by Wafa’ Tarnowska
illustrated by Vali Mintzi
 
“Reading keeps everyone’s minds busy. Books don’t fight each other like people do”.
Nour lives in the “fragrant place”, Damascus, in Syria. She loves her Mama and Baba and also her cousin, Amir, with whom she shares a love of detective stories and  puddle-jumping. Together, they create The Secret Society of the Damascus for a group of their closest friends, complete with a password and a funny handshake. But on the day of their first meeting, war reaches their town and the local people are forced to hide underground. Amongst the shelling and the fear, the children still manage to live with hope, collecting discarded books from the streets to build a new secret library which they call, “Al-Fajr”, “dawn” in Arabic. 
 
‘This book told a unique story about people living during war. I really liked the colourful illustrations; (Maya, young Letterbox Library reviewer). ‘Really original. Wonderful story and a proper page turner… a really positive look at what, for many children, will be an unimaginably different life’ (Mark Jennett, Equalities Trainer/Consultant, Letterbox Library reviewer). 
 
Inspired by the real story of a group of young people in Daraya, southwest of Damascus, who saved 15,000 books from bombed houses and used these to build a library in an abandoned basement. Superb back notes on Syria, famous Middle Eastern libraries, attacks on sites of culture in war and the real secret library on which the story is based. You’ll also find a glossary and notes from the creators: Lebanese-born writer, Tarnowska, sheltered in a basement, during the 1975/6 civil war in Lebanon; Romanian-born illustrator, Mintzi, has lived for the last 30 years throughout the Middle East. A substantial picture book which would work across a larger than usual age span.  Age 4-8, Paperback 31pp