Corinna C. Poetter

Too Far Away

Ben (11) and Tariq (12) have more in common than they realise. Both are new to school and football and have lost their homeland. Ben's village will soon became an open brown coal mine. He and his family move to a nearby city but Ben fails to fit in at his new school. Bullied, he returns secretly to his old, abandoned home. His one pleasure, football, pales with the arrival of Tariq, a Syrian refugee and better player. But when bureaucracy stops Tariq playing, he runs away, Ben finds him and learns that Tariq is desperate to be reunited with his scattered family. Jealousy on the football field becomes friendship and understanding.