Support Us
Five Books
 
Search
MENUMENU
  • Nonfiction
        • Art
          • Architecture
          • Art History
          • Design & Illustration
          • Fashion & Style
          • Modern and Contemporary Art
          • Photography
        • Business Books
          • How to Invest
          • Leadership
          • Marketing
        • Economics Books
          • Behavioural Economics
          • Development Economics
          • Economic History
          • Finance
          • Financial Crisis
          • Globalization Books
          • World Economies
        • Environmental Books
          • Climate Change Books
          • Environmental Ethics
        • Food & Cooking
          • The Best Cookbooks
          • Food & History of Food
          • Wine & Drinks
        • Health & Lifestyle
          • Death & Dying
          • Education
          • Family & Relationships
          • Happiness
          • Sex & Sexuality
        • History Books
          • American History
          • Ancient History (up to 500)
          • Modern History (1800-1945)
          • History of Science
          • Historical Figures
          • Military History
        • Language
          • English Grammar & Usage
          • Books for Learning Languages
          • Linguistics
        • Law
        • Literary Nonfiction
          • Best Biographies
          • Essays
          • Memoir
          • Artists' Biographies
          • Travel
          • True Crime
        • Music & Drama
          • Classical Music & Opera
          • Film & Cinema
          • Music
          • Theatre
        • Nature
          • The Prehistoric World
          • The Earth
          • Plants, Trees & Flowers
        • Philosophy Books
          • Ancient Philosophy
          • Ethics & Moral Philosophy
          • Great Philosophers
          • Social & Political Philosophy
        • Politics & Society
          • War
          • Feminism
          • Foreign Policy & International Relations
          • Human Rights
          • Terrorism
        • Psychology
          • Mental Health
          • Neuroscience
          • Psychoanalysis
          • Psychology Research
          • Self Help
        • Religion
          • Best Atheist Books
          • Buddhism
          • Christian
          • Islamic
          • Jewish
          • Religious History Books
        • Science
          • Astronomy
          • Biology
          • Chemistry
          • Geoscience
          • Maths & Statistics
          • Popular Science
          • Physics Books
        • Sports, Games & Hobbies
          • Football (Soccer)
          • Gardening
          • Hobbies
          • Sport & Sporting Culture
        • Technology
          • Artificial Intelligence/AI Books
          • Computing
          • Digital Age
          • History of Technology
          • Internet
  • Fiction & Literature
        • Classic English Literature
        • American Literature
        • World Literature
        • Literary Criticism
        • Literary Figures
        • Classical Studies
        • Contemporary Fiction
          • NEW Fiction
        • Poetry
        • Memoir
        • Comics & Graphic Novels
        • Fairy Tales & Mythology
        • Historical Fiction
        • Horror
        • Humour
        • Crime Novels
        • Science Fiction
        • Short Stories
        • Romance
        • Thrillers
        • Mystery
        • Fantasy
  • World
        • Africa
          • Egypt
          • Ghana
          • Nigeria
          • Rwanda
          • South Africa
          • Zimbabwe
        • Americas
          • Latin America
            • Argentina
            • Brazil
            • Caribbean
            • Chile
            • Cuba
            • Mexico
          • United States
          • Canada
        • Arctic & Antarctica
        • Asia
          • Afghanistan
          • Bangladesh
          • Myanmar (Formerly Burma)
          • China
          • India
          • Japan
          • Kazakhstan
          • Korea
          • Pakistan
          • Sri Lanka
          • Singapore
          • Vietnam
        • Australia
        • Europe
          • Azerbaijan
          • Belgium
          • Britain
          • France
          • Georgia
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
          • Russia
          • Spain
          • Ukraine
        • Middle East
          • Iran
          • Iraq
          • Israel
          • Syria
          • Turkey
          • Yemen
  • Kids
        • Kids Recommend Books for Kids
        • High School Teachers Recommendations
        • Ages Baby-2
        • Ages 3-5
        • Ages 6-8
        • Ages 9-12
        • Books for Teens and Young Adults
        • Best Kids Books of 2023
        • Best Books for Teens of 2023
        • Best Audiobooks for Kids
        • Prizewinning Kids' Books
        • Popular Series Books for Kids
        • History
        • Economics
        • Environment
        • Family
        • Science
        • Mental Health
  • Best Books 2023
        • Audiobooks
        • Best Books for Teens of 2023
        • Best Kids' Books of 2023
        • Best Nonfiction of 2023
          • Biography
          • Science
          • Politics
          • Food
          • Travel
        • Best Fiction of 2023
          • Historical Fiction
          • Fantasy
          • Science Fiction
          • Mystery
          • Political Novels
          • Romance
  • New Books
        • New Science Books
        • New Climate Books
        • New Psychology Books
        • New Philosophy Books
        • New Math Books
        • New Economics Books
        • New History Books
        • New Physics Books
        • New Memoirs
        • New Biography
        • New Fiction
        • New World Literature
        • New Historical Fiction
  • Audiobooks
    • Actors Read Great Books
    • Best Audiobooks for Kids
    • Books Narrated by Their Authors
    • Best Audiobook Thrillers
    • Best History Audiobooks
  • Book Awards
    • Nobel Literature Prize
    • Booker Prize
    • Baillie Gifford Prize
    • Royal Society (science)
    • Wolfson Prize (history)
    • Walter Scott Prize
    • Arthur C Clarke Prize
    • Pushkin House Prize
    • Audie Awards
  • Experts

Best Books for Kids » Best Kids' Books of 2023

A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story by Richard O'Neill
Buy now

A Different Kind of Freedom: A Romani Story

by Richard O'Neill

In Edwardian era Sheffield, Lijah is developing a passion for football, and he is very good at it. Unfortunately, his father thinks it’s a daft game which Romani people should stay away from. Lijah is torn between the feeling of freedom and power that he gets from playing football, and love for his family and their traditions. Can he find a way to do what he has set his heart on, without disrespecting his father and losing touch with his family’s way of life? A thoughtful novel by an author from a traditional nomadic Romani community in England, this book is part of Scholastic’s excellent Voices series of historical fiction.

Ages 8-12

Recommendations from our site

“Football was not, back in the 1970s, a Romani game. I would wander up to a caravan site with a football under my arm, and people would look at me like I was an alien. Nobody wanted to play. My dad, God love him, would stand there and let me take shots at him, but he had no interest in it. I went to lots of different schools, and I found that football was a quick way of getting on with people. And I was good at it. As an adult, I have been lucky enough to work with professional footballers on the training side, on the motivational side. When you are passionate about something and you haven’t got anybody from your community who has a connection to it, you have a bit of a mountain to climb to find somewhere to play. If it’s actually against your culture, then you’ve got another hurdle to overcome. That’s what I wanted to show in the book with the main character, Lijah. He’s brilliant at football, but his family don’t want him to play.” Read more...

Traveller Books for Kids

Richard O'Neill, Children's Author

Other books by Richard O'Neill

Parade of the Pipers Richard O'Neill, Michelle Russell, Elijah Vardo (illustrator)

Parade of the Pipers
Richard O'Neill, Michelle Russell, Elijah Vardo (illustrator)

The Show Must Go On Richard O'Neill, Michelle Russell, Mitch Miller (illustrator)

The Show Must Go On
Richard O'Neill, Michelle Russell, Mitch Miller (illustrator)

The Lost Homework Richard O'Neill, Kirsti Beautyman (illustrator)

The Lost Homework
Richard O'Neill, Kirsti Beautyman (illustrator)

Polonius the Pit Pony Richard O'Neill, Feronia Parker Thomas (illustrator)

Polonius the Pit Pony
Richard O'Neill, Feronia Parker Thomas (illustrator)

The Can Caravan Richard O'Neill, Cindy Kang (illustrator)

The Can Caravan
Richard O'Neill, Cindy Kang (illustrator)

Our most recommended books

  • War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

    War and Peace
    by Leo Tolstoy

  • Middlemarch
    by George Eliot

  • On Liberty
    by John Stuart Mill

  • Nineteen Eighty-Four
    by George Orwell

  • The Confessions
    by Augustine (translated by Maria Boulding)

  • The Odyssey
    by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson

Support Five Books

Five Books interviews are expensive to produce, please support us by donating a small amount.

About

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

This site has an archive of more than one thousand seven hundred interviews, or eight thousand book recommendations. We publish at least two new interviews per week.

Five Books participates in the Amazon Associate program and earns money from qualifying purchases.

Newsletter Contact us Privacy Policy Terms of Service Mastodon Social

© Five Books 2023

Get our newsletter