Sami is a very ordinary 13-year-old boy, attending school, playing football, PlayStation and has his own iPad – the only thing different about Sami is that he lives in Damascus. As the war in Syria creeps closer, until a bombing of a local mall affects his family, everything has been good. Now Sami and his family have to leave their home, their friends and their beloved Jadda (grandmother) – not just to move to another town but to start a long and perilous journey to the safety of the other side of the world – to England.
The journey, and therefore the story, are not for the fainthearted – Dassau tells the story of the journey, the fear and the privations authentically and we vividly share Sami’s upset, anger and fear throughout every page. The portrait drawn of the family in such a stressed and frightening situation has the reader on the edge of their seat and pulling at our hearts all the way through.
Written with a deep understanding and meticulous research into similar journeys this is a book that will not leave you for a very long time. The switches from adversity to hope to despair in Sami keep your heart in your mouth and is so realistic I was raging at the government for its inhuman treatment of desperate refugees. Read this book – it’s needs to be in classrooms and on bookshelves everywhere – it will change you and stay with you.
When his mum and sister are caught in a bomb attack in a Damascus shopping mall, 13-year-old Sami and his family make the difficult decision to leave behind their lives in Syria. For Sami, that means saying goodbye to the things he loves most: his friends, football, video games, and his home.
But things are about to get even worse as they begin their dangerous journey to seek asylum in the UK. Through encounters with people smugglers, a perilous boat journey across the Mediterranean, and finally their arrival at a detention centre in Manchester, Sami learns that the world can be harsh and unforgiving - but that hope can be found in unlikely places.
This award-winning novel challenges the prejudices about refugees and emphasises our common humanity. It is an inspirational story of family, bravery and survival.