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The cover of It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Adapted for Young Readers)

It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime (Adapted for Young Readers)

Trevor Noah

Born a crime under apartheid to a black mother and a white father, Trevor Noah grew up on language, humor and the love of a fearless mother.

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16 parts, about 24 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • Shows how apartheid used language and color to divide people, through a mixed race childhood in which his very birth was illegal
  • Portrays a mother who taught him to question authority, learn from pain without bitterness, and see beyond the ghetto
  • Tells with humor a hard story of an abusive stepfather, ending in a shooting his mother survived

Who it is for

  • Young readers curious about growing up under apartheid
  • Parents and teachers discussing race, language and identity
  • Readers who like memoirs about resilient mothers

What the summary covers

  1. Apart Hate2 min
  2. Born a Crime1 min
  3. The Chameleon2 min
  4. The Second Girl1 min
  5. Loopholes and a Fire1 min
  6. Robert1 min
  7. The Mulberry Tree1 min
  8. Color Blind1 min
  9. The Dance1 min
  10. Money, and a Friend Named Hitler2 min
  11. The Cheese Boys2 min
  12. The World Doesn't Love You2 min
  13. Be Afraid2 min
  14. The Pantry and the Gun2 min
  15. Mom's Been Shot2 min
  16. The Son Who Did1 min

Recommended by

  • Jason ReynoldsChildren's and young adult author, MacArthur Fellow
    Through the foreign, the familiar, and the funny, Born a Crime is a piercing reminder that every mad life–even yours–could end up a masterpiece.

About the author

  • Trevor NoahSouth African comedian and former host of The Daily Show
    • Born in Johannesburg on 20 February 1984.
    • His father is Swiss German and his mother is Xhosa.
    • His mother and grandmother raised him in the black township of Soweto.
    • He started performing comedy at 21 after friends dared him to do a routine at a nightclub.
    • He hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central from 2015 to 2022.
    • He is a two time Emmy Award winning comedian, writer and producer.
    • He wrote the number one New York Times bestsellers Born a Crime and Into the Uncut Grass.
    • He founded the Trevor Noah Foundation in South Africa in 2018 to give young people across Africa access to quality education.

Read it alongside

  • Goes deeperScarcity

    Trevor Noah shows how missing resources limit effort; Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir explain how buffers create room to absorb shocks.

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