Commendation:
Sons of Anubis |
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... Fayed had a vision. He saw a perfect little boy with coffee-coloured skin, black curly hair, eyes that could see like those of a hawk, ears that could hear like those of a dog, legs that were as swift as the wind, the intelligence of a genius. All because his own son had been born blind, deaf and retarded ... the original Jeremy, fatally and profoundly flawed. Long since dead, but he’d provided the donor DNA. Fayed had cloned him and then set about engineering out the flaws, substituting new genes for those less than perfect. (p. 16)
Chandra is on holiday from London and her father, artist Nicky Cele, takes her to an isolated cottage in Perlemoen, a small dorpie on the West Coast. Their only neighbours are Dr Innes and the others who work at or are inmates of the Mental Institution nearby. Dr Innes heads a group of doctors and scientists who are trying to perfect a human clone. Jeremy 9 is the most evolved, human-like clone and he has incredible intelligence and abilities. The other clones are more animal-like (the human DNA was mixed with that of a dog, amongst others) and are an embarrassment to Dr Innes: he plans to kill them off. A well-timed power failure and his own animal instincts spare Jeremy 7’s life. He escapes from the Institute and takes refuge in the cottage where Chandra and her father are staying. The story documents their struggle to save Jeremy 7 from the scientists who want to kill him. The writer has dealt with an extremely contentious issue, but has presented it in a well-written and absorbing drama that young readers will find utterly enthralling. And on top of that: Although this is the author’s very first book, it has won a major prize! It gives me great pleasure to recommend that the Sanlam Prize for Young Literature be awarded to Sons of Anubis by Robin Saunders.
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