When fourteen-year-old Ronny’s life is struck by tragedy, his mum decides it’s finally time they move out of London. In his new city, as a Black teenager in a mostly white school, Ronny feels like a complete outsider and struggles to balance keeping his head down with his ambition of becoming a rapper. But when a local poet comes into class, Ronny discovers a world he’s never considered before. Rap is like spoken word, bars equal poetry – and maybe the combination of both could be the key to achieving his dreams?
Having to deal and cope with massive losses and life changes, Ronny turns to writing and poetry to express himself and in the course of a year we watch him going from being lost after his best friend's violent and untimely death and moving from East London to Norwich, trying to find his place in the new school, but in life as well, on a journey of self discovery. Themes include youth crimes, racism, bullying, poverty.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy.

What a brilliant fresh feeling contemporary title this is! I loved reading about how Ronny manages to avoid the potential tragedies that could befall him when he is constantly surrounded by opportunities to make the wrong decisions. It is a book about making the right choices and about how everyone has options. The regular references to contemporary music, verse novels and spoken word performances felt different and thoroughly inspiring. The characters were likable and I was rooting for them all. Really enjoyed it and will be promoting it a lot to key stage 3 and 4.

When tragedy hits, Ronnie's mum decides they should leave their home in London. There are different challenges in Norwich, but new opportunities too.

This author studied at the UEA in Norwich and has used his experience of the town as a backdrop for this book, a verse novel for teenage readers (young adults) about racism and alienation, and finding your way, your purpose in life.

And it's very good. The form means that it's quick and easy to read and has a sense of immediacy, a raw openness which very much suits the subject.

Traumatic, tragic events lead Ronny's mum to make the move to leave London. She wants her fourteen-year-old to get a chance in life and settles for Norwich as the place where that might be possible.

But in this city, being a black teenager in a mostly white school, comes with its own challenges and Ronny struggles to find his place. He has to fight the usual expectations and stereotypes and works hard at holding on to his ambitions.

Then a local poet comes into class and offers new ways of thinking and doing. Poetry is similar to the rap that Ronny enjoys and he discovers he has a talent which can provide opportunities and possibly a future, a way of achieving his dreams.

This is a great read. It brings to the fore some of the difficulties facing young people today while also celebrating the power of creativity and literature, and ultimately presents a message of hope.

I absolutely loved this verse novel, I devoured it! Ronny’s growth through this book is so well written, I love the relationship with his mum. The illustrations thought out are so well done and compliment the book.
Leigh is one of my favourite characters in the book, I love how you can vision exactly how they are. The friendship between Leigh and Ronny is fantastic and would love to see a follow up book with how both their lives are. Loved the playlist and reading list at the end of the book.
Definitely one of my top 3 books of the year!

'Wild East' is an engaging YA verse novel in which the narrator Ronny (a Black teenage boy) moves from inner-city London to Norwich after witnessing the fatal stabbing of his best friend. The real focus of the story is Ronny's development as a poet thanks to the encouragement of his English teacher and his time at a creative writing retreat, where he makes a number of other friends including a refugee from Afghanistan. However, the book explores a lot of other issues around this including knife crime, county lines, gender identity and the financial pressures on single-parent families.

The book is inspired by the author's own experiences, both of moving from London to Norwich and his work teaching English and tutoring asylum seekers. So it feels honest and authentic. It is also much more upbeat than a lot of YA fiction which can be very dark in mood - although serious topics are explored, the main focus is on Ronny's growth and development, supported by the community around him.

This is a very enjoyable read which should be popular with secondary school students in Year 8 or 9 upwards. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

Loved this book. Raw, moving, and so accessible. A powerful verse novel on city life, county lines, gangs, and growing up.

Ronny is a black teenager in London and when he and his friend Maz are challenged for no reason by a couple of older men and it ends in a fatal stabbing, Ronny’s Mum decides that she needs to move him out of harm’s way. They relocate to Norfolk – quiet and safe, so she thinks. But county lines spread to rural life and peers are sucked in, trying in turn to recruit others.
One teacher recognises that Ronny has a lot of potential and firstly asks him to attend poetry workshops, later offering him a place on a creative writing course. It’s here that a rapper opens Ronny’s eyes to what he can do with his writing talent and love of words.
All the characters in this novel are well rounded and completely without judgement. I feared Ronny would become dragged into the dangerous world of drugs, but his upbringing has shown him right and wrong and he resists temptation resulting in a positive story for young adults.

I largely picked this up because it's a novel-in-verse and I'm yet to read one that hasn't been amazing. I'm glad this kept that pattern up.

This book seemed to have two key aspects - the power of words/writing and the dangers of just existing as a young Black man. It handled both incredibly well and merged them in Ronny as his move to Norwich and much of his writing was shaped by the tragedy of Maz's death.

I also really enjoyed the side-characters in this - they may not have necessarily had tons of page time, they all really shone and felt fully fleshed-out - especially Lana, Leigh, Maher, Ronny's mum, Mr Bruce, Malachi and Lucas.

And, the way writing was discussed in this, he way poetry and music were compared, the way other works like The Black Flaming and The Crossing were mentioned, this really feels like a book that will pull its readers into other books and possibly inspire a greater or renewed love of books/words/writing/poetry.

Wild East, a YA verse novel, has wonderful energy and pace.

It's about poetry, identity and friendship, It's filled with emotion, change and finding your voice.

What a treat to see strong, assured verse novels coming on to the market. And what a treat to see it Crossing from Manjeeet Mann popping up in the pages too.

This is the second book I’ve read about county lines recently and I think it’s great that teen/YA authors are addressing this issue. This title isn’t as hard hitting as the other book I’ve read – but that is possibly a good thing and makes it more accessible/suitable to younger readers – who need to know about this just as much as the older ones… if not more so.

Ronny is a black boy who moves to Norfolk when his mother decides she has to get him out of London for his own safety. There are elements about how hard he finds it to fit in but the focus is definitely on his love for words and how he develops his love for music into a real talent for poetry/song words.

I read the ARC on my Kindle and sadly lost the arrangement of the text on the page as a result. This is such an important aspect of verse novels it was a shame but I still enjoyed the book. It promotes reading and language; shows the importance of inspiring teachers; has given me ideas to use for a creative writing group; has given me fresh resolve to read Manjeet Mann’s The Crossing and inspired me to look at Ugly Dogs Don’t Cry by DD Armstrong.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Firstly, thank you to the publisher and Net Galley for giving me the privilege of reading an advance copy of Wild East; it’s an absolute gem of a book. Written in verse and full of Ronny’s thoughts, feelings and reactions to the life events thrown at him, the story unfolds quickly and you are drawn into his world. Coming from East Anglia originally, I could identify with the descriptions of Norwich and could see the similarities and differences between the two settings and how Ronny faced the challenges around him. I loved the characters around Ronny and how they interacted.
The addition of a play list and reading list were an excellent idea and having read ‘The Crossing’ could see how readers might want to expand their reading further with these excellent suggestions.
I love this story and hope that those who read it with the National Teen Book Club enjoy the experience along with hearing from the author.

I thought this was brilliant. Hard hitting, thoughtful and with poignant messages throughout.

Aa a slight nerdy aside I loved how it was set locally to me.