The Glass Collector by Anna Perera
![cover image](https://www.readplus.com.au/covers/glasscollector.jpg)
HarperCollins, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-7322-9153-2
Recommended. Friendships and family are important, more so sometimes
than your
standing in life. This is obviously what Aaron believes. Born a
Zabbaleen, Aaron is forced to work with the rest of the men to scavenge
rubbish off the busy streets of Cairo. Living with his abusive
stepfamily and with the low price of recyclable goods scraping a living
is much harder than it once was.
Aaron did always have a special way with the glass; only his practiced
fingers could gather so much broken glass without cutting himself.
Aaron knows more about glass than anyone he knew, the colours, the
lights and beauty that is and can be made from glass. Caught with a
stolen perfume bottle it seems that the delights of being a glass
collector are now denied him. An outcast with nowhere to go, Aaron must
learn the error of his ways and repent for his sins to be allowed back
into the community and to have any chance at being with the girl he
loves.
A book full of complications, desperation and passion, The Glass
Collector was short listed for two awards: the Costa Children's
Book
Awards and the Branford Boase Award. I think that Anna Perera has
captured the thoughts and feelings of the characters brilliantly. The
Glass
Collector is written in both present tense and first person. This
does well to display the thoughts and feelings of life in a poor
village.
This sensational novel confronts several difficult
topics and life ideas including desperation, faith, social standards
and wealth.
Kayla Gaskell (Student, 15)