Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq (Dragonfly Books)
Grade 3-6–ANew York Times Book Reviewcartoonist recounts the heroic story of Iraqi librarian Alia Muhammad Baker in a swift, 32-page, comic-book format. Stamaty's soft gray-and-beige panels realistically capture Baker's tremendous undertaking as she rescues over 30,000 volumes from her library in Basra before it's besieged. The drawings themselves intensify the traumatic story, and the in-your-face, all-caps dialogue bubbles enhance the sense of impending doom about to befall the library and the people. A fast-paced and informative Middle Eastern study for younger audiences.–Hillias J. Martin, New York Public Library--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.