A Thief in the Village Quotes

“Everybody did everything to stop me. I was allowed no chance whatsoever. No chance to talk to Mum about the bike I dream of day and night! And I knew exactly the bike I wanted.”

The Mouth-Organ Boys. This one was about a boy who wanted to belong to a group so badly that he couldn’t see the bad way they treated him. He can’t see that his mother is already giving him all she can and all he needs.

They tease and torment Elias all the time. But the day the gang tries to steal Elias’s pet mongoose is the day that Granny steps in...

Gustas is nearly killed in the hurricane, trying to save his banana tree. Gustas fights his way through a Caribbean hurricane to save his ‘navel string’. Its fruits wil buy him a longed-for pair of shoes, so that at last Gustas can go on outings with the the cricket team.

Man-Man and Nenna patrol the coconut plantation in dead of night, as rat-bats fly and criss-cross in the darkness.

“Her brother Man-Man didn’t stir a muscle. His finger against the trigger of the double - barrelled shotgun just stayed there. The gun was held down at his side, all firm and solid.”

They’re out to catch interlopers, and Nenna is the only village schoolgirl to “walk property” with a gun..”

Elias has a rubbery-looking, lame leg; he’s nicknamed ‘Dancer’ by Bigfellow and the other boys because of the funny way he walks.

Becky longs for a bicycle and Fanso longs to find his father who walked out thirteen years ago.

“My parent came from Jamaica. But because I was born in London, and live and go to school there, I never dreamt I could’ve become so fascinated by my father’s birthplace and home village.”