German / Germany
Salon Salami
Tienti, Benjamin
(text)
Jung, Barbara
(illus.)
Hamburg: Dressler, 2017. – 158 p.
ISBN 978-3-7915-0047-8
Mother | Prison | Social worker | Support
Reading age: 8+
White Ravens issue: 2018
Crooked deals are rarely a good idea. They bring a slew of problems in their wake that often cause innocent people to suffer. They can lead to a twelve-year-old girl with a paring knife bellowing “This is a hold-up!” at a bank teller. Benjamin Tienti tells the story of Hani, her family and their salon Salami, which is a local hang-out for haircuts, tea-sipping and chit chat. Things are going well until Hani’s mother suddenly disappears – because she’s paying for some trouble her brother-in-law got into. Nothing is as it was. Suddenly Hani is responsible for everything. Even though she is ultra-capable, it’s too much to take on for someone who’s only twelve. Enter the paring knife. In his debut novel, Benjamin Tienti takes on hefty themes and in the process locates a refreshing and warm-hearted voice that stays loyal to his heroine.