The Scorpio Child

Awarded by the South African Children's and Youth Jury
No one thought I could hear it. But I heard it. Don't think that because you're only ten minutes old you can't hear anything. Don't think that because you're red and wrinkled and ugly you can't hear what they're saying. You can! So I heard what was said about me in those first minutes of my life. And I haven't forgotten it.

Gideonette should have been a son. Born prematurely and skin and bones, she grows up as a real boy. She is a fighter. With her blood brother and black friend Bhubesi, she fights through everything. When her father dies, she comes face to face with the curse that rests on her family.