The Trouble with Donovan Croft

Story

Keith Chapman isn’t thrilled when his parents agree to foster a boy named Donovan Croft. Donovan’s mother has had to return to Jamaica and his father can’t look after him, so Keith is getting a foster brother, like it or not. But when Donovan arrives at the Chapman household, it’s even more difficult than Keith fears, because Donovan won’t speak. To anyone.

As the boys develop a tentative bond, Donovan’s silence – and his Jamaican heritage – leads to him being made the target of the schoolyard bullies. Keith must make an important decision: stay out of trouble, or protect his foster brother and become the bullies’ new victim.

Why we chose it

Bernard Ashley writes gritty, real life stories set in urban landscapes. The Trouble with Donovan Croft was his first novel.

Where it came from

Bernard Ashley wrote The Trouble with Donovan Croft after taking inspiration from his own teaching experience, as well as a student his wife taught, who was selectively mute – much like Donovan in this story. The story makes points about trauma, anxiety, and parental separation, as Donovan struggles to cope with his mother’s absence. He also faces racial prejudice from his classmates and even his teachers.

Where it went next

The Trouble with Donovan Croft hasn’t been out of print since it was first published almost fifty years ago! It won the Other Award, awarded for ‘non-racist, non-sexist, non-classist children’s literature’.

Associated stories

This story was the first book Bernard Ashley wrote. Since then, he has written over twenty-five others including, Dead End Kids, Shadow of the Zepplin, Little Soldier, No Way to Go, and Aftershock.