Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini's Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer by Reem Faruqi (review)

Reviewed by: Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini's Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer by Reem Faruqi Kara Forde Faruqi, Reem Swimming Toward a Dream: Yusra Mardini's Incredible Journey from Refugee to Olympic Swimmer; illus. by Asma Enayeh. Page Street, 2023 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781645679837 $18.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 6-9 yrs In a suburb of Damascus, Syria, young Yusra Mardini cried with fear and frustration the first time she swam in a pool. With time, trust, and guidance from her father, however, Yusra grew up to swim in international competitions and dreamed of competing in the Olympics. As war erupted in Syria, Yusra's life in her home country became too dangerous for activities like school and swimming, so she and [End Page 56] her sister began the long journey to seek refuge in Germany. The sisters were forced to sneak into Europe on a boat that was meant for six but held twenty—when the boat's motor inevitably quit, Yusra and others jumped into the water to help swim the vessel to safety. Faruqi's cogent present-tense narrative summarizes Yusra's refugee-to-Olympian story with short sentences that accentuate the tale's tension, while the refrain, "One breath at a time" anchors readers as they follow the teen's astonishing journey. Cheerfully hued watercolor and gouache illustrations provide levity to a serious tale, and a pivotal image of Yusra in her "blue cocoon" of safety under the water of a swimming pool juxtaposes her unique strengths with the danger of her later circumstances. Concluding pages highlight Yusra's current refugee advocacy work as an ambassador for the United Nations; end matter includes a timeline and map of Yusra's journey and notes from the author and illustrator. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois