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"In a besieged city, Noor watches as his neighbors pack their bags and flee their homes--but a dog named Bobby is left behind. As Noor sets out across the ravaged city to save him, he discovers pockets of life and hope in this moving story of friendship in the face of adversity." --
About the author
Praline Gay-Para is a French-Lebanese storyteller, author, and actress. She's written numerous books for children and adults often based on her reflections about traditional folktales and life stories from Lebanon. In addition to her work as a writer and translator, Praline also collaborates with the theater company Pavé Volubile to produce plays and live performances. She currently lives in Paris.
Lauranne Quentric is an illustrator based in Brittany, France. She has illustrated dozens of children's books and also creates intricate marionettes and sculptures for children's theater events. Her work has been featured in exhibitions of children's book illustrations across France.
Alyson Waters is a translator of French and francophone literary fiction, art history, and children's literature. She has been awarded an NEA translation grant, a PEN translation grant, two grants from the Centre national du livre, and was twice winner of the French-American Foundation Translation Prize, for Eric Chevillard's Prehistoric Times and for Jean Giono's A King Alone. Her translation of the children's book The Tiger Prince by Chen Jiang Hong was awarded the Prix Albertine Jeunesse in 2019. Her most recent translations are Jean-Patrick Manchette's No Room at the Morgue (NYRB), and with her daughter Margot Kerlidou, Claude Ponti's Blaze and the Castle Cake for Bertha Daye (Elsewhere Editions). She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Summary
In a besieged city, Noor watches as his neighbors pack their bags and flee their homes—but a dog named Bobby is left behind. As Noor sets out across the ravaged city to save him, he discovers pockets of life and hope in this moving story of friendship in the face of adversity.
Then Noor goes off again
to find his dearest friend.
“Bobby, Bobby, where are you?
Bobby, Bobby, can I come, too?”
When Noor’s canine friend Bobby disappears from their apartment building one afternoon, Noor sets off on a perilous journey to find him. Noor stumbles through abandoned buildings and navigates streets cluttered with downed planes, barbed wire, and items left behind by fleeing residents. While searching for Bobby, Noor comes across other animals in the rubble of the city in need of his help. He frees a bird tangled in barbed wire, builds a shelter for a cat and her kittens, and is finally reunited with his beloved Bobby. Beautiful paper-cut collage illustrations highlight the realities of war as the brightness of Noor and his animal friends sharply contrasts with the desolate cityscape.
With its tender illustrations and animal-loving protagonist, Noor and Bobby is a compassionate and empathetic introduction to displacement and the realities of war and a heartwarming story of friendship from prolific French-Lebanese author Praline Gay-Para.
