‘Sweet Sixteen’ is a very engaging novella with multiple themes such as the challenges facing young adult girls as they grow from childhood age of 12 to 16 onward, boarding school life, religious intolerance and tolerance, and hardships faced by orphans in school, etc. Aliya Bello the central character of the story receives a letter from her father on her sixteenth birthday celebration. Through the letter she recollects a lot of things she had discussed with him.
Hence, the novella is segmented into seven focal topics such as ‘The Letter’, ‘The Drive’, ‘Work’, ‘The Gandhi Test’, ‘Dating’, ‘Stereotype’, and ‘Beauty’. Some societal issues the author highlight includes religious discrimination, bleaching of skin by some Africans, penchant for short cuts to success by some folks in the world, examination malpractices, promotion of pornography among young adults by Netflix streaming of sex videos online, unpalatable use of acronyms mostly used to write or send short messages (SMS) by some people, and how ladies like to be treated, etc. It is a bildungsroman and didactic novella written with a ‘First Person Point of View’ narrative style, as Aliya tells the story of her upbringing and relationship with her father, which borders on the ‘Electra complex’ type.
Aliya shows herself as a hardworking student who does not depend on short cuts to academic success. She works diligently and improves on her previous grade “C” in Chemistry to grade “A.” This boils down to the issue of ethics and morals among students and parents in the Nigerian society especially, where a lot of folks have been involved in many discrepancies to succeed.
This reminds the reader about similar issues raised in a drama book titled “Passport To Success” by Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga. Therefore, the importance of reading and working hard to become successful in examination and life generally, are part of the focal points of the book. The author, through Aliya’s change of mind from her previous proposed choices of study and her final decision to study law, tends to advice parents to stop dictating to their children the type of courses they should study at higher institutions.
The attitude of some folks towards others in terms of religious discrimination and bullying among students are also part of the meat and potatoes of the storyline. While Rebecca one of Aliya’s school mates represent those that stereotype people according to their religious faith, Bunmi another student is a condemnable example of those who like causing problems by always picking on others wherever they are. Moreover, dating too early as young adults also comes to the fore as Bobo who gives Aliya a Teddy bear easily changes his passion for her by moving with another young female student known as Morayo.
This reminds the reader about Friar Lawrence’s statement to Romeo in William Shakespeare’s drama titled “Romeo and Juliet.” Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that “..
.young men love lies not in their heart but in their eyes,” because Romeo who has been having sleepless nights because of Rosaline, dumps her as soon as he sees Juliet, prima facie. The hallmarks of the novella include the author’s generous use of humour, suspense, and didactic technique.
This is coupled with simple diction for the understanding of any average reader..
