Outlaw.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach.

"Terminal velocity! A seagull at two hundred fourteen miles per hour! It was a breakthrough."


More than anything else Jonathan Livingston the seagull loves to fly. He doesn't fly to eat, or to impress the flock or anything else. He flies for flights sake itself (he does like speed quite a lot as well).


His dedication shows, he can fly faster and longer than any seagull alive. He is also a bag of bones and rather unpopular with the flock and his parents for his unseagullish ways. Nevertheless he is happy. He discovers a rich bounty of fish under the surface by diving from far above and is thereafter better fed.


One morning he crashes though his flock at terminal velocity shocking them dreadfully and almost killing himself in the process. That night the flock elder outlaws Jonathan Livingston Seagull from the flock.


Jonathan flies away.


This is a book about a seagull's quest for perfect flight among other things. It is very old (1972) and I am assured very famous. It contains some very good black and white pictures of seagulls and a totally new way of looking at the world. I am not going to say good or bad but I will say "worth reading", it's a new lens to see the world through.

Role Reversal.

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman.

This is a story set during the black civil rights movement in America - except in a world where the roles are reversed. The skins of the oppressed are white and the oppressors are black.

Callum is a white struggling for a decent education to make his way in the world. Sephy comes from an upper class black family in the spotlight regularly.

Their friendship goes from strength to strength as Callum's brother and father join the Liberation Militia, a violent terrorist organization supposedly aimed at promoting equality between the two races, and Sephy's mother becomes an alcoholic.

They develop a more intimate connection.

Sephy's dad is a high-ranking politician - strongly anti white integrating - (racist) which does not help the problem. Matters are somewhat complicated further when Sephy receives an unexpected surprise.

The book shows a different but effective "how would you like it?" view, and shows the difficulties and struggles of a racist society. The book is part of a series of four books and is followed by Knife edge, Checkmate and then Double Cross.