The Story of Hurry
After a major invasion of the Gaza Strip in late 2008,twenty-year-old Mahmoud Barghout decided to become a zookeeper. Hesaw that the children around him were exhausted by war, and so toprovide respite, he set up the Happy Land Zoo. But the war madefeeding and caring for the animals impossible—they died of thirst,hunger, or injury—and replacing them meant finding large sums ofmoney and overcoming the blockade or the risk of bringing them inthrough tunnels connecting the Strip to Egypt. So Mr. Barghout cameup with a solution for at least one animal: he dyed two local whitedonkeys with dark stripes, to create zebras, which visitingchildren could touch and even ride.The Story of Hurry recounts the tale of these "made inGaza" zebras, of an inventive zookeeper just like Mr. Barghout, andof the wondrous capacity of the imagination of children. Written byEmma Williams, together with thought-provoking mixed-mediaillustrations by Ibrahim Quraishi, this picture book forinquisitive children aged 3 to 103 includes an historical note forparents, teachers, and librarians.