Alia's mission Saving the books of Iraq ; inspired by a true story

Crisp graphic-novel panels rendered in pen-and-ink with pencil and gray wash play up the urgency of and dramatically recreate Alia Baker's efforts to save the books of the Basra library in Iraq. Stamaty (Who Needs Donuts?) introduces Alia Muhammad Baker, chief librarian at the Basra Central Library, underscoring her lifelong passion for books. He portrays her as a child reader, when she learned about her country's history-including the 13th-century Mongol invasion in which a fire destroyed the Baghdad library. An effective segue to the present reveals Baker, her country on the brink of war, concerned about the safety of her own library. Gearing his book to a slightly older audience than Winter's (reviewed above), Stamaty shows Baker requesting the government's permission to remove the collection from the building; after she is refused, she begins sneaking books out of the library herself. Baker manages, with help from friends, to remove 30,000 volumes from the library, transporting them to private homes for safekeeping. Stamaty effectively captures the danger of the moment: as bombs explode in the background, the rescuers hurry the books out of the building. After depicting the sad sight of the library engulfed in flames days later, and Baker's resulting stroke, Stamaty ends his account on a hopeful note, explaining that the resilient Baker has turned her attention to the design and building of a new library. The text conveys the intense emotions experienced by Baker, which move from anguish to sorrow to joy, aptly captured in the artwork. Ages 6-up. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(Primary, Intermediate) Cartoonist Stamaty uses graphic-novel panels to tell about the 2003 rescue of an Iraqi library's books in the midst of the war -- the same story told in Jeanette Winter's The Librarian of Basra (rev. 1/05). A talking book character provides some background and narrates the story, describing librarian Alia Baker as a ""real-life superhero."" Stamaty provides more detail than does Winter about how Alia smuggled the books out of Basra Central Library, but this book also includes some unattributed conversations (in dialogue balloons) between Alia and her husband, among others. Stamaty emphasizes the community effort involved, as word spread and many people helped transfer thirty thousand of the library's forty thousand books before the library burned to the ground. The graphic-novel format will doubtless appeal more to children who see picture books as babyish, and while the black ink cartoon drawings lack the sophisticated beauty of Winter's paintings, the action is more immediate and exciting. Many libraries will want both books, to show history in two different ways and to discuss how style affects the way stories are conveyed. A final page includes more information about the history of libraries in the Middle East. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.

Cartoonist Stamaty sees Alia of Basra as a superhero, and tells her story in black-and-white graphic-novel format. Alia was the librarian of Basra in Iraq, who, as American and British soldiers came to topple Saddam, increasingly feared for her book collection, "the irreplaceable collective memory of our people." When she could not get official help, she moved thousands of volumes into her own home and, with the help of neighbors, into a nearby restaurant, although she had a stroke at the end and much of the library building was burned. Alia is now overseeing the creation of a new library in Basra. An anthropomorphized book with hands, feet, and a cheery face narrates the tale, putting it in historical context. Stamaty's straightforward, slightly exaggerated graphic style carries the power of his story forward and end notes add information on the importance of Iraq in the history of language and libraries. Jeanette Winter's Librarian of Basra (2004) is more beautiful, but this is both worthy and compelling. (Picture book/graphic novel. 7-10) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.