A middle grade novel in verse about Samira, an eleven-year-old
Rohingya refugee living in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, who finds strength
and sisterhood in a local surf club for girls.
Samira thinks of her life as before and after: before the burning and
violence in her village in Burma, when she and her best friend would
play in the fields, and after, when her family was forced to flee.
There's before the uncertain journey to Bangladesh by river, and after,
when the river swallowed her nana and nani whole. And now, months after
rebuilding a life in Bangladesh with her mama, baba, and brother,
there's before Samira saw the Bengali surfer girls of Cox's Bazar, and
after, when she decides she'll become one.
Samira Surfs, written by Rukhsanna Guidroz with illustrations by
Fahmida Azim, is a tender novel in verse about a young Rohingya girl's
journey from isolation and persecution to sisterhood, and from fear to
power.