Olympic Gardens is fresh and relevant. A powerful evocation of the life of an unwanted child. Bonner writes with a keen eye for telling events that underscore Roderick's predicament. Bonner has an eye and an ear for the telling details of island life. Her book resonates with Jamaican elements. Bonner also records the creole speech of Roderick with panache, not missing a beat or lyrical nuance. Literacy is a key issue in this first novel.
–Mary Hanna, Journalist: Bookends Jamaica Gleaner
Olympic Gardens is a good read! I asked myself who will read it? At first I resisted it. It was different. It was not about a culture I knew. Then I found Roderick getting to me, growing on me, a forgotten boy, learning to find himself in a strange place. He reminds me of boys everywhere. What did I do? And he discovers a friend in Chloe. Their feelings are felt. Others come to Roderick’s aid. He is not alone after all. He shows himself and his sensitivities to the old man. There are others who see him and he begins to see himself. Young adult readers will recognize themselves in Roderick and Chloe. I did too! Thanks Andrene. It was very poignant! It reminds me of the child in us all!
–Brenda Engler, Reading Specialist
Andrene…your darling book…should be in every school library in Jamaica and on curriculae. I think your future stories will need to give kids who my have suffered similar alienation, hope.
–Rachel Manley, Author: Drumblair: Memories of A Jamaican Childhood; Slipstream: A Daughter Remembers, and Horses in Her Hair: A Granddaughter’s Story
Andrene’s Olympic Gardens is strong, touching, gripping, and steeped in the true-to-life experiences of Jamaican culture.
–Lynn Quitman Troyka, Ph.D., Author: Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers and Quick Access Reference for Writers
In Olympic Gardens, a captivating coming-of-age novel, Andrene Bonner has recreated a forgotten period of Jamaica’s history as seen through the eyes of a precocious, fatherless boy who is growing up in what will become one of the meanest ghettoes in Kingston.
–Geoffrey Philp, Author: Who’s Your Daddy?: And Other Stories
A profound and intimate account of abandonment, loss, friendship and hope… Andrene Bonner is an excellent storyteller. This book gives its readers the rare look inside the life and plight of a struggling Jamaican young man determined to rise against the odds.
–Janet Coley, English Teacher
