The Night Bus Hero by Onjali Q Rauf

Hector and his two friends (read henchmen/women) Will and Katie, take great delight in terrorising kids at school. They extort money and sweets from the youngest kids every single day and no one seems to be able to stop them. They seem to wear their daily detention sessions as a badge of honour.  In the park, after school one day, the trio spy an old homeless man sitting on a park bench. 

"I'd seen him there before, lots of times, sitting on the bench next to a trolley piled high with rubbish. He was in his usual long, old, crumply black coat that looked as if it had been pulled out from a bin, and was wearing the bright yellow woolly hat he always had on his head, even in summer."

Hector swoops in a snatches the yellow hat. The man fights back. Hector feels as though he has lost face and his mates have seen this. He leaves the park furiously making plans for retribution against the old man.

A few days later, visiting the park again, Hector swoops in and this time he takes the old man's trolley. Pushing the trolley down the slope the wheels gain momentum and the trolley lands in the lake.  So now a fairly minor prank has escalated. Later in the story you will discover the truth about the contents of the trolley. This revelation nearly broke my heart.

While all of this is going on, something bigger is happening in the city of London. Someone is stealing important city icons and each time they have added symbols which come from a code used by homeless people. Late one night in the city Hector sees one of these robberies. He is convinced the robber is the old man from the park and Hector is certain the police will be very happy when he leads them to the culprit. But is Thomas, the old man, guilty of these strange crimes? Or is something bigger going on?

1. Paddington Station: stolen Paddington Bear 
2. Selfridges: stolen winged angel
3. Picadilly Circus: stolen the bow of Eros
4. Great Ormond Street Hospital: stolen Tinkerbell
5. Leicester Square: stolen Mary Poppins Umbrella; Charlie Chaplin's stick, and Paddington Bear's sandwhich
6. Fortnum and Mason: stolen lanterns

This is one of the hardest books I have ever read. Not hard in the sense of complex or difficult to understand. The first part of this story contains utterly dreadful bullying and unkindness.  I almost gave up and stopped reading several times. Around page 200 (of 288 pages) the plot finally takes a turn in the "right" direction. I am so glad I kept reading. I was hopeful for that all important happy ending but I was also desperately worried about Hector and hopeful that he could view the world in a different way, hopeful that his parents might reach out to him and hopeful that he might make better choices with friends at school. Thank goodness for Mei-Li, the wisest girl in Hector's class. 

A brilliantly written and totally engrossing story that will help children understand and think deeply about the real human beings whose lives are impacted by homelessness - and also more generally about the power of kindness, friendship, empathy and how everyone has the potential to change for the better. Book Trust

Told from the perspective of a bully, this book explores themes of bullying and homelessness, while celebrating kindness, friendship and the potential everyone has to change for the good. LoveReading4Kids

I picked up The Night Bus Hero because I previously really enjoyed The Boy at the Back of the Class by Onjali Q Rauf.

Take a look at this review which gives more plot details. At the back of the book Onjali shares her personal story which inspired this book along with the details of many UK organisations which support homeless people.  In Australia we have many organisations like this. You may like to read about  Orange Sky - a street Laundry service; and The Wayside Chapel (Sydney).  If you use this book with a class (and yes you should think about doing this) I recommend you also share these picture books about homelessness.

Here is a short interview with Onjali Q Rauf where she talks about The Night Bus Hero and her previous book The boy at the back of the class. You can find out more about Onjali from this Ted Talk given early in 2020.