Review By: Anonymous
Published: 2020
Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Young Adult
Audience: Grades 8-12, Middle School, High School
Content Warnings: Racism, Poverty, Prejudice, Discussion of Apartheid
Goodreads Link: It’s Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Stories from a South African Childhood)
Publisher’s Summary:
“The host of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah, tells the story of growing up half black, half white in South Africa under and after apartheid in this young readers’ adaptation of his bestselling adult memoir Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood.
Trevor Noah shares his story of growing up in South Africa, with a black South African mother and a white European father at a time when it was against the law for a mixed-race child like him to exist. But he did exist–and from the beginning, the often-misbehaved Trevor used his smarts and humor to navigate a harsh life under a racist government.”
Review:
I selected this young reader’s edition because I have enjoyed Trevor Noah’s comedy and was curious about his background. His biography provides a fascinating first-person perspective of what it was like to be of a mixed race in South Africa during apartheid. Trevor was born in 1984 to a Black mother from the Xhosa ethnic group and a white Swiss father. Because his parents were from two different races, they were not allowed to marry under South Africa’s apartheid laws forbidding interracial relations.
Trevor primarily lived with his mother in a very impoverished area of Soweto and was classified as “Coloured.” His memoir explores how, while he mainly identified as “Black,” there were many times when he didn’t feel accepted by either the Black or White communities. His comedic wit shines through as he recounts various challenges, including a laugh-out-loud memory of his first middle school unrequited love. However, Noah also shares many painful experiences about how he overcame prejudice and poverty.
Noah offers deep insight into the system, noting: “The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other. Apart hate, is what it was. You separate people into groups and make them hate one another so you can run them all.”
