for children aged 9+
Ama could wish for nothing more than to become a top swimmer, but she has to work harder than most to attain her goal. This is because she was born on a boat in the middle of the Mediterranean to Senegalese migrants bound for a brighter future.
Ama, the daughter of Senegalese asylum seekers, feels completely Dutch and has little affinity for her parents' homeland - her only contact with Senegal is through her mom's cooking and some Senegalese folktales. Rather than taking an interest in the magical world of Senegal, she dreams of swimming victories. She spends all her free time practising for the upcoming championships. Ama's parents are staying in the Netherlands illegally since their application was not processed. When her mother and sibling are picked up, Ama roams Rotterdam looking for her father. During this frightening and exciting journey, she discovers her roots, thanks in part to her extraordinary totem animal: a gigantic porcupine.
"Regardless of what we think of refugees in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe, the whole world understands that a child has no place in a war. Not everyone agrees on this point when it comes to economic migrants, though. Therefore, I decided that my protagonist should be a child from a country that is not at war. /…/ The name Ama means "born on a Sunday", but it is also an acronym for unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Ama thus stands for all of these children." (Sander Burger)