Collision - by Eric Walters & Danson Mutinda (Paperback)

About the Book

In this touching middle-grade novel, Daniel witnesses the aftermath of two ships crashing in his small town's canal and the discovery that people are inside one of the shipping containers. Since his mom works at the hospital and his dad with the local police, Daniel gets an inside perspective and forms a friendship with one of the refugees.

Book Synopsis

It's just a normal day in Daniel's small town until reports go out about an accident at the shipping canal.

Thirteen-year-old Daniel and his friend Noah race to the banks and see that two container ships have collided and are blocking the canal. Daniel watches as first responders pull the crew from the ships, and soon they discover more people on board: refugees trafficked in a shipping container.

While the refugees are taken to hospital, where Daniel's mom is the head nurse, an investigation is launched, led in part by Daniel's dad, a police detective. Daniel is visiting his mom at the hospital when he meets Bol, a refugee his age from South Sudan. When Bol is too scared to be given an IV he desperately needs, Daniel offers up his arm for an IV with saline solution, and shows Bol it won't hurt. The two boys form a friendship playing video games together and communicating by learning new words in each other's language. But not everyone is so welcoming. Outside the hospital, protesters gather, chanting "Go home!" Still, Daniel sees others ready and willing to help. Can the community rally and prove that love is stronger than hate?

Praise for Danson Mutinda and Eric Walters:

★ "This simple story of discovery, sport, and friendship is filled with likeable characters and innocently joyful moments...Delightful."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review for Hockey Night in Kenya

About the Author

Eric Walters is a Member of the Order of Canada and the author of over 130 books that have collectively won more than 100 awards, including the Governor General's Literary Award for Young People's Literature for The King of Jam Sandwiches. A former teacher, Eric began writing as a way to get his fifthgrade students interested in reading and writing. Eric is a tireless presenter, speaking to over 100,000 students per year in schools across the country. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.

Danson Mutinda is an ICT consultant based in Kenya, and he is also the current patron of Hope Development Centre, an orphanage in Kenya that his parents, Ruth and Henry Kyatha, cofounded with Eric and Anita Walters in 2007. When Henry passed away in 2013, Danson became patron of the program. It has helped improve the lives of over 300 children and over 150 households in the Mbooni region of Kenya. Danson lives in Kikima, Kenya, on the grounds of the orphanage with his beloved wife and five kids. When not writing or consulting, you can find him tending to numerous crops and various livestock on the family farm. This is his and Eric's second collaboration, having cowritten Hockey Night in Kenya in 2020.