Tin Boy
Author: Steve Cole
Publisher: Barrington Stoke
Pages: 115
ISBN: 978-1-78112-872-5
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes
Tono mines tin deep in the trenches, risking life and limb even though he is only very young. He wishes he didn't have to do this, but with his father long since dead, and his uncle unable to work, he is the only one who his family rely on to make enough money to keep them fed and clothed.
This aside, Tono is fed up of being manipulated by his uncle and dreams of being more than a poor tin miner. He likes to read the old comics such as Spiderman and even gets a nickname from the comics, Tin Boy, which he takes to heart, but one day when he's out deep in a trench, he finds something that could change his life.
Tin mining is a very real job for those who live in Indonesia as it goes into the making of devices such as mobile phones, tablets etc and is essential, which is why the ones who mine the tin day in day out , mostly illegally, risk their lives for very little pay. And the most unfortunate thing is, most of the tin miners would never be able to afford the sort of devices that we as Westerners take for granted.
Tin Boy is a gripping story of a boy who's life changes dramatically in a fantastical way, which I found engaging as well as endearing, yet there is a section at the end which goes into the very real and dangerous world of tin mining over in Indonesia, so readers get an idea of what really happens to these people who risk all to give us the chance to have devices at all. I really liked the educational part of this book, its message and the entertainment value of the story.
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