The Camel Bookmobile is a gentle story of a woman who travels to Africa to bring literacy to illiterate people. As a teacher, I often wonder about the importance of some of what we are teaching our kids. The Camel Bookmobile does an excellent job of illustrating the point that what we need to know is different for different people. When Fiona starts her quest to bring literacy to a group of people in the African bush, she cannot imagine anyone who would not value books. She learns many valuable lessons through her journey; the ending will surprise you.

Fiona Sweeney is a 36-year-old librarian from New York. She decides, somewhat naively, to move to Garissa, Kenya in Africa in the hope of educating the children and adults of small villages dotting the vast landscape through reading books and learning English. Of course, their current language is Swahili. Fiona receives help from Mr. Abasi and soon her mobile library becomes a reality, thanks to the ‘camels’ who carry the books over the rugged terrain! As they set off, the village of Mididima becomes her favourite stop and there she meets a cast of characters you will come to love.

Written with humour, naivete, drama and wit, The Camel Bookmobile will be sure to brighten your day! It was one of those books that left me leaning my head back and smiling!