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.