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So sweet and inspirational. Sometimes you just need to read something like this to remember what hope, joy and love can do.

The primary audience for this picture book about children during wartime is Grade 4-8. I recommend it to teens & adults also. Inspired by a true event—a library assembled from scavenged books in a basement in Syria—the author also drew on her own childhood experiences sheltering with neighbours during wartime in Lebanon. The message that books are one of the ways people cope with disaster & despair is a hopeful one. #kidlit

Illustrator Vali Mintzi uses charcoal to show the devastation of aerial bombardment outside, and uses gouache in shades of red, blue & gold for interior scenes as well as pre-war peaceful times in Damascus.

Their secret library had become a safe port in a sea of war.

It is amazing how children adapt to their surroundings. Nour and her friends were living a normal life climbing trees, playing hide-and-seek, and jumping over puddles. But all that changes when war comes to Damascus. This is a look at the life of children who are surrounded by war.