Melville 67 Grade 9 (FAL) English Novel (CAPS)

Melville 67 tells the story of Thabang, a teenager who works as a gardener for a suburban family to pay for his education. On his daily bus trips to and from school in the central business district of Johannesburg he “transports” himself to the West African Kingdom of Ghana in the fourth century A.D., and becomes Thabang, the Soninke warrior. He fights wars, falls in love with the Princess Zandile and becomes a character in the epic of Gassire’s Lute. The parallel stories are full of magic and pathos, and are accompanied by exercises and activities that will help students to think critically about the issues raised and about the art of storytelling itself.