SuitabookKick
Mitch Johnson
- Reading
- If your child is sensitive to injustice or threats, pause after episodes involving factory work or criminal demands, or when the story mentions Budi’s illness or medical circumstances. Afterwards, invite their view of Budi’s choices rather than presenting poverty as his defining feature.
- Themes
- Dreams and constrained choices: Budi dreams of becoming an international footballer while working in a boot factory and facing pressure to steal. The story presents ambition and hope as sustaining forces, but also depicts limited personal power when poverty and criminal demands shape Budi’s options.
- Poverty and representation: Budi’s poverty, factory work and lack of medical treatment are set against family affection and friendship. The book draws attention to children’s lack of rights, while its commentary warns that a poverty-focused story can invite pity or guilt if it overlooks people’s dignity and agency.
- Football and friendship: Football, professional players and match talk are important to Budi, while friends help him through his difficult circumstances. The book presents this favourably.
- Worth knowing
- Consider reading alongside a conversation about how Budi is represented: as a person with hopes, relationships and agency, rather than only as someone facing poverty. The book’s moralising tone may merit reflection.