Age range 5 to 9 Based on a real life story! Yusra Mardini loves to swim. Growing up in Damascus, she is just a girl with a dream: to swim for her country in the Olympic Games. But when war erupts in her country, she is forced to flee. In spare, rhyming verse, Yursa Swims tells the true story of one girl's journey from her beloved home in Syria to Germany. We follow her to the Turkish coast, where she boards a small, crowded boat across the Aegean Sea to Greece. When the boat begins to sink, Yusra swims, helping to push the boat and all of her fellow refugees safely to shore. Her journey continues from Greece, through Europe, on foot, by car, bus and train, all the way to Germany. Here Yusra swims again, and is able to realise her dreams.

 

 

This book is aimed at children at US 1st grade-3rd grade.

This book has been graded for interest at 6-9 years.

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published in 2021 by Creative Company, US .

Sally Deng is an artist based in Los Angeles. She recently graduated from the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena with a BFA, and has exhibited widely in both solo and group shows in California, Illinois and Texas. She won the American Illustration Award in 2016 and 2017.