The Kid of Balbala is, at first, a book which combines all superlatives. It's the first book written by Rachid Hachi, the first ever translated book in English in the entire Republic of Djibouti, and the last but not the least, the most read of all his books.The Kid of Balbala is also a historical book which plunges its reader in the events that occurred in the Horn of Africa, precisely in Somalia, the birth place of Samatalis, the main character of the book, with rare precision and an uncommon acuity. Everyone will have the feeling to go up in the past, to hear the noise of the combat aircraft, to feel the heart beating hardly, to feel the death so close.The Kid of Balbala is also about a quest. A quest for freedom, for adventure, for a promising future. An inextinguishable and inexhaustible quest to get rid of the tradi-tional burden, ignore obstacles, distance, trip, to face the unknown.The Kid of Balbala is also similar to an autobiography. The life of Samatalis, the Kid of Balbala, looks like to be mistaken for that of the author's, Rachid Hachi, who guides us in the mazes of his existence, since his birth until his maturity, via all the stages which mark out his life.The child of Balbala is a book-mirror which sends back every reader in his/ her own past, his first stammering, his first steps to the Koranic school, his first steps in the public school, his puppy loves. It is a unique masterpiece, one- of-a kind, that is read in one breath, and which offers us a mixture of feelings, emotions, so diverse and varied, which until then, had never been explored as well by a Djiboutian author.Said Ibrahim