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Detention
Sima and her family are pressed to the rough, cold ground among fifty others. They lie next to the tall fence designed to keep them in. The wires are cut one by one.
When they make their escape, a guard raises the alarm. Shouting, smoke bombs, people tackled to the ground. In the chaos Sima loses her parents.
Dad told her to run, so she does, hiding in a school and triggering a lockdown. A boy, Dan, finds her hiding in the toilet block.
What should he do? Help her? Dob her in? She's breaking the law, but is it right to lock kids up? And if he helps, should Sima trust him? Or run?
THIS MOMENT, THESE DECISIONS, WILL CHANGE THE COURSE OF THEIR LIVES.
When they make their escape, a guard raises the alarm. Shouting, smoke bombs, people tackled to the ground. In the chaos Sima loses her parents.
Dad told her to run, so she does, hiding in a school and triggering a lockdown. A boy, Dan, finds her hiding in the toilet block.
What should he do? Help her? Dob her in? She's breaking the law, but is it right to lock kids up? And if he helps, should Sima trust him? Or run?
THIS MOMENT, THESE DECISIONS, WILL CHANGE THE COURSE OF THEIR LIVES.
240 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2019
68 people are currently reading
424 people want to read
About the author
Tristan Bancks
37 books162 followersTristan Bancks tells stories for the page and screen. His books for kids and teens include Two Wolves, The Fall, Detention, the Tom Weekly series, and Nit Boy. Ginger Meggs, Tristan’s 100th anniversary book of short stories, is based on characters created by his great-great uncle, Jimmy Bancks, in 1921. His books have won and been shortlisted for many awards, including a Children’s Book Council of Australia Honour Book, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, ABIA, YABBA, KOALA, NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Queensland Literary Awards. His latest release is Cop & Robber, a nailbiting crime story for age 10+.
Tristan is a writer-ambassador for literacy non-profit Room to Read. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of his books for the screen. He’s excited by the future of storytelling and inspiring others to create. You can find out more about Tristan’s books, play games, watch videos, join his Young Writer’s StorySchool and help him try to change the world at tristanbancks.com
Tristan is a writer-ambassador for literacy non-profit Room to Read. He is currently working with producers to develop a number of his books for the screen. He’s excited by the future of storytelling and inspiring others to create. You can find out more about Tristan’s books, play games, watch videos, join his Young Writer’s StorySchool and help him try to change the world at tristanbancks.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 92 reviews
June 16, 2019
I cannot wait to share this with my students, gripping, real, and well written. We need books like this! Full review on my blog soon
May 11, 2021
Reread for Readers cup Qs
Authentic, realistic and ultimately hopeful.
Authentic, realistic and ultimately hopeful.
August 16, 2020
The dog looks bad, covered in cuts and scrapes. Dan's heart sinks at the thought of how it got there, chained up,
dehydrated in the early morning summer sun. It growls, baring its teeth. Dan is on his way to school and decides he can't just leave it there, and slowly but surely untangles the chain to lead it out of the sun.
Vowing to the dog and himself, he will be back with water after first period. This dog is the first real distraction Dan has had since his dad left. Now, Dan lives with his mum in a trailer park, having to look after himself a lot lately, as his mum is frequently gone for days.
Counting every minute in his assisted reading class, just as he counts the days before he can leave his stifling, hot, poor, and boring town, Dan's thoughts are suddenly ripped from the stray dog, by a screaming siren in his school grounds.
Diving under their desks at their teacher's instructions, they soon learn why there are armed men searching their school. People have broken free from the nearby Detention Centre. Dan doesn't realise he is about to run into one.
The girl (Sima) looks frightened, and Dan is unsure what to do. Tell his teacher? Alert the guard who has let him go to the toilet block where the girl is hiding? Just as the stray dog needed his help, Dan wants to help this girl. Surely she can't be dangerous like they say on the news? Surely she isn't a terrorist?
Taking responsibility for her escape to a relative far away, Dan knows that rules and laws are made for a reason, but sometimes those rules are wrong. Not everything is black and white. He comes up against many authority figures, but he battles through - their flight not only changing the stranger's life, but even eventually his own.
Told in two first-person viewpoints, Dan and Sima both feel fearful, not sure whether to trust in the other after all they have been told by media or experienced in the past.
The author didn't want this story to be a political football as the Australian asylum seekers and refugees are portrayed in the media, but a human story, showing both sides through the eyes of a courageous Australian boy and a girl who has fled war, oppression and fear, just wanting somewhere to call home with her family.
This story races along, with no boring bits. Great read!
dehydrated in the early morning summer sun. It growls, baring its teeth. Dan is on his way to school and decides he can't just leave it there, and slowly but surely untangles the chain to lead it out of the sun.
Vowing to the dog and himself, he will be back with water after first period. This dog is the first real distraction Dan has had since his dad left. Now, Dan lives with his mum in a trailer park, having to look after himself a lot lately, as his mum is frequently gone for days.
Counting every minute in his assisted reading class, just as he counts the days before he can leave his stifling, hot, poor, and boring town, Dan's thoughts are suddenly ripped from the stray dog, by a screaming siren in his school grounds.
Diving under their desks at their teacher's instructions, they soon learn why there are armed men searching their school. People have broken free from the nearby Detention Centre. Dan doesn't realise he is about to run into one.
The girl (Sima) looks frightened, and Dan is unsure what to do. Tell his teacher? Alert the guard who has let him go to the toilet block where the girl is hiding? Just as the stray dog needed his help, Dan wants to help this girl. Surely she can't be dangerous like they say on the news? Surely she isn't a terrorist?
Taking responsibility for her escape to a relative far away, Dan knows that rules and laws are made for a reason, but sometimes those rules are wrong. Not everything is black and white. He comes up against many authority figures, but he battles through - their flight not only changing the stranger's life, but even eventually his own.
Told in two first-person viewpoints, Dan and Sima both feel fearful, not sure whether to trust in the other after all they have been told by media or experienced in the past.
The author didn't want this story to be a political football as the Australian asylum seekers and refugees are portrayed in the media, but a human story, showing both sides through the eyes of a courageous Australian boy and a girl who has fled war, oppression and fear, just wanting somewhere to call home with her family.
This story races along, with no boring bits. Great read!
August 10, 2019
Enjoyed the plot line, interesting exciting story, current topic but no political agenda in the book
October 7, 2019
4.5 stars rounded up to 5🌟A real page turner- sure to encourage Middle School students to consider the asylum seeker issue.
December 16, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. It includes real life problems that still face us today, different perspectives, and gripping decisions that leave you hanging off the edge of your seat. I liked the beginning when Sima and the other refugees are escaping. When Sima escapes, the author describes the factories and hot weather like you are experiencing it yourself. Dan’s beginning, not as dramatic however, just as thrilling to read.
You expect Dan to be not as a ‘hero’ as he turns out to be. He rescues a dog which plays a major part in his early memories. Dan’s parents effect Dan how he sees Miss Aston, when she continuously worries about his family.
The downside of the book is just small wishes of parts to happen throughout the story line. I hoped that Miss Aston helped more with Sima’s escape. She did not report to the Police however, she didn’t let Sima or Dan know she wouldn’t. I also wished she at least checked in with them and helped with his mother. I also wanted the author to add more detail about Sima’s past; how they travelled to Australia with the other people. I really hoped that it included when her father came back to where they lived and the story could end happier.
You expect Dan to be not as a ‘hero’ as he turns out to be. He rescues a dog which plays a major part in his early memories. Dan’s parents effect Dan how he sees Miss Aston, when she continuously worries about his family.
The downside of the book is just small wishes of parts to happen throughout the story line. I hoped that Miss Aston helped more with Sima’s escape. She did not report to the Police however, she didn’t let Sima or Dan know she wouldn’t. I also wished she at least checked in with them and helped with his mother. I also wanted the author to add more detail about Sima’s past; how they travelled to Australia with the other people. I really hoped that it included when her father came back to where they lived and the story could end happier.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2023
Taught this one to my Y7 class. Important themes for YA Aus readers but not my jam. 2.5
January 6, 2020
Tristan Banks wrote about real life issues in a realistic way, also making the readers aware of the struggles people do go through. It was really good read.
June 19, 2019
A thrilling, heartfelt page-turner enriched by probing social commentary, Detention is essential for opening and fuelling dialogue about the asylum seeker and refugee situation in Australia.
It is 5:28am when Detention begins, and young Afghani girl Sima and her family are pressed to the ground, among a sea of fifty other refugees, behind the wire fence of the Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre in Midgenba. On the other side of the fence, a protester is cutting through the fence, wire by wire, determined to free the detainees before they’re forced to return to the homelands they escaped from. Tristan Bancks — author of Two Wolves and The Fall (among others) — infuses these passing seconds with incredible heart-pounding tension, as guards patrol nearby, and her father’s final words to her before they began their breakout reverberate in her mind: “No matter what, you run.”
Finally, the fence is pried open, just enough for the human chain to squeeze through, one by one, perilously slowly, methodically and silently. Then — disaster. An alarm starts blaring. Panic erupts. Guards howl. Guns are yanked from holsters. It’s absolute chaos. Sima loses her family, runs for the trees, finds herself on the grounds of a school, hiding in a toilet block as the school goes into lock-down, armed Border Force agents determinedly checking every classroom. Which is when she is discovered by local Midgenba boy Dan, who needs to decide, quickly, whether to help Sima get away, or thrust her back into the hands of the agents hunting her. He quickly decides that he needs to help her so he tells his teacher (who let him go to the toilet) and they hide Sima in a classroom cupboard while border police check the classroom.
Eventually, she escapes with Dan and they get back to the caravan park where he lives - along with the stray dog who had befriended him earlier in the day. Sima wants to get to a town in NSW and she doesn't know how to get there and she has no money. Another close encounter with police at the caravan park and his mother realises that he is harbouring an asylum seeker who is on the run. Will she help or not? Miraculously, Sima manages to get on the roof of the caravan and not been seen whilst the police search. Another close encounter at a Transit Station follows and again she just manages to get on her way. But will she get to where she needs to go? The story ends too quickly and a bit unrealistically, with her having settled in NSW with her family and they were all allowed to stay by the Government.
Detention tackles big, important issues without lecturing or talking down to reader. In a world filled with toxic ideologies and divisions, Tristan Bancks shows young people have the courage to rise up and demand equality for all; to fight for human rights and ignore the banal politicising. And its breakneck pace means it’s almost impossible to put down.
It is 5:28am when Detention begins, and young Afghani girl Sima and her family are pressed to the ground, among a sea of fifty other refugees, behind the wire fence of the Immigration Transit Accommodation Centre in Midgenba. On the other side of the fence, a protester is cutting through the fence, wire by wire, determined to free the detainees before they’re forced to return to the homelands they escaped from. Tristan Bancks — author of Two Wolves and The Fall (among others) — infuses these passing seconds with incredible heart-pounding tension, as guards patrol nearby, and her father’s final words to her before they began their breakout reverberate in her mind: “No matter what, you run.”
Finally, the fence is pried open, just enough for the human chain to squeeze through, one by one, perilously slowly, methodically and silently. Then — disaster. An alarm starts blaring. Panic erupts. Guards howl. Guns are yanked from holsters. It’s absolute chaos. Sima loses her family, runs for the trees, finds herself on the grounds of a school, hiding in a toilet block as the school goes into lock-down, armed Border Force agents determinedly checking every classroom. Which is when she is discovered by local Midgenba boy Dan, who needs to decide, quickly, whether to help Sima get away, or thrust her back into the hands of the agents hunting her. He quickly decides that he needs to help her so he tells his teacher (who let him go to the toilet) and they hide Sima in a classroom cupboard while border police check the classroom.
Eventually, she escapes with Dan and they get back to the caravan park where he lives - along with the stray dog who had befriended him earlier in the day. Sima wants to get to a town in NSW and she doesn't know how to get there and she has no money. Another close encounter with police at the caravan park and his mother realises that he is harbouring an asylum seeker who is on the run. Will she help or not? Miraculously, Sima manages to get on the roof of the caravan and not been seen whilst the police search. Another close encounter at a Transit Station follows and again she just manages to get on her way. But will she get to where she needs to go? The story ends too quickly and a bit unrealistically, with her having settled in NSW with her family and they were all allowed to stay by the Government.
Detention tackles big, important issues without lecturing or talking down to reader. In a world filled with toxic ideologies and divisions, Tristan Bancks shows young people have the courage to rise up and demand equality for all; to fight for human rights and ignore the banal politicising. And its breakneck pace means it’s almost impossible to put down.
June 17, 2019
Detention was a privilege to read. It was confronting, powerful, emotional filled and an important story to tell. It reminded me that not all Australians live equally, and some people will do all that they can to be ‘free’ from the constraints of what one part of society accepts as ok.
This is a story of a young girl, Sima, who is living her life behind wire fences as a refugee. It is also a story of a young man called Dan, who has his own ‘wire fences’ to get through. Both are brave and face adversity in their everyday, both discover each other after a daring escape and a school lockdown. Their worlds become all about trust and hard decisions which will change and impact both their lives.
Despite the life Sima has been forced to live I feel that she is a relatively strong character. I think she will inspire other young women and men by her ability to remain brave, particularly during one of the most unsettling times of her life. I like that she focused on her goal and never allowed fear to stop her from reaching it.
When I fist met Dan my heart instantly ached for him, in some ways more than Sima because he was lonely and without a lot of love. He had strength in his own way, but I think his story was more about acceptance and being loved. Meeting Sima and learning about her circumstances was life changing for Dan.
Tristan Bancks has tackled some big issues in a sensitive and respectful way. He hasn’t lectured, but simply written a story that gives us information about human rights and equality for all. Detention is recommended for ages 11+ which I agree with. This would be a perfect book for a class read a-loud-book because I believe it will provoke thoughtful conversation and open discussion.
Thank you Tristan Bancks for sharing with us how people like Sima, Dan and their families, who are considered minorities by some of society, are fighting to bring equality in focus.
This is a story of a young girl, Sima, who is living her life behind wire fences as a refugee. It is also a story of a young man called Dan, who has his own ‘wire fences’ to get through. Both are brave and face adversity in their everyday, both discover each other after a daring escape and a school lockdown. Their worlds become all about trust and hard decisions which will change and impact both their lives.
Despite the life Sima has been forced to live I feel that she is a relatively strong character. I think she will inspire other young women and men by her ability to remain brave, particularly during one of the most unsettling times of her life. I like that she focused on her goal and never allowed fear to stop her from reaching it.
When I fist met Dan my heart instantly ached for him, in some ways more than Sima because he was lonely and without a lot of love. He had strength in his own way, but I think his story was more about acceptance and being loved. Meeting Sima and learning about her circumstances was life changing for Dan.
Tristan Bancks has tackled some big issues in a sensitive and respectful way. He hasn’t lectured, but simply written a story that gives us information about human rights and equality for all. Detention is recommended for ages 11+ which I agree with. This would be a perfect book for a class read a-loud-book because I believe it will provoke thoughtful conversation and open discussion.
Thank you Tristan Bancks for sharing with us how people like Sima, Dan and their families, who are considered minorities by some of society, are fighting to bring equality in focus.
March 9, 2020
My first Tristan Bancks book, although he has been on my to-read list for quite some time. This was what I was expecting in terms of the "issues", but was a much more exciting adventure than expected. A great read that should appeal to a wide range of people and spark some interesting discussion. Bancks says he didn't want to tell "the reader how they should feel in every moment. I hope I have given you space to think for yourselves", however it is pretty clear on which side of the issue he leans and I think the reader is guided accordingly.
March 10, 2021
What I love about this book is that Tristan Bancks broaches a controversial and difficult topic in a very easy to read narrative. He cleverly unfolds perspectives of both the detainee and a young Australian schoolboy who finds Sima hiding in the toilet block after her escape. Tristan aims to dispel some misconceptions adopted by many in the community regarding refugees in Australia. He gives us a glimpse into the heart of those who have tried to escape their war-torn country, revealing our many commonalities. This book is a must for Stage 3 students when learning about migration and refugees.
July 10, 2019
A fast paced story featuring a young boy helping an escaped refugee girl. Interweaving issues and questions surrounding Australia’s current refugee crisis, this story is thought provoking, yet action packed, and is sure to be a hit with upper primary students.
January 17, 2020
I am in awe of this harrowing story. The way the two characters live theirs lives in parallel and a split decision changes their tangent. The journey they embark upon is suspenseful, action packed, gut wrenching and humbling. This book will be in not classroom this year. Just read it!
Read
May 1, 2022Read for school. Year 8 students. They're enjoying it. I think it might be more appropriate for grade 7, but what do you do?
August 21, 2022
Not my kind of book but I loved the concept and will be perfect for the classroom.
March 7, 2024
I have already read this book so it brought back memories and is quite a good book and a quick little read.
February 21, 2025
A very short story with not much plot but still good, story flows quite well.
April 2, 2021
This is easy to read and fast-paced. With chapter titles and the time of day, it’s easy to track the plot.
November 3, 2019
Trigger warnings: refugee stories, detention of refugees including children and infants, implications of animal cruelty, blood.
This is a solid middle grade book dealing with a serious and ongoing issue in Australian society, and I think the book handles it in a way that presents the issue to 11-13 year olds without dumbing it down or phrasing it in hypothetical terms.
Both protagonists are great, and I loved that Bancks wrote not only an Afghan hijabi refugee girl but an Australian boy with learning difficulties who lives in poverty and yet still recognises his privilege and uses it to help. I did have a couple of little moments where Dan's voice felt a LITTLE too much like Ben's voice in Two Wolves, but on the whole this was a compelling and fast-paced story and I totally understand why it's been flying off the shelves at work.
This is a solid middle grade book dealing with a serious and ongoing issue in Australian society, and I think the book handles it in a way that presents the issue to 11-13 year olds without dumbing it down or phrasing it in hypothetical terms.
Both protagonists are great, and I loved that Bancks wrote not only an Afghan hijabi refugee girl but an Australian boy with learning difficulties who lives in poverty and yet still recognises his privilege and uses it to help. I did have a couple of little moments where Dan's voice felt a LITTLE too much like Ben's voice in Two Wolves, but on the whole this was a compelling and fast-paced story and I totally understand why it's been flying off the shelves at work.
Read
July 22, 2021
Trigger & Content Warnings
Blood depiction
Refugee experiences
Detention centres
Animal cruelty
Blood depiction
Refugee experiences
Detention centres
Animal cruelty
February 27, 2024
This book was an enthralling journey through the complexities of life. It tackled important, real-world issues that are still just as prevalent today and offered multiple perspectives to give a well-rounded understanding. The decisions faced by the characters were gripping and had me on the edge of my seat, eagerly anticipating what would happen next. The opening scenes, where Sima and her fellow refugees escaped from their war-torn country, were particularly riveting. The author's vivid descriptions of the dilapidated factories and sweltering heat made me feel like I was right there with them, experiencing their struggle firsthand. As the story progresses, we are introduced to Dan, an ordinary boy who surprises us with his bravery and selflessness in unexpected ways. His rescue of a dog becomes a significant memory in his childhood and shapes his character in profound ways. Alongside the captivating main plotline, there were also smaller moments that left an impact on me. For instance, I couldn't help but wish for Miss Aston to play a bigger role in Sima's escape or at least check in with them afterwards and offer support for Dan's struggling mother. And while Sima's past is mentioned briefly, I found myself yearning for more details about her journey to Australia with the other refugees. And despite knowing that not every story has a fairy tale ending, I couldn't help but hope for a happier resolution where Sima's father returned home and her family was reunited once again.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2021
Detention is an accessible, engaging and topical novel for young people - a must for any Australian school library. It is suitable for students in upper primary and mid secondary levels. The story revolves around Sima, a young girl who escapes from an immigration detention centre (with her family and others) and a young boy, Dan, who lives with his (often absent mum) in a caravan. Sima and Dan's story entwine when she becomes separated from her family and the other refugees and hides from her pursuers in the toilets of Dan's secondary school. All the main action takes place over the course of a day and the action moves along reasonably quickly hopefully ensuring the engagement of even the more reluctant reader. Dan and some of the other characters in the story are faced with a moral dilemma, do they break the law and try to help Sima? The book isn't preachy but it certainly errs on the side of supporting the refugees. Bancks does a good job (in only 222 big font pages) humanising the refugees, via Sima and her family, and discusses the issues of Australia's fear and treatment of refugees. I particularly warmed to Dan, whose caring disposition was apparent right from his first chapter (the book is written in third person but from each main characters' perspective, in an alternating manner). The suspense and tension hits you right from the start and reading the first section aloud should spark the interest of potential readers.
August 17, 2023
Sima is in detention. The government says she is an illegal immigrant. Her family has applied for refugee status, and it has been denied. They will be sent back to Afghanistan, where they will be tortured and killed. Escape from the detention centre is their only hope.
Dan can't wait to finish school in 286 days, and then he's out of Midgenba. Anywhere else would be better than this town. His mother spends more time with her boyfriend than at home, and Dan is left to care for himself, living in a caravan park.
The school is in lockdown, and Border Force and Federal Police comb the school. Dan convinces his teacher he must go to the toilet. He finds Sima hiding in a cubicle in the boys' toilet. She begs him to help her. He sees a child, terrified and needing his help.
Dan must make a tough decision. This girl's future is in his hands. The police and Border Force are outside the toilets. What does he decide? What happens to Sima?
I enjoyed the story's realism and the ethical dilemmas the characters must address and go on to learn from.
Recommended for readers ten years and older.
Dan can't wait to finish school in 286 days, and then he's out of Midgenba. Anywhere else would be better than this town. His mother spends more time with her boyfriend than at home, and Dan is left to care for himself, living in a caravan park.
The school is in lockdown, and Border Force and Federal Police comb the school. Dan convinces his teacher he must go to the toilet. He finds Sima hiding in a cubicle in the boys' toilet. She begs him to help her. He sees a child, terrified and needing his help.
Dan must make a tough decision. This girl's future is in his hands. The police and Border Force are outside the toilets. What does he decide? What happens to Sima?
I enjoyed the story's realism and the ethical dilemmas the characters must address and go on to learn from.
Recommended for readers ten years and older.
February 26, 2025
Sima, a girl escaping from an Australian detention centre, crosses paths with Dan, a boy from a local caravan park trying to save an abandoned dog. Their gripping story highlights the failures of a system that so many of us don’t understand. The refugees who have fled war torn countries to try to find a better, safer life for their families, only to be locked up for years then threatened with deportation back to the places where they will almost certainly be tortured and killed, is so far removed from the safe lives we have in this country, it’s impossible for residents to empathise and see beyond their own safety and perceived threats to their way of life. Stories such as these are so important for us and the generations to come that will be making laws in the future, to read and understand the reality of why people flee their homes and what we can do to help them and not punish them. Children in detention is abhorrent and should never happen.
Thanks to the author for researching this topic so thoroughly and presenting it so thoughtfully. I hope many of you reading this review will pick up this book and share it with others.
Highly recommend for ages 9+
Thanks to the author for researching this topic so thoroughly and presenting it so thoughtfully. I hope many of you reading this review will pick up this book and share it with others.
Highly recommend for ages 9+
August 21, 2019
Tristan Bancks signed my copy of Detention with a note hoping it kept me 'turning pages'. This book lived up to that promise and then some. Packed with page-turning tension and relentless drama, this is one middle grade novel that may cause a few kids to miss their dinner call.
Yet despite the raw gritty urgency that suffuses nearly every page and the elevated sense of dread and desperation that keeps your heart in top gear, the pace is never too manic nor hectic to enjoy the energising mix of edgy excitement and sincere emotion Bancks does so well.
In a world that is unlikely to change radically overnight, where conflict is ongoing because discord towards others is a natural human trait, novels like Detention are paramount in helping young minds dissect the multi-layered complexities of asylum and its consequences on their communities.
For my full review, please continue to DIM'S re VIEWS: http://dimswritestuff.blogspot.com/
Yet despite the raw gritty urgency that suffuses nearly every page and the elevated sense of dread and desperation that keeps your heart in top gear, the pace is never too manic nor hectic to enjoy the energising mix of edgy excitement and sincere emotion Bancks does so well.
In a world that is unlikely to change radically overnight, where conflict is ongoing because discord towards others is a natural human trait, novels like Detention are paramount in helping young minds dissect the multi-layered complexities of asylum and its consequences on their communities.
For my full review, please continue to DIM'S re VIEWS: http://dimswritestuff.blogspot.com/
January 13, 2020
My wife bought the book as a birthday gift for my ten year old daughter. While she was still cutting the cake, I started reading the first few pages of the first chapter and I could stop.
The book is well written, and easy to read; the plot is clear and realistic. A contemporary storyline which touches on real issues about asylum seekers, and the struggles they go through while inside detention centres, and "outside of the centres".
I also enjoyed and applauded the fact that Tristan did not make story political, while at the same time showing how ordinary people can have compassion towards asylum seekers.
Every page was full of emotion, action, mystery and suspense. I couldn't put the book down and I finished it before its right full owner could start reading it. "My bad 🤫"
What a great read!
The book is well written, and easy to read; the plot is clear and realistic. A contemporary storyline which touches on real issues about asylum seekers, and the struggles they go through while inside detention centres, and "outside of the centres".
I also enjoyed and applauded the fact that Tristan did not make story political, while at the same time showing how ordinary people can have compassion towards asylum seekers.
Every page was full of emotion, action, mystery and suspense. I couldn't put the book down and I finished it before its right full owner could start reading it. "My bad 🤫"
What a great read!
March 25, 2025
This book follows the story of a young Hazari girl named sima. Sima is an illegal immigrant to Australia who escaped from the conflict in Afghanistan who recently escaped from a detention center in a small city in rural New South Wales. During her escape Sima meets a boy her age named dan and despite her situation Dan still helps her even knowing the legal trouble with doing so.
I think that Dan is a complex character that struggles with what he thinks is a right choice and whether or not he should follow with his decision. I think that what he struggles with makes him have an amazing character arch which honestly makes him one of my favourite characters.
This book would be an amazing read for anyone who likes fiction based on real problems in the world. This book is a great way to know what refugees of Australia have to go through each day.
I think that Dan is a complex character that struggles with what he thinks is a right choice and whether or not he should follow with his decision. I think that what he struggles with makes him have an amazing character arch which honestly makes him one of my favourite characters.
This book would be an amazing read for anyone who likes fiction based on real problems in the world. This book is a great way to know what refugees of Australia have to go through each day.
July 27, 2025
Listened to this as an audio book, read by the author Tristan Bancks.
I love all of Tristan Bancks' books, and this is no exception.
12 year old Dan is attending an early morning help class at his new school when he comes across Sima, hiding in the school toilets, after escaping from a nearby detention centre. Sima's family is from Afghanistan, and in desperation, due to imminent deportation they take a risk and make a bid for freedom. Dan is torn, should he alert the border force police combing the school or should he keep his mouth shut and help Sima escape? A great read which explores the plight of asylum seekers, reminding us that the people seeking asylum are for the most part trying to make better lives for their families. I really enjoyed this book, it made me think. Highly recommended.
I love all of Tristan Bancks' books, and this is no exception.
12 year old Dan is attending an early morning help class at his new school when he comes across Sima, hiding in the school toilets, after escaping from a nearby detention centre. Sima's family is from Afghanistan, and in desperation, due to imminent deportation they take a risk and make a bid for freedom. Dan is torn, should he alert the border force police combing the school or should he keep his mouth shut and help Sima escape? A great read which explores the plight of asylum seekers, reminding us that the people seeking asylum are for the most part trying to make better lives for their families. I really enjoyed this book, it made me think. Highly recommended.
March 27, 2020
220pages detailing the suspense of one boy and one girls crazy day of life changing events. I swear I get in trouble for my long winded retelling of events sometimes and this did make me wonder why others are in such a hurry to get their stories out (or for me to hurry up and get to the point). I really did enjoy being on the listener/reader side of one of these type of scenarios.
Very tough topic and Tristan has done an amazing job of neither sitting on a fence or taking a side. Simply allowing readers to feel the emotions and thoughts of persons living through the times of immigration detention and politically fuelled arguments over refugees/immigration laws. Very suspenseful ... refused to put it down until I knew the outcome!
Very tough topic and Tristan has done an amazing job of neither sitting on a fence or taking a side. Simply allowing readers to feel the emotions and thoughts of persons living through the times of immigration detention and politically fuelled arguments over refugees/immigration laws. Very suspenseful ... refused to put it down until I knew the outcome!
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