№ 47. A Missing Piece of Alexandria

from doctorbulldog:  The great Library of Alexandria,
established by Ptolemy II (circa 280 BC),
has come to symbolize the receptacle of knowledge of Classical civilization.
This great repository was barbarously razed in the Middle Ages.

I bought a hardbound copy of the book, "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers", at Book Sale. For P120, it was a steal!

The narrator spoke of the high adventure of a tightrope artist but with a quiet remembrance of the Twin Towers, at the very end.

As books exist to be told and retold, and to survive the many retelling, our copy was meant to bear battle scars and dog ears. I think I read it for my nephews a number of times.

Then Ondoy belched into our walled urban lives.

Along with a host of many precious objects, including our Alexandria, the book was lost.

Existence is fragile. So we grieve for lost things.

I'm still scouring for a similar copy at Book Sale. Hopefully, one of my diggings will yield a rich haul.



Bento Box:

"The Man Who Walked Between the Towers is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein. Published in 2003, the book tells the true story of Philippe Petit, a man who walked between the twin towers of the World Trade Center on a tightrope. Gerstein won the 2004 Caldecott Medal for his illustrations.

The book was adapted into an animated short film with the same name in 2005 for Weston Woods Studios by Michael Sporn. It was narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal. The film received the Audience Choice Award for best short film at the 2005 Heartland Film Festival,and the award for Best Short Animation Made for Children at the 2006 Ottawa International Animation Festival. It is included as an extra on the DVD of the Oscar-winning documentary Man on Wire." (from Wikipedia)