"When I first picked up this book, I was curious, I wondered what laid in wait for me. But when I started reading from the first line, I was glued till the end of it"
Sweet Sixteen is a coming of age novel written by Bolaji Abdullahi and was the recommended text by JAMB for the year 2018-2020.
The story revolves around a young girl named Aliya who has just clocked age 16 and is in a boarding school. As usual she expects a card from her dad as it's his habit to send her cards on all of her birthdays. However, on this particular birthday, she receives something different - a digital camera with a card that says "Happy Sweet Sixteen" and a spiral bond document titled "Letter To My Daughter".
In the story, Aliyah's father Mr Bello, addresses the topics menstruation, teenage relationship, criticism, true beauty, self evaluation, a child's choice of career, gratification and derailment.
When I first saw the book, I was very curious. I felt I would like it, I had great expectations. I actually assumed it would be a book about teenage girls partying, flexing around town and the likes because at the time I first had the book (4 years ago), these were the news in town - teenagers beginning to feel fly and ready to have fun every time. I was wrong no doubt but my expectations were not completely shattered. The book turned out to be much better than I expected. I have read it about six times and I'm sure I'll still be reading it again.
Special Highlights From The Book
Below are certain lines I underlined from the novel and I'm sharing it with you all so it can give you an insight as to why I'm recommending this book.
° No money in the world, no gift in the world is enough to buy you; you are priceless.
° A dumb girl is the one who thinks she needs to live up to other people's expectations.
° Sometimes hunger is what you need to drive you ahead in life...that deep desire to improve your condition in life and be a better person.
° You should never be afraid to stand alone as long as you stand for the right thing.
° There is only one way to success, and that is the way of hardwork.
° Failure can empower us in ways that success cannot. It can teach us humility, strength and perseverance.
° A book can be a window into the writer's mind.
° You can tell if what you are doing is good or bad if you want other people to know about it or not.
° It is wrong to judge or criticize other people's faith or belief and hating people because of their colour is wrong.
°It is possible for you to change people simply by not behaving like them.
° How you feel about yourself is more important than how others make you feel.
I feel more like this book is a teenager's guide into adulthood, a set of instructions passed down from a wise father to a daughter he very much adores. So if you're a mum and you're looking for a good book for your teenage girl child, this is a good recommendation. I hope you'll love it because I did and I'm looking forward to passing this down to my own daughter someday. This book is going nowhere! 😄
Have a Lovely day everyone and o! It's my first time posting in the Hive Book Club community. I hope I'm welcomed here.
The image above was taken with my phone.