My Name is Samim

By Fidan Meikle

Reviewed by Annaleise Byrd

Fidan Meikle is an Azerbaijani-British writer and linguist based in Scotland. My Name is Samim, her debut novel, was inspired by the true story of an Afghan refugee boy. The author worked with Afghan photojournalist Aryan Musleh to add authenticity and depth to the story.

The story follows thirteen-year-old Samim, a chess-loving maths whiz forced to flee Afghanistan after a bomb takes his home and his loving family from him. He escapes with his best friend Zayn, enduring a perilous journey via bus, truck, foot, car, dinghy, ferry and train, and suffering more loss along the way. This well-written and heart-wrenching novel introduces tween and young teen readers to the realities faced by refugees with honesty and compassion.

Now, as Samim navigates an unfamiliar culture, racist school bullies, and the looming outcome of his asylum application in the UK, he shares his story in a series of interviews with his caseworker. These flashbacks, told in past tense, are woven into the current-day, present-tense story, and explain Samim’s struggles with anxiety, anger and trust. While the subject matter is intense, there is humour and lightness too – primarily through Samim and Zayn’s brother-like, good-naturedly-insult-filled friendship. In the end, found family and people power come through for Samim, with a hopeful, tearjerker type of ending synonymous with middle grade.

There is currently a campaign underway by American school librarians clamouring for more books featuring thirteen-, fourteen- and fifteen-year-old protagonists, a category between middle grade and true young adult material that they have dubbed Young Teen Lit. This book fits several of the young teen lit criteria and is an excellent candidate for inclusion in this category. It would be a suitable Reader’s Cup title or class novel for Years 7/8, and there are comprehensive teaching notes available on the author’s website.

Floris Books 2025

Fidan Meikle

Annaleise Byrd is the author of middle grade portal fantasies Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole, and the picture book You Are Not a Pup!