Zenobia
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- 10,99 €
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- 10,99 €
Publisher Description
A deeply moving and award-winning graphic novel about a young Syrian refugee.
Zenobia was once a great warrior queen of Syria whose reign reached from Egypt to Turkey. She was courageous. No one gave her orders. Once she even went to war against the emperor of Rome. When things feel overwhelming for Amina, her mother reminds her to think of Zenobia and be strong. Amina is a Syrian girl caught up in a war that reaches her village. To escape the war she boards a small boat crammed with other refugees. The boat is rickety and the turbulent seas send Amina overboard. In the dark water Amina remembers playing hide and seek with her mother and making dolmas (stuffed grape leaves) and the journey she had to undertake with her uncle to escape. And she thinks of the brave warrior Zenobia.
Zenobia is a heartbreaking and all-too-real story of one child's experience of war. Told with great sensitivity in few words and almost exclusively with pictures, Zenobia is a story for children and adults.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Global news stories have brought urgent attention to the Syrian children who have drowned as they fled their war-ravaged country; this bleak, skillfully crafted graphic novel, translated from the Danish, personalizes the headlines by imagining one child's experience. In an opening scene, a boat perilously overfilled with refugees floats on a calm sea. Then a storm arrives, the waves surge, and a girl is flung into open water. As she begins to descend, she revisits scenes from her desperate journey: sparse wartime meals, her parents' disappearance, and her terrifying, multi-day walk to the sea, where her uncle places her on board the dangerously packed vessel. Along the way, she finds courage and comfort by considering her mother's stories of Zenobia, an ancient Syrian queen. D rr uses few words, allowing Horneman's uncluttered panels to tell most of the heartrending story. Indicating past and present, land and sea with skillful palette shifts, Horneman provides just enough detail to evoke the grim contexts while keeping readers focused on the child. The combined restraint of both the pictures and words powerfully amplifies the astonishing tragedy of the girl's fate, creating an unforgettable story that will stay with teens and adults alike. Ages 10 up.
