No Ballet Shoes in Syria by Catherine Bruton

This junior fiction novel was one of my summer reads. It tells the story of a Syrian refugee and her family as they try to settle in the UK. The girl is a ballet dancer and part of the story is how she finds links into her new community through her dancing. The story doesn't pull any punches about the difficulties, suspicion, racism and lack of understanding faced by refugees, but balances that with good people who understand and help. One character who plays a pivotal role is the new ballet teacher who herself was a Jewish refugee in the 1930s. I really enjoyed this story. This novel would be a good extension read or follow-up to novels like Alan Gratz's Refugee or Morris Gleitzman's Boy Overboard for students looking for extra reading.