I Am Reading: My Name Is Samim by Fidan Miekle
My Name Is Samim by Fidan Miekle 👉
| Publisher: | Floris Books |
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| Publish date: | 22 May 2025 |
One of the hardest things as a children's author is to tell a story about a current, traumatic reality of our times, but do it in a way that will engage young readers. Too worthy, and you risk putting them off. Too light, and you risk losing the message.
Fidan Miekle's My Name Is Samim threads this needle perfectly. It tells the story of Samim, a young boy who flees Afghanistan after his family are killed and makes the terrifying journey all the way to the UK to try to find a distant surviving relative. When we meet Samim, he has reached the UK but might get sent back. As he tries to get used to British customs, he recounts his story, hoping against hope that he will be allowed to stay.
Samim is booksmart, clever at maths but not streetwise. So he is lucky that his friend Zayn is with him. Zayn is witty, cunning, charismatic and endlessly upbeat. But from the first chapter, we know that Zayn, at some point in the journey, was lost; that what Samim is seeing is his ghost. Still, his presence lifts the story and gives it an extra point of view. Samim's life in a British school is another strand, showing that in some ways his fight is still going on, but also that there are friends there for him. In the final act, Fidan Miekle cleverly shows us how we, all of us, can make a difference to how people like Samim are treated. And there is a last-minute twist that I can't reveal, but will make you itch to read the sequel…
This was a wonderful book. The chapters are short and gripping, the text simple and easy to read. Miekle doesn't shy away from the horrors Samim went through, but presents them in a way you can absorb, and adds moments of humour and hope that carry you along. Samim's story is one that deserves to be read by everyone.