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A. M. Dassu
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Boy, Everywhere Hardcover – April 20, 2021

by A. M. Dassu (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 254 ratings
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What turns citizens into refugees and then immigrants? In this powerful middle-grade debut, Sami and his family embark on a harrowing journey to save themselves from the Syrian civil war.

Sami loves his life in Damascus, Syria. He hangs out with his best friend playing video games; he's trying out for the football team; he adores his family and gets annoyed by them in equal measure. But his comfortable life gets sidetracked abruptly after a bombing in a nearby shopping mall. Knowing that the violence will only get worse, Sami's parents decide they must flee their home for the safety of the UK.

Boy, Everywhere chronicles their harrowing journey and struggle to settle in a new land. Forced to sell all their belongings and leave their friends and beloved grandmother behind, Sami and his family travel across the Middle East to Turkey, where they end up in a smuggler's den. From there, they cross the treacherous waters of the Mediterranean and manage to fly to England, only to be separated and detained in an immigration prison for the "crime" of seeking asylum. Yet the transition from refugee to immigrant in a new life will be the greatest challenge Sami has ever faced.

Based on the experiences of real Syrian refugees, this thoughtful middle-grade novel is the rare book to delve deeply into this years-long crisis. A. M. Dassu has used her publishing deal advances for Boy, Everywhere to assist Syrian refugees in her city and set up a grant to support an unpublished refugee/recently immigrated writer. Sami's story is one of survival, of family and friendship, of bravery and longing ... Sami could be any one of us.

Previous page
  1. Reading age
    12 - 18 years
  2. Print length
    400 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 12
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 1 x 7.5 inches
  6. Publisher
    Lee & Low Books
  7. Publication date
    April 20, 2021
  8. ISBN-10
    1643791966
  9. ISBN-13
    978-1643791968
  10. See all details
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Teachers' picks | Explore children's books by grade

From the Publisher

Syria;refugees;middle grade;middle school;Syrian Civil War;Arab kids books;immigration;Manchester

What Reviewers Are Saying

  • Best New Children's Novels, The Guardian
  • Starred review, Booklist
  • Starred review, Kirkus Reviews
  • Best Children's Books of 2020, BookRiot

"This raw, heartbreaking middle-grade debut faces the Syrian refugee crisis head-on. . . . This isn't an easy read, but it's an absolutely essential one." —Booklist, starred review

"A Syrian refugee story that disrupts stereotypes while tugging at readers’ heartstrings. . . . Compelling, informative, hopeful." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Carefully researched, wholly convincing, it's a gripping, uncompromising debut." —The Guardian

"Such a realistic story, Sami could be my son, daughter or any of their friends." —Mayida Yord, Teacher, Damascus, Syria

Discover award-winning author A. M. Dassu!
Accolades for A. M. Dassu's Boy, Everywhere
Starred review quote from Kirkus Reviews

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 5 Up—"I didn't realize how good life was until it all went wrong" Eighth grader Sami al-Hafez leads a privileged life in Damascus, Syria. His biggest concern used to be whether he and his best friend would make the soccer team. But when his mother and younger sister are injured in a bombing of a local shopping mall, Sami and his family realize that the Syrian civil war is now at their doorstep and they must leave their home. The author not only chronicles Sami's perilous journey from Syria, through Turkey and Greece, and eventually to England, but the difficulty of leaving loved ones behind and starting anew in a country where the laws and people aren't so welcoming. Short chapters help keep the pace of this first-person narrative moving, even when we see Sami waiting for circumstances to change—a situation that is reinforced throughout the story as common to being a refugee. For readers who enjoyed Katherine Marsh's Nowhere Boy or Jasmine Warga's Other Words for Home, this book also offers a fresh perspective and a relatable main character. The text could be paired with Don Brown's graphic nonfiction title The Unwanted for academic purposes. VERDICT Dassu provides a fresh perspective on the Syrian refugee experience, giving readers a glimpse at a range of ordeals. Recommended for purchase.—Monisha Blair, formerly at Rutgers Univ., NJ

Review

* "Strongly evoked themes of family, homesickness, and friendship cohere in this resonant portrait of one teen's contemporary refugee experience." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "Absolutely essential." -- Booklist, starred review

* "Compelling, informative, hopeful." -- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Carefully researched, wholly convincing, it's a gripping, uncompromising debut, super-charged with the power of empathy." -- The Guardian

"Dassu provides a fresh perspective on the Syrian refugee experience." -- School Library Journal

"Such a realistic story, Sami could be my son, daughter, or any of their friends." -- Mayida Yord, Teacher in Damascus, Syria

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lee & Low Books; Standard Edition (April 20, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1643791966
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643791968
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 - 18 years
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 12
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 1 x 7.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 254 ratings

About the author

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A. M. Dassu

A. M. Dassu

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A. M. DASSU is the internationally acclaimed author of Boy, Everywhere and Fight Back, which have collectively been listed for forty-six awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal, The Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction, the American Library Association Notable Book List and Jane Addams Peace Book Award.

She is a director at Inclusive Minds, which is an organisation for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children’s literature; a patron of The Other Side of Hope, a literary magazine edited by immigrants and refugees, which serves to celebrate the refugee and immigrant communities worldwide, and one of The National Literacy Trust’s Connecting Stories campaign authors, aiming to help inspire a love of reading and writing in children and young people.

A. M. Dassu grew up in the Midlands dreaming of becoming a writer but studied economics instead and worked in marketing and project management before realising her dream. Her work has been published by The Huffington Post, Times Educational Supplement, SCOOP Magazine, Lee and Low Books, Scholastic, Old Barn Books, DK Books and Harper Collins, Hachette, Oxford University press and Scholastic. She writes books that challenge stereotypes, humanise the ‘other’ and are full of empathy, hope and heart. Her most recent book, Boot It! was a bestselling World Book Day novel.

A. M. Dassu used her publishing deal advances for Boy, Everywhere to assist Syrian refugees in her city and set up a grant to support an unpublished refugee/recently immigrated writer. ‬She has donated a part of her advances for Kicked Out to Baca, a UK charity that supports young people who arrive in the UK alone seeking asylum (www.bacacharity.org.uk/about), and to Syrians in Idlib, who lost everything once again due to the devastating earthquake in 2023.

Twitter @a_reflective

Instagram @a.m.dassu

www.amdassu.com.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
254 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Pat G
5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ TO OPEN MINDS AND HEARTS.
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2021
Verified Purchase
Recommended by my beloved teacher, ‘Boy Everywhere’ is an eye opening journey of a young man and his family, as they leave everything behind in their war torn home, to risk their home, their pride, their dignity, even their very lives, to find a place to call home, not only to survive, but to thrive.

The stirring details along the way are gripping and keep the pages flying by.

The reading level is suitable for, kids and YA, though certainly suitable and enjoyable for adults as well.

Take a chance and give it a read. Great for book clubs, book reports, and personal growth.

Tell your teacher friends!
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Brinda
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read!
Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2022
I read this book in a weekend. I had a lump in my throat and my nose tingled the whole time. This is a MG must-read!

Thirteen year old Sami loves cars, soccer, friends, and PlayStation. His entire world is turned upside down when he and his family must flee the bombings and civil war in Syria. Their journey is difficult and dangerous, spanning from Damascus to Beirut to Istanbul to Athens to Manchester. Sami’s story is full of raw emotion; we really live his struggle with him.

Per the author’s note, @a.m.dassu wanted to share the plight of Syrian refugees in a way that made readers realize that not every refugee is poor and/or uneducated. In fact, most Syrians were forced to leave lots of comforts and loved ones behind in order to start all over again. Refugees are more than the dust and rubble we see on TV.

Even more commendable is that the author has used her publishing advance from this book to help Syrian refugees in her city and to set up a @weneeddiversebooks grant to support an unpublished refugee or immigrant writer.

Through this book, I learned the importance of plotting well to avoid the “saggy middle.” I learned how to write transitions between dreams and reality. I learned how to write a dilated scene.
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Top reviews from other countries

Soph
5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly written, moving, brilliant
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2020
Verified Purchase
Boy, Everywhere tells the story of Sami, who, with his family, flees Syria and goes on a long, perilous journey to the UK - it also shows what happens when he's in Manchester. Once I started reading, I couldn't stop. The characterization is superb, with deft touches that mean you instantly root for Sami and feel his fears, discomforts, regrets and hopes. The descriptions of the journey are tense, at times scary, always compelling. It's an eye-opening and thought-provoking read, but also a superbly crafted tale. You can't help but be moved. The contrast between all that he has had to leave behind - the lifestyle, the friends and family, the comfort and fun - and his new reality, is completely heartbreaking. But though this is in many ways a devastating book, it is also incredibly hopeful - through depictions of acts of kindness that he both gives and receives along the way - and an uplifting ending. This deserves to be a huge bestseller and should be in every classroom. It has the power to change hearts and minds.
I would recommend this not just for children, but for adults, too. Just brilliant.
3 people found this helpful
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Lucy Baldock
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, important, adventurous story for boys and girls anywhere in the world.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2021
Verified Purchase
This is a great, great, important story for children anywhere in the world to feel deeply how we could be refugees if war came to our shores. The author does a beautiful brilliant job of showing how Sami's life could happen to any boy or girl and at the same time it's heartfelt and exciting for children to read - it's a wonderful book for parents to read aloud with older children to build empathy and encourage conversation around helping others as our brothers and sisters . Throughly recommend. Bravo. xxx
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Lucy Baldock
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, important, adventurous story for boys and girls anywhere in the world.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 28, 2021
This is a great, great, important story for children anywhere in the world to feel deeply how we could be refugees if war came to our shores. The author does a beautiful brilliant job of showing how Sami's life could happen to any boy or girl and at the same time it's heartfelt and exciting for children to read - it's a wonderful book for parents to read aloud with older children to build empathy and encourage conversation around helping others as our brothers and sisters . Throughly recommend. Bravo. xxx
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One person found this helpful
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Zulu Warrior
4.0 out of 5 stars Boy Everywhere
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2022
Verified Purchase
Syria is facing civil war, no where will be safe, explosions and gunfire could already be heard, Sami 12yrs and his family decide to leave the country, this could only be done by paying criminals large sums of money, after a very long and tiring journey, at one stage along with the famous boat people who took incredible risks crossing the sea in rubber boats, Sami and his family had watched as a boat overturned throwing all into the sea
They reached England and claimed asylum but their troubles were just beginning

Not Bad
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Karen Carter
5.0 out of 5 stars Both raw and beautiful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 8, 2020
Verified Purchase
A really important read and one that I will be recommending to my class and one that I have handed to my sons to read. The sense that this book is about a boy so like any other across the world is so important for everyone to understand. Life can change in a heartbeat and we should never take what we have for granted and never forget to show humanity and kindness to our fellow mankind.
Beyond its importance for what it says, this is also beautifully written and creates characters and situations that are completely relatable and very vivid in their portrayal. Fantastic!
One person found this helpful
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TL9346
5.0 out of 5 stars Think you know about refugees....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2021
Verified Purchase
A M Dassu's Boy Everywhere.....What can I say? We, all have those visions of Syria where there are bombed buildings, refugees in camps, squalor that we all hope would never happen to us. I saw the author one day when she was going to discuss her book, she showed pictures of Damascus prior to the bombing....the pictures looked exactly as we would expect in any town in the UK. She read a passage from the book and the hairs on my arms stood up. I had to put it to teh top of the TBR pile.

This book tells us the story of Sami, his family and their life in Damascus. Until the bomb... it goes off in the shopping mall. The same mall where Sami has insisted his Mama goes to pick up Sami's new football boots from. His mama had his sister, Sara, with her. They were unhurt but the trauma has wreaked havoc. Sami's father, Baba, is a surgeon at the hospital, he has to deal with the aftermath of the bombing whilst considering his own family.

Sami arrives home from school to chaos, their belongings are being packed and taken away. They are leaving, but not on a plane like they would have before. And Tete, Sami's Nan, isn't going with them. He doesn't even have time to explain to his friend Joseph, he has no phone, no iPad they're all sold, he can't contact anyone.

Their journey from Syria is difficult to read about, it is more than unpleasant...it is horrific. He meets a boy Aadam, he's trying to get to England by himself. Sami's dad makes it clear they can't afford to take him with them but leaves him some money. Their arrival in England isn't the ideal option that Sami expected. It brings more horrors and unpleasantness.

Will Sami return to Syria as he feels he should? He's worried about Tete? He thinks his parents will be better off without him. Can anyone make him see differently? Can Sami find Joseph and Aadam? Are they all safe?

Read this book it is amazing. And i'm an adult - I bought for a primary school Y5/6 class.
3 people found this helpful
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