''Eze Goes to School'' is a 1963 children novel

co-written Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of authors who share creative control of a story. Collaborative fiction can occur for commercial gain, as part of education, or recreationally – many collaboratively written works have been ...

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

writer

Onuora Nzekwu Onuora Nzekwu () also known as Joseph Onuora Nzekwu (19 February 1928 – 21 April 2017) was a Nigerian professor, writer and editor from the Igbo people. He is author of the 1961 novel '' Wand of Noble Wood'' and the 1963 novel '' Eze Goes to ...

and British writer

Michael Crowder Michael Crowder (9 June 1934 – 14 August 1988) was a British historian and author notable for his books on the history of Africa and particularly on the history of West Africa. Early life and education Michael was born in London and educat ...

. It was published in 1963 under the

African Writers Series The African Writers Series (AWS) is a collection of books written by African novelists, poets and politicians. Published by Heinemann (publisher), Heinemann, 359 books appeared in the series between 1962 and 2003. The series has provided an int ...

by Heinemann Publishers.

Plot summary

''Eze Goes To School'' centers mainly on Eze Adi, the protagonist of the novel who struggles to get formal education due to his poor family background. Eze finally makes a name for himself due to his intelligence. The novel exhibits the struggles of getting formal education in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

in the 90's. These include truancy, cultism and poverty. Nzekwu and Crowder explains this albeit making it understandable for children.

Reception

The novel gathered positive reviews. ''

Daily Trust Media Trust is a privately held Nigerian newspaper publishing company based in Abuja that publishes the English-language ''Daily Trust'', ''Weekly Trust'', ''Sunday Trust'' and the Hausa-language ''Aminiya'' newspapers, as well as a new pan-Afric ...

'' listed it as one of the books every child must read. It is regarded as one of the evergreen books that tells the Nigerian story. It is also among literature texts that influenced kids in the 90's by '' The Cable Lifestyle''. Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo writing for ''

Sahara Reporters Sahara Reporters is an online news agency based in New York City that focuses on promoting citizen journalism by encouraging everyday people to report stories about corruption, human rights abuses and other political misconduct in Africa, with s ...

'', noted that the novel is among the "...elements of the forces acting everywhere East of the Niger today."

References

1963 Nigerian novels Novels set in Nigeria Children's novels Nigerian English-language novels 1963 children's books Children's books set in Nigeria Children's books set in schools {{1960s-child-novel-stub