{
  "id": "soul-surfer",
  "shelfNumber": "20",
  "title": "Soul Surfer",
  "subtitle": "A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board",
  "authors": [
    "Bethany Hamilton",
    "Rick Bundschuh",
    "Sheryl Berk"
  ],
  "firstPublished": "2004",
  "firstPublicationNote": "First published in 2004. The exact first print-publication day is not established.",
  "kind": "Autobiographical sports memoir; young-adult nonfiction with an explicit Christian perspective",
  "themes": [
    "memory",
    "place"
  ],
  "theme": "sea",
  "layout": "voyage",
  "tagline": "The water. The work. The people beside her.",
  "dek": "Before it is a comeback story, this is a surfer's account of a life organized around the water. Hamilton writes about injury, family, Christian faith and the practical work of returning to a sport she loves. Read for her particular voice and experience, noticing the people and adjustments that make participation possible.",
  "art": {
    "src": "/images/bookshelf-goodreads/soul-surfer.webp",
    "alt": "A turquoise wave curls toward an empty ivory shore beneath a pale ocean horizon.",
    "width": 1536,
    "height": 1024,
    "caption": "Original AI-generated atmosphere for PointCast. Not a book cover, archival image or historical document."
  },
  "context": {
    "heading": "Read a particular life, at its own scale.",
    "paragraphs": [
      "Before it is a comeback story, this is a surfer's account of a life organized around the water. Hamilton writes about injury, family, Christian faith and the practical work of returning to a sport she loves. Read for her particular voice and experience, noticing the people and adjustments that make participation possible.",
      "Hamilton's own site identifies Soul Surfer as her 2004 autobiography and distinguishes it from the 2011 film based on her life. A memoir and a film shape experience differently; begin with the book's account before treating the screen version as interchangeable.",
      "Discusses a shark attack, serious injury and amputation. Christian faith is central to the narrator's account. Read at a pace that suits you. The standard memoir is listed for readers fourteen and older. Its 2011 film is a separate adaptation; a separately titled younger-reader edition has not been established."
    ],
    "sourceIds": [
      "source-1",
      "source-3"
    ]
  },
  "authorNote": {
    "text": "The publisher credits Bethany Hamilton and Rick Bundschuh, with Sheryl Berk. Keep those writing roles visible when reading a remembered life as a published memoir. Hamilton’s account is explicitly shaped by Christian faith.",
    "sourceIds": [
      "source-1",
      "source-3"
    ]
  },
  "entryPoints": [
    {
      "id": "practice",
      "label": "Practice",
      "title": "Follow the ordinary surfing.",
      "prompt": "Notice equipment, technique, repeated work and practical adjustments, alongside the more dramatic moments."
    },
    {
      "id": "support",
      "label": "Support",
      "title": "Keep the surrounding people in view.",
      "prompt": "Attend to forms of family and community help that a quick account of individual willpower might overlook."
    },
    {
      "id": "voice",
      "label": "Voice",
      "title": "Hear experience become a memoir.",
      "prompt": "Notice how Hamilton interprets events, where faith enters that interpretation, and how the named collaborators shape your reading expectations."
    }
  ],
  "pathways": [
    {
      "label": "Follow the surfing",
      "title": "Follow the surfing",
      "text": "Attend to the sport as a learned practice, with equipment, technique and repeated work. Notice the details that establish a surfer's ordinary life. Follow the practical adjustments rather than reading only for a dramatic milestone. Ask what the water means at different points in the account."
    },
    {
      "label": "Notice the circle of support",
      "title": "Notice the circle of support",
      "text": "Read family and community as part of the story's action. Keep track of forms of help that are easy to overlook. Distinguish Hamilton's own choices from the support surrounding them. Notice how gratitude and independence coexist."
    },
    {
      "label": "Read the memoir's voice",
      "title": "Read the memoir's voice",
      "text": "Consider how an experience becomes a published account with named writing collaborators. Keep the publisher's writing credits visible. Notice where faith shapes the narrator's interpretation. After reading, compare the memoir's scope with the author's description of the film."
    }
  ],
  "editions": [
    {
      "id": "soul-surfer-mtv-paperback-2006",
      "label": "Standard MTV trade paperback",
      "format": "Trade paperback",
      "publisher": "MTV Books",
      "isbn": "9781416503460",
      "publicationDate": "2006-06-06",
      "pages": 240,
      "extras": "Additional introductions, notes or supplementary material have not been established for this edition. Textual differences from other editions have not been established.",
      "why": "A print copy for a first reading, margin notes or a discussion group. This exact ISBN also has a verified used-copy search.",
      "sourceId": "source-1",
      "links": [
        {
          "kind": "new",
          "label": "Choose a retailer on the publisher's page",
          "url": "https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soul-Surfer/Bethany-Hamilton/An-Inspiring-True-Story/9781416503460",
          "note": "Exact selected trade paperback ISBN 9781416503460. Check the external provider’s regional and format terms."
        },
        {
          "kind": "used",
          "label": "Compare used copies by ISBN",
          "url": "https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9781416503460/n/100121502",
          "note": "Exact print ISBN search. Check seller condition, binding and delivery terms."
        },
        {
          "kind": "borrow",
          "label": "Find the title through your library",
          "url": "https://share.libbyapp.com/title/61262",
          "note": "Title-level borrowing of the separate ebook ISBN 9781416510840; not a verified local print holding. An eligible card and participating-library licence are required; availability and holds vary."
        }
      ],
      "translator": "Not applicable — English original"
    },
    {
      "id": "soul-surfer-mtv-ebook-2004",
      "label": "Licensed MTV ebook",
      "format": "Ebook",
      "publisher": "MTV Books",
      "isbn": "9781416510840",
      "publicationDate": "2004-10-28",
      "pages": 240,
      "extras": "Additional introductions, notes or supplementary material have not been established for this edition. Publisher-listed print-equivalent count; ebook pagination varies with display settings. No authorized secondhand transfer route was verified for this licensed ebook. Choose the paperback's used-copy search if you want a used physical copy. Publisher-direct digital purchases use the Simon & Schuster Books app; other retailer and library terms differ.",
      "why": "Choose a licensed digital copy if reading on a device suits you, or use the matching Libby record to look for a library loan.",
      "sourceId": "source-2",
      "links": [
        {
          "kind": "new",
          "label": "Visit the publisher's ebook page",
          "url": "https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soul-Surfer/Bethany-Hamilton/An-Inspiring-True-Story/9781416510840",
          "note": "Exact selected ebook ISBN 9781416510840. Check the external provider’s regional and format terms."
        },
        {
          "kind": "borrow",
          "label": "Find the title through your library",
          "url": "https://share.libbyapp.com/title/61262",
          "note": "Exact ebook ISBN 9781416510840 matches the inspected Libby and Ohio Digital Library records. An eligible card and participating-library licence are required; availability and holds vary."
        }
      ],
      "translator": "Not applicable — English original"
    }
  ],
  "digitalRoutes": [],
  "rightsNote": "Modern copyrighted work. Purchase authorized copies or borrow through licensed libraries; no free full-text route was verified. No book text or cover is hosted here.",
  "readerNote": "Discusses a shark attack, serious injury and amputation. Christian faith is central to the narrator's account. Read at a pace that suits you. The standard memoir is listed for readers fourteen and older. Its 2011 film is a separate adaptation; a separately titled younger-reader edition has not been established.",
  "deeper": {
    "themes": [
      {
        "title": "A life around the water",
        "text": "What ordinary routines make surfing feel central before and after the injury?"
      },
      {
        "title": "Practice and adaptation",
        "text": "Which adjustments complicate an easy summary of the story as willpower alone?"
      },
      {
        "title": "Support and agency",
        "text": "How do family, community and personal decisions work together in the account?"
      }
    ],
    "questions": [
      "How does Hamilton's Christian perspective shape the meaning she gives events, whether or not a reader shares it?",
      "What questions do the named writing credits raise about turning remembered experience into a book?",
      "How can you value this particular account without assuming every injured or disabled person should follow the same path?"
    ]
  },
  "series": null,
  "related": [
    {
      "title": "Atomic Habits",
      "url": "/books/atomic-habits/",
      "why": "Compare accounts of repeated work while preserving the memoir’s particular circumstances."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "source-1",
      "label": "Publisher — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soul-Surfer/Bethany-Hamilton/An-Inspiring-True-Story/9781416503460",
      "type": "Publisher",
      "note": "Exact title and subtitle; By Bethany Hamilton and Rick Bundschuh, with Sheryl Berk; Selected paperback metadata and publisher age guidance."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-2",
      "label": "Publisher — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Soul-Surfer/Bethany-Hamilton/An-Inspiring-True-Story/9781416510840",
      "type": "Publisher",
      "note": "Selected ebook ISBN, date and publisher-listed pages; Publisher ebook app requirement."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-3",
      "label": "Author — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://bethanyhamilton.com/press-media",
      "type": "Author",
      "note": "2004 autobiography; 2011 film distinction; Personal surfing and injury context."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-4",
      "label": "Licensed digital library discovery — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://share.libbyapp.com/title/61262",
      "type": "Licensed digital library discovery",
      "note": "Exact licensed ebook ISBN; All three named creators; Young-adult audience."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-5",
      "label": "Library licensed digital catalog — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://ohdbks.overdrive.com/media/61262",
      "type": "Library licensed digital catalog",
      "note": "Matching ebook ISBN, release date and formats."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-6",
      "label": "Bookseller marketplace — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9781416503460/n/100121502",
      "type": "Bookseller marketplace",
      "note": "Exact paperback ISBN used-copy search."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-7",
      "label": "National library catalog — Soul Surfer",
      "url": "https://natlib.govt.nz/records/30184008",
      "type": "National library catalog",
      "note": "Separate 2011 movie-tie edition ISBN and pagination; Movie journal, film interviews and plates."
    }
  ],
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-03",
  "attributionLine": "By Bethany Hamilton and Rick Bundschuh, with Sheryl Berk",
  "authorCredits": [
    {
      "name": "Bethany Hamilton",
      "role": "author"
    },
    {
      "name": "Rick Bundschuh",
      "role": "author"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sheryl Berk",
      "role": "contributor"
    }
  ],
  "canonical": "https://pointcast.xyz/books/soul-surfer/",
  "artworkProvenance": "/images/bookshelf-goodreads/provenance.json",
  "commerce": "External discovery links. Providers determine availability, prices, condition, and library eligibility. No PointCast stock, checkout, payment, or fulfilment.",
  "reproducedBookText": false,
  "quotationsUsed": 0,
  "artworkIsOfficialCover": false
}