Customer Reviews

The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq

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I recently asked my seven year old granddaughter what her favorite school subject was and she immediately said, "Library, because there are so many books there and I love to read." A few days later I read the review of "The Librarian of Basra" in the Washington Post and decided this was the perfect book for her. I just read it myself today and can't wait to share it with Maria. I am also going to order a copy for her school library because I think it sends a double message - the importance of books in our lives and the terrible effects of war on everyone. Jeanette Winter's illustrations are beautiful. I would truly recommend this book to elementary school children.

Writing current picture books about the war in Iraq is difficult for a number of reasons. First of all, people tend to shy away from writing picture books that have strong political messages in them. And it is clear that any view of American involvement in Iraq is going to contain a slant one way or another. Second, picture books are supposed to inspire and instruct. How inspirational is it to look at the rising death toll and innocent lives taken during the course of this most peculiar of wars? So it's little wonder that when several children's authors heard the story of Alia Muhammad Baker they felt moved to write her story out for children everywhere to hear. One of the best of these is Jeanette Winter's, "The Librarian of Basra". Though no book about Iraq is completely bereft of a political view of what we did, this story speaks beyond the immediate problems and looks to the future in a truly moving way. It stands as perhaps one of the best ways to instruct little children about the war and its aftermath.

As librarians go, Alia Muhammad Baker is a inspiration to her brethren. When people started predicting the impending war in Basra, Alia was certain that the books would be destroyed. These aren't just your shabby paperbacks or romance novels either. Alia's collection was privy to owning a biography of Muhammad that was 700 years old, amongst its other treasures. When pleas with the authorities to move the books yielded nothing, Alia went out and rescued the books herself. She took them home, recruited friends and neighbors to help her remove them from the library, and hid them in her friend Anis Muhammad's restaurant. Then, when the worst of the initial war was over, she transferred them into the homes of different people. In the last pages the book notes that as the continuing skirmishes plague the landscape, "Alia waits". She hopes for peace and a beautiful new library but until that happens she will keep her books safe and sound, wherever they may be.

I'm a political beast by nature. If I get the inkling that a picture is simplifying an issue to the point of banality (or idiocy) then I get upset. I never got upset with "The Librarian of Basra". Winter treats her subject with respect, dignity, and an even hand. She gives us person who's life goal is understandable to kindergartner and senior citizen alike. Alia was a rescuer of books. A librarian who went beyond and above the call of duty. If that isn't an example of heroism, what is? It is clear from the book, also, that the war that plunged Alia into this trouble in the first place was not exactly necessary. Oh, it never says this in so many words. But kids who have somehow remained unaware of the cause behind the war may be confused as to why it suddenly bursts out of a clear blue sky the way it does. Adults may have difficulty coming up with any answers, too.

How well "The Librarian of Basra" will age is up for speculation. The book ends with the fighting in Iraq continuing during American occupation. How long that'll last is something few pundits agree on. In any case, the tale of one woman's courage in the face of an inevitable war is stirring and heartening. As a librarian myself, I have to admit I've a fondness for it on a personal level that may skew my otherwise faultless sense of what makes a book bad or good. But it's important to remember that this book is a parable and, due to that format, will remain beloved long after Iraq reaches its final destiny. For the sake of Alia, let us hope it is soon.

"Alia Muhammad Baker is the librarian of Basra, a port city in the sand-swept country of Iraq." So begins this moving tale of one librarian's attempts to save the beloved books in her library as war threatens.

When the governor of Basra refuses her request to move the books to a safe place, "Alia takes matters into her own hands." When the city is "lit with a firestorm of bombs and gunfire," Alia, with the help of her friends, manages to transfer thousands of books-some of them irreplaceable-to a nearby restaurant. Nine days later, the library burns to the ground.

As the war moves inland and away, Alia is able to move the books once again-this time to her home and homes of friends. One double-page spread shows the inside of Alia's house: Books are everywhere: in cupboards; under the bed; stacked on stools. Until a new library can be built, "the books are safe-safe with the librarian of Basra."

The story, a true one, was inspired by an article about the librarian's efforts which appeared in the New York Times in 2003. Jeanette Winter does an outstanding job. The tale is simply, yet powerfully told-at once both haunting and hopeful. The bold, colorful, acrylic and pen illustrations adroitly and accurately portray the people and place.

An author's note is appended which informs us that not long after the library burned, "Alia suffered a stroke and had heart surgery. But she is healing, and despite all, she is determined to see that the library is rebuilt."

Classroom Uses: We took this book into a 6 th-grade geography classroom that was studying the Middle East. The students had previously researched and discussed the restricted roles of women in some countries in the region. We read the book aloud. The students enjoyed the story and were clearly moved by it. They asked many questions. Several commented on the fact that Alia chose to stand up for something she believed in even though it was dangerous. As one student noted, "You don't have to be powerful to do powerful things." ( Ahh, the elusive, perfect "teachable moment.") If you are looking for quality children's literature that will generate thoughtful discussion, this is it.

Highly recommended. District-wide purchase encouraged.

Miles C-S

The Librarian of Basra
by: Jeanette Winter

Alia Muhammad Baker is a librarian at a local library in Basra Iraq. People would just go there and talk about things on their mind. She is worried that the library will get blown up because it is the time of war. Books are more important to her than mountains of gold. She asks the governor for permission to move the books somewhere safe, but he says no. Alia takes matters into her own hands; she moves all the books one by one into her friend's restaurant. After nine days of this awful war the library is burned down. When the town settles down she hires a big truck to bring the books to her friends houses as well as hers. To this day the war is still going, but she still dreams of a new library.

I thought this was a great book. It is a book that any level of a reader can read and enjoy. It may look like a children's book but its content will make you think differently. I think that this is a great book for everyone. There is lots and lots of color. The color of the pages represent the mood of the page. If you buy this book some of the money will go to help rebuild a new library for Alia.

First, I'll name the things I love. As a raving book lover, I appreciate the subject of a librarian who loves books so much that she goes to such great lengths to save them. I love that others have enough respect for the books and the incredibly rich history of Iraq to help her. Like other reviewers, I love the example of this heroic and strong Muslim woman. She was literally saving history. This book has so much going for it.

Unfortunately, I had two giant problems with this book. I just read all currently posted reviews (33 at present). I'm saddened that not one reviewer has pointed out two very significant lines of text on page six. "Government offices are moved into the library. Soldiers with guns wait on the roof." One reviewer who disliked the book's message even said, "If our service men and women did destroy a library, it was either by accident or because it was harboring Saddam's military goons or material." Well, yes, exactly, but somehow everyone who reviewed this book seems to have missed that very important piece of information. The library WAS housing government activity and those cowards knew that their country's books, indeed its very history, would then be in danger. They ran away from the offices in the library and left its contents behind to be bombed. Thankfully, this noble woman was there to save the irreplaceable. Unfortunately, because the author does not elaborate at all on this point, everyone seems to be missing it. Sadly, those most likely to miss the point are children, the intended audience. Many adults have reviewed this book noting how much they personally love it. That's truly wonderful and I feel the same thing about many of my kids' books but this book was, in fact, written for children and it does them a disservice by rushing past an extremely important point. The author had a chance to perfectly emphasize the abundance of courage that Alia Muhammad Baker showed. Originally, she was most likely worried that the library would suffer collateral damage. Indeed, she was worried about the library being lost to "the fires of war" even before the government offices moved in. Once they did, she had to know that the library would be an actual target and that a strike could come at any time once the war began. Her bravery for going back into that building to rescue books time after time even after the bombs started falling becomes even more laudable when viewed in this light. She was in very real danger because of those offices.

Also, I would have liked it depicted that the books were being hidden from looters and vandals. Instead, it was clearly illustrated and stated that they were being hidden from soldiers. The only conclusion that those reading the book can draw is that soldiers would have destroyed the books. "The soldiers leave without searching inside. They do not know that the whole of the library is in my restaurant, thinks Anis." Heartbreaking and infuriating, period. I guess now is the time to mention that my husband is a soldier. My husband, who has personally funded my kids' 500+ book personal library and my ever growing book addiction, is a soldier. The fact that this book about such a noble woman was written and illustrated in such a way that children come away thinking that soldiers are the kind of people who intentionally destroy books is abhorrent to me.

I'm so anti the Iraq war and anti-Bush I have a countdown calendar for his presidency on my kitchen counter. But I am the wife of a soldier and the mother of his three children and I am far too offended by the low points of this book to read it to my kids. Soldiers don't vote to go to war. Presidents order them to go, for better or for worse. Soldiers join the ranks to serve their country and hope that if and when they are ordered into battle that it is for a noble cause. And if the cause is noble, how grateful our country is to have them there. They don't get to pick though. Whether they agree or disagree, off they go without voice. I am my husband's voice tonight and I am offended beyond measure.

For a moment, let's stop talking about politics and start talking about soldiers. Most of them are dads. My particular soldier wept openly when his babies were born, changes diapers and does pigtails like a pro, built a giant sandbox despite his intense distaste for sand, and has tickle fights and reads stories nightly...when he's not on 12-15 month deployments to a country he'd rather he had never set foot in. He probably knows more than 50 of our kids' books by heart, as he has been reading to them since the day they were born. He does voices that would rival the best audio books. He lovingly and perfectly tapes back together books with torn pages or loose binding, a fact of life for favorites. Every week I send a new kids' book from Amazon all the way to his trailer in Iraq, where he videotapes himself reading it. When the kids get their weekly Daddy video and their new book, that's the highlight of their week. Just picture their confusion if I were to read them this book. Now picture the child who doesn't know a soldier. There is no confusion, just the misguided notion that soldiers would have destroyed the books if they had found them.

Please think twice before you read this to your kids. At the very least, be prepared to have a discussion about what the Iraqis perceive to be the American soldiers' intentions versus the reality of what the soldier is really there for. Soldiers don't care if there is a mile-high pile of books behind a door. They're simply hoping there aren't armed combatants ready to take their lives and prevent them from returning home to read their children some bedtime stories.

This is an Excellent book for kids, it does so many things. It celeberates a true hero, it shows the kids the importance of books and it helps kids realize that there are ugly sides to war that other kids have to go through.

I bought this book for my kids as well and they loved it.

This contemporary story about an Iraqi librarian rescuing 70% of the Basra Central Library's books speaks of both individual courage and the irreplaceable value of books. It's based on actual events: With Allied bombers approaching Basra in April 2003, chief librarian Alia Muhammad Baker asks the local government for permission to move the books. For reasons not explained to the reader, official deny her request, "so Alia takes matters into her own hands." At first, she drives small loads to her home, but when the bombing begins and the library staff flees, she adopts a larger plan to save the books. A network of friends and relatives (most notably neighboring merchant Anis Muhammad) race to hide 30,000 books in Muhammad's nearby restaurant:

"'The books must be saved.' All through the night, Alia, Anis, his brothers, and shopkeepers and neighbors take the books from the library shelves, pass them over the seven-foot wall, and hide them in Anis' restaurant. The books stay hidden as the war rages on. Then, nine days later, a fire burns the library to the ground." As first reported by New York Times journalist Shaila K. Dewan, Baker and her friends waited out the bombs and then moved the thousands of books to the homes of friends, where, presumably, many of them still wait out the violence. An afterward explains that Alia Muhammad Baker suffered a stroke not long after and underwent heart surgery; she is "healing, and despite all, she is determined to see that the library is rebuilt."

The story begins weakly, largely due to some rather conventional pictures that evoke Saturday morning TV shows. Smooth, Western-looking faces speak about the impending war ("Will planes with bombs fill the sky?"), but the multitude of talking heads seems flat. (Older readers might like M. A. Stamaty's 32-page "Alia's Mission : Saving the Books of Iraq" for a more detailed and realistic version of the story.) However, Winter's introduction of the librarian personalizes the story, and her increasingly authentic pictures add realism and a sense of urgency to the rescue. In several dramatic scenes, Winter's bombing planes fill the fiery night sky, tanks shoot long lines of gunfire, and citizens flee against silhouetted minarets, domes, and palm trees. No bloodshed is shown, but Winter convincingly and appropriately shows the ensuing devastation. (There's also a 4-page daydream sequence about a peaceful Iraq, beautifully illustrated with colorful colors and motifs.) The Iraqi people who participated in Baker's "underground" book relocation probably risked their lives to save the books, and I expect that their story will evoke emotion and strong emotions and passionate discussion.

The Librarian of Basra
By Jeannette Winter
James H.
This is a book about the war and how important books are to some people.
Alia Muhammad Baker clearly loves her books more than anything in the world.
Then she hears people talk about the war and how they think its coming to Basra. So then she starts moving some of the books to her house. Then the war comes and she needs to move the books somewhere. So she orders a moving truck to move all the books to her house and her friends houses as well.
I think this is a good book with great illustration.

This is a very realistic book and about how the war affects the people in iraq and how most of them are just like us. I suggest reading this book if you like real stories like this one.

There are many wonderful things about this book which have already been mentioned by 27 of the other reviewers. However, what struck me the most was that Alia Muhammad Baker, the main character of The Librarian of Basra, is a strong Muslim woman who becomes a heroine in her struggle to preserve her faith and country's heritage at her cherished library.

This is very critical considering that most readers of this book probably view Muslim women as oppressed and passive as opposed to strong and committed to their faith.

Anyone who wishes to offer a more balanced presentation of Muslim women in their classroom or to their children should get this book and read it themselves and to kids.

As a future educator and librarian, this book touched my heart. Winter has written a true story that allows readers an opportunity to see what life is like for an Iraqi librarian trying desperately to save her library's books. This book teaches about perseverance, survival, dedication, the effects of war. Read it today!