A Librarian's Love of Books is Universal

The Librarian of Basra

Written by Jeanette Winter

Illustrated by Jeanette Winter

Hardcourt, 2003

32 pages

NonFiction/Multicultural

            I choose this book because I wanted to see life in another country at a time when most people don’t want to hear about that country.  We were in/at war with Iraq when this book was written.  This book gives the true story of a librarian who wanted nothing more than to save the books at her library.  She does not care there is a war or why she only wants to save the books.  She also gets help from friends.  To see if she is successful in saving the books, sit down with an open heart and mind and read this wonderful book written about a terrible time.

            The illustrations are done in a folk art acrylic and pen on Archis water color paper.  The illustrations seem to be looking at the reader.  I loved the use of rich color and text that is on the page with the illustrations but not to overpower the reader.  Although the colors are rich blues, purple and greens, they have a peace to them I can’t explain.

            This book would be good for kindergarten through sixth grade.  A social studies and geography lesson about Iraq and their culture would be a great fit for this book.  A character education lesson would also work well because not every person wants or cares for war, and not all people from Iraq are bad.  At this time this book as won no awards.