May 30

‘On Two Feet and Wings’ by Abbas Kazerooni

On Two feet and wings     Imagine living in a life where domination and violence ruled, having to escape from your country during one of Iraq and Iran’s most notorious and bloodthirsty wars, leaving your country, your home, your friends and your family all behind.

This book tells the story of a remarkable young boy, Abbas, who fled his country to make it to his dream location in England. He faces many difficult challenges, witnesses many disturbing scenes and survives many demanding moments.

This book is suitable for children and adults from the age of eight upwards, and gives you a ‘behind the book’ experience of living in a non-democratic, cruel and scary country. It will teach you many life lessons and morals and teach children to never take for granted what they have! I rate this book 9/10 and could read it over and over again. This heartfelt true story of a young boy, whose bravery and courage is tested to the limits, is a breathtaking book which I recommend to all young adults and school based reading activities – an amazing book overall!
Emer, Year 8

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Abbas is beaten around, yelled at, hit, mugged, attacked and nearly killed ,all while he is countries away from his family. But he must fight on.

 

Abbas is an average teenage Persian boy from Tehran when, suddenly, he must travel the world or be forcibly recruited into the Persian army. Abbas is to travel to Istanbul to get a visa for England to escape his inevitable sign up in the army if he stays. At the airport, when Abbas is about to leave with his family, tragically, he is separated from them and is forced to face Istanbul with the clothes on his back (and the couple of thousand US dollars given to him by his father).

 

He meets a range of people along the way that he befriends quickly, but this isn’t how all his encounters with people unfold. Murat is the receptionist and manager of a hotel Abbas chooses to stay in and Abbas partners with him instantly. Murat is a rather important character who helps Abbas out a lot yet takes advantage of him once he finds out that Abbas is extremely talented in a game called backgammon. Abbas is faced with many challenges in Istanbul, like finding the right people to trust, knowing when he is in a sticky situation and surviving in third world conditions. He is greeted by many dangers including a drunken man who mugs Abbas and nearly kills him.

 

Nevertheless Abbas is pushed to survive in Istanbul and he does it with…out grace (he wets his pants). Now he must conquer England but I’m not going to tell you any more. If you’re curious, get the book!

 

On Two Feet and Wings is a great story full of action and emotion. I would strongly recommend this book to you (yes, you reading this) because this book is really gripping. I would rate this book 9 out of 10 stars. I know you’ve heard this a million times from other blogs by now but I couldn’t put it down!

Wesley, Year 8

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Posted May 30, 2013 by marjk in category Adventure stories, Biographies, Student Reviews

About the Author

Teacher-librarian at Aquinas College, Southport, Gold Coast, Australia

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