The Camel Bookmobile
The Camel Bookmobile: A Novel
The Camel Bookmobile
Masha Hamilton
Fiona Sweeney wants to do something that matters, and she chooses to make her mark in the arid bush of northeastern Kenya. By helping to start a traveling library, she hopes to bring the words of Homer, Hemingway, and Dr. Seuss to far-flung tiny communities where people live daily with drought, hunger, and disease. Her intentions are honorable, and her rules are firm: due to the limited number of donated books, if any one of them is not returned, the bookmobile will not return.But, encumbered by her Western values, Fi does not understand the people she seeks to help. And in the impoverished small community of Mididima, she finds herself caught in the middle of a volatile local struggle when the bookmobile's presence sparks a dangerous feud between the proponents of modernization and those who fear the loss of traditional ways.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Adventure
  • Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
Profile Picture

Fiona Sweeney wants to do something worthwhile with her life, so she volunteers to travel to Africa and run a bookmobile. She favors one community in particular, Mididima. But many people in Mididima resent this "white woman" and the bookmobile in fear their children will forget tradition. When some of the books borrowed from the bookmobile by a Mididima boy are not returned, Fi is ordered to discontinue her visits to Mididima. She is determined to find the books and continue her work there.

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