Samira Surfs

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.