The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q. Raúf wins the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2019

It is with enormous pleasure we announce Onjali Q. Raúf’s The Boy at the Back of the Class as the winner of the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2019. In the year the award marks its 15^thanniversary, the winner – as always, chosen by expert booksellers – is a work of exceptional talent by a brilliant emerging voice in children’s writing.

Separated from his family, Syrian refugee Ahmet is alone in a new school and a new country; to those around him he is just the boy at the back of the class.  When a group of children set out to befriend him and learn about his story, they embark on an unexpected, whirlwind adventure.