The Garbage King

This inspiring book based on the true story of an African childhood lived on the streets, will take you on an unforgettable emotional journey.

Mamo’s mother dies and leaves him and his older sister Tiggist destitute and alone in the shanties of Addis Ababa. When his sister goes out looking for work, a man appears claiming to be his uncle. Mamo gratefully goes with him, thinking he is going to look after him.  The man turns out to be a child-trafficker and Mamo is taken out of the city and sold to a farmer, who cruelly beats him and hardly feeds him.  Life in the drought-ravaged countryside is hard and Mamo feels as if all that is good in life has abandoned him. Meanwhile Tiggist thinks he has found a job and, although she misses him, she is trying hard to make a life for herself too. She wants to avoid the same fate as her mother, who worked in bars and, it is hinted, serviced men for money. 

After managing to escaping back to the city, Mamo meets another, very different runaway. Dani is rich, educated – and fleeing his tyrannical father. Together they join a gang of homeless street boys who survive only by mutual bonds of trust and total dependence on each other. Their loyalty and friendship are shining beacons in all the hardships they must endure.

Empathy for others

This is a rich and powerful story that makes young readers think about how children in other parts of the world live.  The book humanises the many nameless young beggars that line the streets and makes us reconsider our attitudes to those who seem ‘dangerous, dirty and bad.’  Dani and Mamo are heroes we grow to love and care about and you’ll be rooting for them to find their own homes.

The easy and descriptive writing style will keep young readers enthralled and waiting to find out what happens to the two unlikely friends. The characters are so well created that you feel they are actual children living on the streets, and, according to the author, she did base them on children she knew while living in Addis Ababa. This authenticity makes the story even more powerful.

Parents note

The story deals with slave labour, abuse, child beggars and death on the streets, and it hints at prostitution. Life on the streets and for poor people with no agency is hard and this is shown in detail. However it is balanced by the camaraderie and the good people who do show up, from the kind farmer who looks after Mamo when he is beaten by his ‘owner’ to the truck driver who drives him to freedom and the friends Mamo and Dani make along the way.  Even Dani’s father is shown to have learnt a lesson by the end. The fact that some children have no one to protect them and make sure they are looked after is a talking point and a human rights issue that can be discussed with your child.

Meet the author

Elizabeth Laird is a bestselling writer and teacher who has lived all over the world.  Her travels have influenced her style of writing and choice of topics; she is well known for tackling a wide range of global issues through her work.

Her books are on many bestseller lists and have won a number of awards and she writes about the marginalised in society, from the refugees to the poor and neglected. She has also written several collections of folktales for children including Stories of Peace and Kindness (Otter-Barry Books) and picture-book retellings of Tales by Rumi, such as Grobblechops and Two Ants Puzzled, published by Tiny Owl.

Read her teachers notes On The Garbage King here.