The next picture book we are going to read is The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter.
Pre-reading question:
How might a library be affected by war? Why might it be important to protect a library and preserve its contents?
Post-reading questions:
What does the text make you think and feel about war? About the conservation and importance of books and history?
Alia Muhammad Baker is the librarian of Basra, a port city in the sand-swept country of Iraq. Her library is a meeting place for all who love books. They discuss matters of the world and matters of the spirit.
Until now - now, they talk only of war.
Alia worries that the fires of war will destroy the books, which are more precious to her than mountains of gold. The books are in every language - new books, ancient books, even a biography of Muhammad that is seven hundred years old. She asks the governor for permission to move them to a safe place. He refuses.
So Alia takes matters in to her own hands. Secretly, she brings books home every night, filling her car late after work.
The whispers of war grow louder. Government officers are moved into the library. Soldiers with guns wait on the roof. Alia waits - and fears the worst. Then... rumors become reality.
War reaches Basra. The cit is lit with a firestorm of bombs and gunfire.
Alia watches as library workers, government workers, and soldiers abandon the library. Only Alia is left to protect the books.
She calls over the library wall to her friend Anis Muhammad, who owns a restaurant on the other side. "Can you help me save the books?"
"I can use these curtains to wrap them."
"Here are crates from my shop."
"Can you use these sacks?"
"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 walls, and hide them in Anis's restaurant.
The books stay hidden as the war rages on.
Then, nine days later, a fire burns the library to the ground.
The next day, soldiers come to Anis's restaurant.
"Why do you have a gun?" they ask.
"To protect my business," Anis replies.
The soldiers leave without searching inside.
The do no know that the whole of the library is in my restaurant, thinks Anis.
At last, the beast of war moves on. Alia knows that if the books are to be safe, they must be moved again, while the city is quiet. So she hires a truck to bring all thirty thousand books to her house and to the houses of friends.
In Alia's house, books are everywhere, filling floors and cupboards and windows leaving barely enough room for anything else.
Alia waits.
She waits for war to end. She waits, and dreams of peace.
She waits... and dreams of a new library.
But until then, the books are safe - safe with the librarian of Basra.
Here is the New York Times article that this book is based on:
"AFTER THE WAR: THE LIBRARIAN; Books Spirited to Safety Before Iraq Library Fire" by Shaila K. Dewan, Published July 27, 2003
Actual Text of
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeannette Winter
The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq by Jeannette Winter
"In the Koran, the first thing God said to Muhammad was 'Read.'" - Alia Muhammad Baker from the New York times, July 27, 2003
Alia Muhammad Baker is the librarian of Basra, a port city in the sand-swept country of Iraq. Her library is a meeting place for all who love books. They discuss matters of the world and matters of the spirit.
Until now - now, they talk only of war.
Alia worries that the fires of war will destroy the books, which are more precious to her than mountains of gold. The books are in every language - new books, ancient books, even a biography of Muhammad that is seven hundred years old. She asks the governor for permission to move them to a safe place. He refuses.
So Alia takes matters in to her own hands. Secretly, she brings books home every night, filling her car late after work.
The whispers of war grow louder. Government officers are moved into the library. Soldiers with guns wait on the roof. Alia waits - and fears the worst. Then... rumors become reality.
War reaches Basra. The cit is lit with a firestorm of bombs and gunfire.
Alia watches as library workers, government workers, and soldiers abandon the library. Only Alia is left to protect the books.
She calls over the library wall to her friend Anis Muhammad, who owns a restaurant on the other side. "Can you help me save the books?"
"I can use these curtains to wrap them."
"Here are crates from my shop."
"Can you use these sacks?"
"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 walls, and hide them in Anis's restaurant.
The books stay hidden as the war rages on.
Then, nine days later, a fire burns the library to the ground.
The next day, soldiers come to Anis's restaurant.
"Why do you have a gun?" they ask.
"To protect my business," Anis replies.
The soldiers leave without searching inside.
The do no know that the whole of the library is in my restaurant, thinks Anis.
At last, the beast of war moves on. Alia knows that if the books are to be safe, they must be moved again, while the city is quiet. So she hires a truck to bring all thirty thousand books to her house and to the houses of friends.
In Alia's house, books are everywhere, filling floors and cupboards and windows leaving barely enough room for anything else.
Alia waits.
She waits for war to end. She waits, and dreams of peace.
She waits... and dreams of a new library.
But until then, the books are safe - safe with the librarian of Basra.
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