Alia's mission

by Mark Alan Stamaty

Told in cartoon panels, this graphic novel recounts how the librarian in Basra smuggled over 30,000 books to safety in war-torn Iraq. It is 2003 and Alia Muhammad Baker, the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq, has grown worried given the increased likelihood of war in her country. Determined to preserve the irreplacable records of the culture and history of the land on which she lives from the destruction of the war, Alia undertakes a courageous and extremely dangerous task of spiriting away 30,000 books from the library to a safe place. Told in dramatic graphic-novel panels by cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty, this book celebrates the importance of books and the freedom to read, while examining the impact of war on a country and its people.