The Mzungu Boy
For young Kariuki, life in a small village in central Kenya is one great adventure. Every day, as soon as he can escape from the bullying headmaster at school and his mother's long list of chores, he heads for the forest, and the grassy plateau where zebra, gazelles and wildebeests graze. When Kariuki meets Nigel, life becomes even more interesting. Nigel is from England, and he has come to visit his grandfather, the fearsome bwana who owns the farm where all the villagers work. The villagers call Nigel the mzungu boy, and they view him with suspicion and fear. But not Kariuki. Nigel may go to a fancy English school, but there are many things Kariuki can teach him. Like how to chop wood, how to pick berries that are safe to eat, and how to fight off an attack by safari ants. Then one day the two boys decide to hunt down Old Moses, the biggest, ugliest and meanest warthog in the world. The hunt takes them deep into the jungle - deeper than Kariuki has ever gone, and suddenly his beloved forest becomes a frightening place. For the forest is the home of the mau-mau, angry rebels who are determined to drive the British rulers out of Africa. This story is about village life in Kenya in the late 1950s, as sent through a child's eyes. It was a time of innocence, wild beauty and a growing violence that was about to change the entire structure of colonial Africa.