The January 2005 BookPage has an interview with Jeanette Winter, author of The Librarian of Basra. Inspired by a New York Times article, the children’s picture book tells the story of Alia Mumammad Baker, the Iraqi librarian who sneaked 30,000 books out of the Basra Central Library [illo] shortly before the building burned down after the war started. [BookPage] – [Bookselling This Week] – (Earlier story on LISNews)
The same story is told in Alia’s Mission, by Mark Alan Stamaty (Washingtoon; Who Needs Donuts). “Told in dramatic graphic-novel panels by acclaimed cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty, Alia’s Mission celebrates the importance of books and the freedom to read, while examining the impact of war on a country and its people.” [Random House]
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