Nour's Secret Library

Forced to take shelter when their Syrian city is plagued with bombings, young Nour and her cousin begin to bravely build a secret underground library. Based on the author’s own life experience and inspired by a true story, Nour’s Secret Library is about the power of books to heal, transport and create safe spaces during difficult times. Illustrations by Romanian artist Vali Mintzi superimpose the colorful world the children construct over black-and-white charcoal depictions of the battered city.\nFrom School Library Journal\nGr 1-4-When Damascus, once a city of blooming roses, cherries, and apricots, becomes destroyed by war, Nour and Amir are forced to take shelter with their families in the small basement of their house. Despite the scary bombings, they start collecting books from the rubble and start a secret library called "Al-Fajr," or "dawn." This is a beautiful and poignant coming-of-age book. Everything about childhood is as it should be: a busy neighborhood, the sights and smells of a thriving community, bustling markets, and happy school children, who are dreaming and plotting their secret missions and imagining a world bigger than their dreams. It is a universal tale of how creative a child's mind can truly be. However, this book also takes readers on a heartbreaking journey and offers insight into how bombardments and warfare destroy a community and affect the most vulnerable. This book shows the spirit of the children and communicates that no matter the devastation around them, they will still find a way to dream of a better world. Black-and-white charcoal illustrations of the battered city are overlaid with the colorful world to depict the wrecked city. Back matter and the glossary provides an excellent opportunity to learn about Syria and famous libraries of the Middle East. VERDICT Based on the author's and illustrator's personal experiences, this unique war story is full of hope and resilience that shines through even the worst of situations.-Noureen Qadir-Jafarα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Children's Books

Tarnowska, Wafa'

Literature & Fiction

BAREFOOT BOOKS+

Discover the Amazing Queen of Sheba, dive into the musical world of singer Fairuz, and meet Nadia Murad, an outstanding Nobel Peace Prize winner. This collection of 25 short biographies, illustrated in different styles by five talented artists, reveals how these fascinating women achieved their goals, with a strong sense of purpose, courage and not a little determination. Shining a light on well known and lesser known lives, there is something here for every reader's interest. A glossary helps the younger reader with terms.

Amazing Women of the Middle East: 25 Stories to Inspire Girls Everywhere

Biographies

Pikku Publishing

A prose translation of the Sufi poet Nizami's twelfth-century Haft Paykar is a collection of tales within a tale, where seven princesses entertain Shah Bahram with their stories of adventure, magic, and miracles.

The Seven Wise Princesses: A Medieval Persian Epic

Niẓāmī Ganjavī

Classics

Lebanese author Wafa' Tarnowska opens a window onto the Arab world with her magnificent new translation of eight stories from A Thousand and One Nights. This edition is notable for combining favourites such as 'Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp' with less familiar tales such as 'The Diamond Anklet' and 'The Speaking Bird and the Singing Tree'. The collection also features the frame story about Shahriyar and Shahrazade. A classic of world literature, newly translated by an Arab author who has divided her adult life between Europe and the Middle East, and who has based this retelling on a fourteenth-century Syrian manuscript. Sumptuous illustrations by French illustrator Carole Henaff, who has travelled in the Arab world and now lives with her family in Barcelona.

The Arabian Nights

Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths

Lebanese author Wafa Tarnowska opens a window onto the Arab world with her magnificent translation of eight stories from A Thousand and One Nights. This edition is notable for combining favorites such as Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp with less familiar tales such as The Diamond Anklet and The Speaking Bird and the Singing Tree. The collection also features the frame stories about Shahriyar and Shahrazade.

The Arabian Nights (Classics Advanced Readers)

Reference

Amazing Women of the Middle East

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tarnowska, Wafa'. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Tarnowska, Wafa'

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Tarnowska, Wafa'. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nour's Secret Library

Nour's Secret Library

Amazing Women of the Middle East: 25 Stories to Inspire Girls Everywhere

The Seven Wise Princesses: A Medieval Persian Epic

The Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights (Classics Advanced Readers)

Amazing Women of the Middle East