Summary: It is an interesting tail that is told because it is not told from the perspective of the “white” boy. Kariuki and his people work for Bwana Ruin, the farm owner who also happens to be Nigel’s great grandfather. Nigel and Kariuki hit it off right away when they meet on the farm; despite that they were both told to not speak to the other. Nigel is constantly getting Kariuki into trouble because he does not listen to Kariuki when he [Kariuki] tells Nigel that there are rules in place. Nigel does not care about the rules even though it hurts his friend. They bonded over one particular activity, which was chasing a warthog to be able to catch it, but this activity fell short when Nigel disappeared. This caused even more strain for Kariuki and his family when Nigel was unable to be found for days. Later in the story it was told that Nigel had been rescued at the sacrifice of the native man who did the rescuing; Kariuki’s brother Hari.

Review: An enticing story that brings middle aged readers in by the shear fact that the central message is that friendship does not always make life better. Mwangi tells the readers of the cold, hard truths of life in the tail of two boys traveling through life together. Kariuki got in a lot of trouble because of Nigel such as he ate the fish that Nigel caught even though he [Kariuki] told Nigel that he could not eat the fish. Nigel has no clue at all what is going on in colonial Africa, which is apparent when his great grandfather rounds up the workers into the pen, like animals, and Nigel waves to Kariuki like nothing is wrong and then he [Nigel] gets scolded for waving. It seems to be a lose-lose situation for the two boys and it continuously gets harder throughout the story. Although some may say that this is an inappropriate topic for this age level, I disagree because the boys in the story are young and it is important to learn that friendship has it's downfalls too. ( )

Publisher's blurb:
"For Kariuki, life in a small village in Kenya is one great adventure. The best part of his day is the walk home from school, when he is free from both his bullying headmaster and his mother's long list of chores. The landscape around his village is beautifully wild, and Kariuki knows it well. One day Kariuki meets Nigel, a boy from England who has come to visit his grandfather, the fearsome Bwana Ruin, who owns the farm where the villagers work. The villagers call Nigel the mzungu boy (westerner), and view him with suspicion and fear; but not Kariuki.

One day the boys decide to hunt down the meanest warthog in the forest. The hunt takes them deeper into the jungle than Kariuki has ever gone, and all at once his beloved forest becomes a frightening place. Dangerous creatures live in the jungle, including the mau-mau, the men with guns who are plotting against Bwana Ruin and the white soldiers. And when Nigel suddenly disappears, will Kariuki be able to save his friend?

In this novel, the author captures a time of innocence, wild beauty, and the growing violence that eventually changed the entire structure of colonial Africa."

Set in the 1950s.