Secret Celebrity

‘Fourteen-year-old Ana is brought illegally to South Africa from Mozambique. She is frightened but hopeful that she will find a job to help support her family. Instead, she finds herself imprisoned in an isolated house, forced to clean and do laundry. When she hears that she is going to be sold as a ‘wife’, Ana makes a daring escape. She befriends Zandi and her family and faces new challenges in an unfamiliar school. But when Ana goes looking for her father, and Zandi follows, they end up in worse trouble than they could ever have imagined.’

Secret Celebrity is a teen novel published by Hodder Education in 2010. It is a story of human trafficking and of two girls from different countries working together to outwit kidnappers and see dangerous criminals brought to justice.

This is essentially an adventure story that touches on many of the challenges refugee children face in South Africa. While they are protected in law and have the right to access education and health care, many face teasing and bullying, and battle to get services. Through the experiences of the character Ana, the story addresses themes of courage, resilience and empathy in the face of greed and indifference, and failures of support system. The book was based on research with children and with refugee and child protection organisations.

Hodder African Readers are high-interest books designed to appeal to both boys and girls. They are highly motivating, contemporary adventure and action stories which attract the reader’s attention and hold it through the story.

Together these titles form a strong, vibrant and attractive supplementary readers series for African schools.

You can get your copy here