flush.
p189: Benny peeled himself out of the sagging cement and rooted around in his jacket.
ocr:
p112: Between haring around on the back of a mobylette and lepping off the top of a perimeter wall, they used up enough lives for a whole sackful of cats.
I stopped trying so hard to figure out the dialogue before I even got halfway.
p87: Benny and Omar's level of sneakiness were virtually nil.
punctuation:
p11: Too late the keeper, who was already eating a victory burger in his head, realized the danger.
le mot juste:
p40: He grabbed the handle of Georgie's backpack, thinking that perhaps a little rabbit-punch to the kidneys would be suitable retribution, but the girl from the pool was watching him.
p91: There were a few chunks of cracked cement along the frame where the wall wasn't quite flush.
p189: Benny peeled himself out of the sagging cement and rooted around in his jacket.
ocr:
p112: Between haring around on the back of a mobylette and lepping off the top of a perimeter wall, they used up enough lives for a whole sackful of cats.
I stopped trying so hard to figure out the dialogue before I even got halfway.
July 14, 2025
I didn't like it as much as I expected to. It's funny and it's a unique setting. But between the Irish jargon, the TV references I didn't understand, and the oddly-transcribed Tunisian colloquial Arabic, the dialogue between Benny and Omar was REALLY hard to follow. I was also hoping for more character growth on Benny's part and not just a series of stupid decisions. But mostly I was hoping to learn more about Tunisia - and despite a few adventures off-compound that are probably supposed to be eye-opening, the perspective of this book stays solidly rooted in the expat bubble. All that said, as far as adventure and travel stories go, this book is probably a pretty good choice. And it's definitely original. So, if you're looking for a middle school age book set in a not-often-explored part of Africa, you might love this. 2.5 stars
July 7, 2026
A book read for the Bookcrossing World Cup game, I drew Tunisia in the random draw. It’s children’s fiction and I guess that accounts for the simple, but informative writing. It did give an opportunity to compare lifestyles, conditions, barriers between two opposing cultures. Not much given to the learning process other than it was happening. Showed how resilient we are as youngsters to soak in a different way of life, and acceptance of it.
The narrative probably didn’t go the way I thought it would (see above), and had I known, I may not have given it a go. Still, with any good work of literature, plenty of change in people towards the end.
The narrative probably didn’t go the way I thought it would (see above), and had I known, I may not have given it a go. Still, with any good work of literature, plenty of change in people towards the end.
September 8, 2022
I love Eoin's writing. And it's interesting that this both his first publish book, and also the first book of his which I didn't feel compelled to read the next chapter.
Eoin spends long on character development than with his other books, and less time on plot. The plot only really got cracking in the final third, and even then the story ends with some pretty big questions around what exactly happened.
Still a worthwhile read, and very interesting in terms of seeing Eoin's development as a writer.
Eoin spends long on character development than with his other books, and less time on plot. The plot only really got cracking in the final third, and even then the story ends with some pretty big questions around what exactly happened.
Still a worthwhile read, and very interesting in terms of seeing Eoin's development as a writer.
July 27, 2022
I liked some things, didn’t love others. The narrator for the audio was fantastic. The TV dialog between Benny and Omar was very funny. Benny kept making really stupid choices. I’m glad that he finally came to appreciate his brother and think of someone besides himself. It’d be fine if my teenagers read it. It does show insight into a completely different way of life - an orphan in Tunisia. Finished 8/17/19
October 8, 2019
Tunisia. Cute story of two boys from vastly different backgrounds who become friends, take chances and rescue a young girl in need. Not a lot of back story about the country in general, but details about the way foreign interest comes into the country to use resources and then leaves the country as poor as ever.
February 12, 2018
An odd disjointed book with no real story or purpose. I guess I didn't realize people are recommending it for ages 10 and above.
Also most reviewers are saying to LISTEN to the book rather than reading it.
Also most reviewers are saying to LISTEN to the book rather than reading it.
January 6, 2023
Just a beautiful tale of two kids who couldn’t be from more different worlds if they tried. Somehow amidst it all they form an unbreakable bond. An easy read with lots of twists and mischief! I really enjoyed it!
December 26, 2018
I liked the story but too much cussing for a kids' book.
Want to Read
January 16, 2020 IL: MG - BL: 4.0 - AR Pts: 8.0
August 26, 2020
One of my favourite childhood books
December 29, 2020
This was a very good book. I loved the friendship between Benny and Omar!! Two different kids who bonded together.
February 14, 2021
A brilliant read and so well written.
August 8, 2021
This is written for young teen boys. It was an OK read.
February 18, 2022
Read this to the kids. A good story with strong characters, although I think some of the cultural perspectives are outdated. We really enjoyed the ending of the book.
February 14, 2023
Exciting story. Very interesting!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews