Metro Roundup: Birmingham writers win national praise for children's book

Stray cats wandering a city in war-torn Syria almost a decade ago led to two Birmingham writers and a New York City artist sharing one of the most prestigious awards for children’s literature this year.

“The Cat Man of Aleppo,” written by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha and illustrated by Yuko Shimizu, is one of four books chosen as a Caldecott Honor Book. “We are Water Protectors,” illustrated by Michaela Goade and written by Carole Lindstrom, was the Caldecott Medal winner. Each year, the American Library Association recognizes the nation’s top picture books for children with Caldecott awards.

“The Cat Man of Aleppo” is based on the true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, an electrician in Aleppo, Syria, who in the middle of a civil war chose not to flee his country. Alaa became an ambulance driver and starting in 2012 used the money he earned to feed the abandoned and stray cats in Aleppo. The media covering the war took notice of Alaa’s efforts, leading to a Facebook page and donations that allowed Alaa to create a shelter for the cats. 

The story of the book about the Cat Man began in 2016 when Latham saw a tweet about Alaa and his work rescuing and sheltering the abandoned felines.

Latham knew Shamsi-Basha, a native of Syria who is a regular contributor to Alabama NewsCenter.

“I just knew he would be a great partner for this story,” she said.

Shamsi-Basha contacted Alaa, “and he was thrilled and excited about us doing the book.”

Shamsi-Basha, who came to the United States in 1984, also was “very, very thrilled” about telling Alaa’s story and how the book would portray the country of his birth.

“It’s such a positive humane story out of a war-torn country, when all you hear in the media about Islam and Arabs is usually negative, but this is one humane bright light in kind of a dim world,” he said. “So it was amazing to do, very fulfilling.”

Stacey Barney, the executive editor at Penguin Random House, gave the authors three choices of illustrators to choose from, and Shimizu stood out for both Shamsi-Basha and Latham.

She had done one that was published eight years ago and wasn’t sure she’d ever do another.

“That takes a lot of commitment for someone who does one picture and then moves on to the next,” Shimizu said. “If I’m going to spend one year on a project it has to be meaningful, and this felt exactly right for me.”

Even so, she faced a major challenge researching a story set in Syria with no background about the Middle East. Shamsi-Basha got in touch with her early.

“Karim being Syrian, he said, ‘You can ask me anything.’ I said, ‘That’s great, thank you, but I have zero idea what to ask,’” Shimizu said.

She immersed herself in research on Syria and Aleppo and the Cat Man. “I think after I read five or six books, I finally started to understand the broad picture of what Syria is, what Aleppo is, how the war affected it, how it started,” Shimizu said. It was at that point she said, “OK, Karim, now I have questions.”

Shamsi-Basha said Shimizu did “an incredible job.”

“For six months she did nothing but send me pictures and book titles. We had a dialog back and forth … Is this OK? Is this good? Does this look real? Even down to the hair clip in a girl’s hair. … She was very, very meticulous about her research.”

As an example, Shimizu collected up to 200 photographs of Alaa — “every angle of his face, facial expressions, what he wears. He actually wears those things I drew.” She used that thoroughness with every image.

“Pretty much everyone in this book, even the people in the market, there are a lot of people in the background, random people. They’re all based on someone in Aleppo or Syria,” Shimizu said. “The best I can do is give justice to who they are, how they are, what they wear, how they move, how they look and where they are, according to the best possible research I can possibly do as a person who is responsible to illustrate this book.”

For Latham, it’s an example of how much love poured into the book from all involved.

“To see it get this recognition and to share this story with children everywhere, it’s just so hopeful and positive,” she said. “I hope everyone is inspired to be more kind and to do things where they are and to think about people in a different way.”

The Caldecott award brought the authors and illustrators all kinds of attention — Shimizu joked that even her dogsitter who runs a dog day care said, ‘Oh my God, this is such a big deal.” But it’s the attention the award provides to the book that matters more to them.

“Winning this award means so many people will know the story and be exposed to the world of the unknown, and I think this is just fantastic,” Shimizu said.

First editions of “The Cat Man of Aleppo,” published in April 2020 by Penguin Random House, signed by the authors are available at Alabama Booksmith in Homewood and, as Shamsi-Basha says, “everywhere that books are sold.”