Noor and Bobby

$18.95

Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 4–7

By Praline Gay-Para

Illustrations by Lauranne Quentric

Translated from the French by Alyson Waters

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.

Yonder: Restless Books for Young Readers | Ages 4–7

By Praline Gay-Para

Illustrations by Lauranne Quentric

Translated from the French by Alyson Waters

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.

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.

About the illustrator

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.

About the translator

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.

Book Details

Hardcover: 9781632063274 • $18.95
Publication date: Oct 25, 2022
9.25" x 8.25" • 40 pages
Territory: World English, Audio

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Praise

“...A boy runs after a dog abandoned by its owner in a city ravaged by war. The location of the city and the circumstances of the dog’s abandonment are never explained, but a sensitive reader will pick up clues that a catastrophe of some kind has taken place. The gap between what proves to be a fairly straightforward narrative and the mysterious world in which it unfolds will lead, one hopes, to honest yet comforting conversations between children and adults.”
—Eugene Yelchin, The New York Times

“[A] compassionate and tender reminder of humanity.”
—Juanita Giles, NPR Best Books 2022: Books We Love

"A hopeful story laced with complex themes of destruction that centers a child’s love and kindness.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A vacant, war-torn city with smashed rubble everywhere and few adults walking about may be an unlikely setting for a children’s book, but Noor’s act of kindness fills us with hope. It’s a gentle way of pointing out just two simple aspects of war: abandoned pets and the charitable acts that prove our humanity to us.”

—Mariana Ruiz, Geekdad

“With very serious undertones, this is a read which shines with the warmth of friendship and never dying hope.”
—Tonja Drecker, Bookworm for Kids

“This is a book that will prompt difficult questions. . . . It would be ideal to live in a world where children don’t have to confront the terrors of war or the trauma of leaving home as a refugee. Until then, I’m grateful for the authors, illustrators, translators and publishers who share these stories and help us all understand the reality.”
—Jackie Friedman Mighdoll, World Kid Lit

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