The Camel Bookmobile

The Camel Bookmobile is a fictional tale of an American librarian who leaves Brooklyn to work for a relief organization in Africa that sends books on the backs of camels to forgotten villages. Her intentions are entirely pure but, when the bookmobile causes a feud among the nomadic tribe it aims to help, she realizes her good deeds may come with a high price. The actual Camel Bookmobile made its first run almost a decade ago. Three dromedaries trudged through arid northeastern Kenya to bring a library to settlements so remote they had become nearly invisible. Lacking roads, clean water, and food, those who inhabited these villages had never been to school much less held a book in their hands. The books that came to them were rare and precious gifts, allowing them to briefly escape the reality of squalor and destitution. ''With a heartfelt appreciation for the potential of literature to transcend cultural divides, Hamilton has created a poignant, ennobling, and buoyant tale of risks and rewards, surrender and sacrifice.''-Booklist (starred review) Freshman Common Read: NYU Steinhardt School of Education

About the author

A journalist who has worked for NBC Mutual Radio, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, and other well-known news organizations, Masha Hamilton is the author of The Distance Between Us and Staircase of a Thousand Steps. She lives with her family in New York City.

Product details

• Authors: Masha Hamilton
• Publisher: Harper Perennial USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 01.04.2008
• EAN: 9780061173493
• ISBN: 978-0-06-117349-3
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 138 mm x 205 mm x 22 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION: General, FICTION: Historical / General, FICTION: Romance / Contemporary, FICTION: Romance / Historical / Medieval, FICTION: African American & Black / Women, FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE: FICTION, FICTION: Political