"This contemporary novel explores the complex and changing relationship between two Iraqi cousins: Nouri, a Shiite who just lost his beloved uncle at the hands of a Sunni car bomber, and Talib, whose father is Shiite and mother is Sunni. As violence increases in their Baghdad neighborhood, so does Nouri's rage towards his cousin for being half-Sunni, a rage that ultimately climaxes in Nouri sneaking out at night and launching a rock through Talib's bedroom window.Talib's family escapes the growing violence against Sunnis to Mutanabbi Street, a neutral zone close to his father's work, but even Mutanabbi Street proves unsafe as a car bombing results in his father getting injured and the family's book stall being destroyed. There is no real ending to Nouri and Talib's story, just as there is no foreseeable end to the Sunni/Shiite conflict, but the two boys do work out an awkward truce. The novel itself concludes with a description of an actual event: in January 2008, snow fell on Baghdad and, as the white flakes fell from the sky, the city fell silent--no gunfire, no mortar shells, just the enveloping white. Marsden's knack for getting deeply into a culture and creating realistic, believable characters proves effective once again; this is an accessible and engaging window into a specific time and place that will have current relevance to many young readers and units of study. Nouri and Talib alternate narration, with Talib's voice the more powerful, particularly as he explores his own previously devout religious feelings and questions which side of the conflict Allah is on. Descriptions are evocative, and juxtapositions between everyday realities and the violence effectively hint at the senselessness of the conflict.

A brief author's note and glossary are included." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.