Greek / Greece
Dēmokratia
(Democracy)
Kaua, Abraam
(Kawa, Abraham)
(text)
Papadatos, Alekos
(Papadatos, Alecos)
(illus.)
Di Donna, Annie
(illus.)
[Athēna]: Ikaros, 2015. – 247 p.
ISBN 978-960-572-072-8
Democracy | Graphic novel | Non-fiction | Greece | History 500 BC
Reading age: 12+
White Ravens issue: 2016
This suspenseful, innovative graphic novel offers an historical-literary retrospective of the hard road to the birth of democracy in Greek antiquity, through the eyes of Leandros, an unknown young Athenian of that time. The characters are very human within a dense plot full of connections to the present day. The interplay between text and picture is captivating. The book is carefully researched; an informative glossary supports readers as they explore the historical facts. “Dēmokratia” has been translated into several languages and received the IBBY Greece young adult book award in 2016. Abraham Kawa has been working as a comic book author since 1994 and also has published numerous academic articles in cultural magazines in Greece and abroad. The illustrator team Alekos Papadatos and Annie di Donna received notice for “Logicomix”, which topped the New York Times Bestseller list in 2008.