The camel bookmobile is masha hamiltons third book following her excellent 2004 novel, the distance between us. Libraries where one can check out and read as many books as we want are everywhere in the u. The camel bookmobile masha hamilton harperperennial paperback. The camel bookmobile is a triumphant tale of the indomitable human spirit similar in feeling and themes to the immensely popular slumdog millionaire. The camel bookmobile book fraser valley regional library. Masha hamiltons novel centres on an unusual topic a mobile library taken by camel train to a remote african village. Photos show masha with the camel bookmobile in kenya during her trip in february 2006. In this vivid, absorbing novel, masha hamilton transports her readers, even more surely than the camels do books, to the village of mididima and the struggle between traditional values and western education. Masha hamiltons compelling third novel, the camel bookmobile, leaves no room for doubt. By helping to start a traveling library, she hopes to bring the words of homer, hemingway, and dr. She lives with her family in new york city in from the publisher. Hamilton was driving her three children to the library when her daughter told her about a camel bookmobile she had heard of in africa that once had a strict edict.
Have you read the camel bookmobile by masha hamilton. Hamilton captures the quiet beauty and underlying danger of the african desert while exploring her story through the unique views of each character. The camel bookmobile made its first run almost a decade ago. After her book was published, it was featured along with the real bookmobile in the december 2007 issue of o, the oprah magazine, and the march 2008 issue of family circle. Seuss, homer, tom sawyer, and hemingway to a largely illiterate and seminomadic populace.
Four times a week, in sweltering temperatures, librarians and camel drivers travel from garissa and wajir to accompany the camels two to three hours into the bush. Veteran reporter and twotime novelist masha hamilton s latest book takes readers into the remotest areas of the african continent to explore what happens when modern western traditions are introduced into the very fabric of a third world, traditionally nomadic society. Masha is available to meet with book clubs in tour cities during her book tour and in the tristate area otherwise. The book trail the camel bookmobile the book trail.
The homepage of novelist and journalist masha hamilton, author of staircase of a thousand steps, the distance between us and the camel bookmobile. My daughter first mentioned the unique bookmobile to me years earlier after reading about it in a magazine article for kids. The distance between us, 2004 named one of the best books of the year by library journal, the camel bookmobile, 2007 also a booksense pick, and 31 hours. It is a story that captures the riddles and calamities that often occur when two cultures collide. The camel bookmobile hardcover april 3, 2007 by masha hamilton author. Unfollow used bookmobile to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Richly peopled, full of conflicts and surprises, the camel bookmobile made me think and feel in all the best ways. Cultures clash in the camel bookmobile, good intentions may be misplaced or not. A journalist and world traveler, she is the founder of two international literacy organizations, the camel book. Evocative, seamless, and haunting, the camel bookmobile is a powerful saga that challenges our fears of the unknown. Aug 26, 2007 fiona sweeney shoved a pair of rolledup jeans into the corner of her purple duffel bag. Veteran reporter and twotime novelist masha hamiltons latest book takes readers into the remotest areas of the african continent to explore what happens when modern western traditions are introduced into the very fabric of a third world, traditionally nomadic society. Donate your books to the camel bookmobile book talk. Evocative, seamless, and haunting, the camel bookmobile is a powerful saga that challenges our fears of the unknown the camel bookmobile is masha hamiltons third book following her excellent 2004 novel, the distance between us.
The books are, in fact, packed on the back of a camel and taken to remote villages in kenya, where most of the people cant even read, let alone read english, which is the language. Masha hamiltons long experience reporting all over the world informs her work. Outside her bedroom window, a sirens wail sliced through the white noise of a wet snowfall. A seemingly trivial incident when some books are not returned goes on to reveal all sorts of tensions and undercurrents in the village. One of the main conflicts in the book is between the library proponents and those who fear the imposition of western values and the loss of centuries of tradition. Notes from the author to the bookclub a note from masha. The unintended consequences filled this book and kept the reader turning pages. Live from ala, an interview with masha hamilton, author of. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton is a novel about brooklyn librarian fiona sweeney who wants to do something that matters, and she chooses to. Next stop kenya, to take a job as titular head of the camel bookmobile. The camel bookmobile was conceived to educate the people of the bush in africa, to introduce them to teading and opening their minds to a greater world.
Fiction and fact the idea for masha hamiltons new novel, the camel bookmobile harpercollins, came from a source close to home. Cookbooks, novels, parenting booksthey all matter to fiona fi sweeney, a librarian from brooklyn searching for fulfillment atop a bookladen camel in the arid and dangerous bush of kenya. See more ideas about mobile library, books and little free libraries. Im thinking a trip to the library might be in order no camel required. Evocative, seamless, and haunting, the camel bookmobile is a powerful saga that challenges our fears of the unknown the camel bookmobile is masha hamilton s third book following her excellent 2004 novel, the distance between us. And if youve got a teen, he or she might want to check out the book, from author masha hamilton. Jun, 2007 masha hamiltons novel centres on an unusual topic a mobile library taken by camel train to a remote african village. Fiona sweeney wants to do something that matters, and she chooses to make her mark in the arid bush of northeastern kenya. Click to read more about the camel bookmobile by masha hamilton. The distance between us, 2004 named one of the best books of the year by library journal, the camel bookmobile, 2007 also a booksense pick, and 31 hours, named by the washington post as one of the best. Aug 26, 2007 hamiltons latest novel, the camel bookmobile, has a quieter provenance. Tensions flare when scar boy, a youth shunned for his deformities, refuses to return his library books.
Its about a camel book drive mobile library for kids who dont. Originally published on curled up with a good book at. Here she acknowledges the mundane reality that things do fall apart, but it is effort and intention that make the meaning of things. Fiona sweeney wants to do something that matters, and she. She founded two world literacy projects, and has worked as head of communications for the us embassy in afghanistan and the ngo concern worldwide us. See more ideas about mobile library, little free libraries and library books. Hamiltons latest novel, the camel bookmobile, has a quieter provenance. Masha hamilton establishing a bookmobile in a destitute kenya village, wellintentioned fiona sweeny inadvertently renews a decadesold tribal feud involving a camel powered bookmobile and prior efforts to promote.
The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton librarything. The only condition of the camel bookmobile is that every book must be returned or else the visits will cease. The bookmobile divides the seminomadic people it intends to serve. Fi sweeney, scar boy, the village teacher matani, his alluring wife jwahir and her lover, the drummaker abayomi. Based on actual events, the camel bookmobile tells. Three dromedaries trudged through dusty, arid northeastern kenya near the border with somalia. As the story opens in 1989 kenya, a small boy walks innocently into the jaws of danger, savaged by a hyena, saved by the quick actions of his father, but horribly scarred for life. Live from ala, an interview with masha hamilton, author of the camel bookmobile june 29, 2008 today at ala, stephanie had the opportunity to interview masha hamilton, author of the camel bookmobile, who is in anaheim this weekend promoting her book and mobile libraries thats the bookmobile to you and me. In the camel bookmobile, masha hamilton tells the story of a restless american librarian searching for more meaning in her life who travels to africa to help start a library carrying books to remote settlements on the backs of camels. Did any thing that happened or was said in the book stick with you. Fiona sweeney shoved a pair of rolledup jeans into the corner of her purple duffel bag.
Mar 06, 2009 and if youve got a teen, he or she might want to check out the book, from author masha hamilton. What changes everything, 31 hours, the camel bookmobile, the distance between us, and staircase of a thousand steps. Masha hamilton is a united states journalist and the author of five novels. Seuss to farflung tiny communities where people live daily with drought, hunger, and disease. Its going to open up whole new worlds for those people. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers. The camel bookmobile follows an american librarian who travels to the arid bush of northeastern kenya to give meaning to her life, but ultimately loses a piece.
For more information about the camel bookmobile, check out the camel book drive. It follows an american librarian who travels to africa to give meaning to her life, and ultimately loses a piece of her heart. Hamiltons captivating third novel after 2004s the distance between us follows fiona sweeney, a 36yearold librarian, from new york to. The camel bookmobile vibrates with the life and landscape of africa.
Join the leading website for book clubs with over 35,000 clubs and 20,000 reading guides. The camel bookmobile west palm beach public library currents. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton reading guidebook. Fi enlists to run the titular mobile library overseen by mr. In masha hamiltons latest novel, an idealistic american takes a job in kenya delivering library books by camel. The future of the camel bookmobile and mididima itself are at risk. A journalist and world traveler, she is the founder of two international literacy organizations, the camel book drive and the afghan womens writing project. The author says the unique mobile library operates in the northeast province near the border with somalia. Three dromedaries trudged through dusty, arid northeastern kenya near the border with somalia to bring a library to settlements so tiny and farflung theyd become nearly invisible. In the camel bookmobile, fi travels to settlements where people have never held a book in their hands. In the camel bookmobile 2007, masha hamilton weaves a fascinating, multilayered story about some overdue library books. Into the village of mididima those rooted in the dust comes the camel bookmobile, a lending library, and these two adolescents become a critical part of the enterprise and the fate of literacy in their village. She neither condones nor condemns, but profiles daily existence with clear, sparkling prose and a wellexecuted plot peopled with characters readers cant help but care about deeply.
The camel bookmobile ebook king county library system. Its about a camel book drive mobile library for kids who dont know how to read or write. Hamilton was fascinated by the the article and the novel the camel bookmobile began to take form. The distance between us, 2004 named one of the best books of the year by library journal, the camel bookmobile, 2007 also a booksense pick, and 31 hours, named by the washington post as one of the best books of 2009. Masha hamilton used this service as a background for her 2007 novel the camel bookmobile. In kenya, books are delivered to remote villages by camel a discovery hamilton has put into her fiction hopper. Masha hamilton s long experience reporting all over the world informs her work. The camel bookmobile vibrates with the life and landscape of africa, and hamilton shines when presenting the foreign, and often brutal, traditions of mididima. Scar boy, the village teacher matani, and others embrace it, seeing it as a muchneeded taste. Masha hamilton establishing a bookmobile in a destitute kenya village, wellintentioned fiona sweeny inadvertently renews a decadesold tribal feud involving a camelpowered bookmobile and prior efforts to promote.
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