83 Days in Mariupol: a War Diary by Don Brown

83 Days in Mariupol: a War Diary

A Graphic Novel

Don Brown

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · May 20, 2025

A young adult graphic novel that captures the complexities of the war in Ukraine, focusing on the siege of Mariupol (Feb ’22 – May ’22) and the brave people who stayed to defend their city against Russian forces as well as the resulting effects on global politics.

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Who it’s for
A compassionate, unflinching graphic account of Mariupol’s siege and the people who endured it.
Genres
Graphic History, Wars & Military History for Teens, European History
Published
HarperCollins, May 20, 2025

About this book

A young adult graphic novel that captures the complexities of the war in Ukraine, focusing on the siege of Mariupol (Feb ’22 – May ’22) and the brave people who stayed to defend their city against Russian forces as well as the resulting effects on global politics. A city ruined. In once quiet residential streets, two armies battle, driving people into cellars and basements with little food or water. No lights or heat. Dwindling medical supplies.

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Shells and bullets deliver cruel, random death to the young and old, men, women, and children. This is Mariupol, a Ukrainian city and early target of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Bordering Russian-occupied territory, the coastal city seemed doomed to a defeat that would come within days, if not hours. Could Mariupol, and Ukraine, survive? As Russian rockets threatened the city, Ukrainians resisted, and with a heroic combination of sacrifice and bravery, the besieged city endured . . . for months. But it all came at a steep cost. With compassion and his keen journalist’s eye, Sibert Honor creator Don Brown illuminates the horrors of Mariupol and the depredations of its people not seen in the city since World War II. He also shows that outside of Mariupol, the city’s agonies were mirrored by similar events occurring in towns and cities across Ukraine. 83 Days in Mariupol reminds us that the bloody defiance shown at the Alamo, Dunkirk, Leningrad, and Thermopylae isn’t confined to the past but has a violent, modern presence. It is the story of senseless destruction, patriotism, and grit against long odds—a brutal battle whose consequences still reverberate across Ukraine and continue to reshape the global political landscape. Read more books by Don Brown: - Run and Hide: How Jewish Youth Escaped the Holocaust - In the Shadow of the Fallen Towers: The Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks, Months, and Years after the 9/11 Attacks - Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 - The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees

War Up Close

A compassionate, unflinching graphic account of Mariupol’s siege and the people who endured it.

Come here for

  • A graphic history of Mariupol’s siege, told with a journalist’s eye
  • The human cost of war and its wider political reverberations

Expect

  • A stark look at civilian suffering and Ukrainian resistance
  • A modern conflict framed through its local and global consequences

Where it sits

Graphic History80%
Wars & Military History for Teens75%
European History37%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Political Lives
  • Graphic History
  • Graphic Social Topics
  • European History
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Wars & Military History for Teens
  • Modern History for Teens
  • Europe for Teens
  • Immigration for Teens
Authors
Don Brown
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
May 20, 2025
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
Political Lives