Arrive in office at ten am.

On Thursday I am reviewing two books on Simon Mayo’s Book Club a setion of his daytime radio show which speaks of books.  It’s on radio five and attracts two million listeners.  The first book which I finished last night is a new publication by Benjamin Zephania who is one of the most famous living poet in the country.

When I used  visit schools children often ask me “are you famous”  I wasn’t cruel enough to say the answer is in the question but it is.  Famous living poet is more often than not, an  oxymoron. There are few Living Poets that truly deserve the moniker - Benjamin is one of them.  I was talking of Teachers Dead the book by Benjamin Zephania wasn’t I.

The books dedication is thus For Truth, and the Seekers of Truth  . The central character Jackson Jones  watches  a blood curdling event, the gruesome and captivating beginning of the book.  Jackson Jones sees the murder of a head teacher right in front of his eyes right outside of the school.

The event echoes headlines and news stories  on our tv screens and news papers throughout the last few years.  But here we are inside the moment, inside the head of a boy at the school. It’s riveting stuff giving us the readers insight into, not just the situation, but into Jackson Jones who has his own take on the entire subject. Whether he is right or wrong in the journey he takes is not the issue as much as his search for the truth.  Why did it happen.
 

The news people descend upon the school and the papers explode around the event. The  boys admit to it in court and are found guilty. Jackson Jones does not accept the therapy offered by the school and authorities. Instead he forms a relationship with the teacher who is the wife of the murdered head teacher. Jackson’s therapy turns out to be his search for the truth as to why this event happened. In doing so we are introduced in this book to an extraordinary character who, turns detective.  Extrodinary events happen, somehow he engineers a meeting between the mother of the boy who murdered the teacher  and the grieving  wife of the teacher .  

He reminds me of a childhood version of Walter Moselys character Easy Rawlins and I hope Benjamin Zephania makes more books from the viewpoint of Jackson Jones who comes across crimes that he must investigate!

Teachers Dead is written for teens. I imagine that a teen in surrey would get an insight into another world and that a teen in inner city Manchester London Bristol would be able to relate to both the character and the situation.  But I imagine all teens could enjoy the book simply as a rip roaring read. They’ll speed through it, they’ll discuss it. Benjamin has various books for this age group – this his latest is the beginning of something special. I look forward to the next.