The camel bookmobile vibrates with the life and landscape of africa. Outside her bedroom window, a sirens wail sliced through the white noise of a wet snowfall. Join facebook to connect with masha hamilton and others you may know. Can the camel bookmobile be seen as an allegory for whats still taking place in the world today. Hamiltons captivating third novel after 2004s the distance between us follows fiona sweeney, a 36yearold librarian, from new york to. 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. Masha hamilton once a fortnight the setlement of madidima set deep in the dusty kenyan desert, awaits the arrival of a train of camels laden down with panniers of books. Hamilton s captivating third novel after 2004s the distance between us follows fiona sweeney, a 36yearold librarian, from new york to garissa, kenya. Based on actual events, the camel bookmobile tells.
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. Hamilton s latest novel, the camel bookmobile, has a quieter provenance. The camel bookmobile has 5 available editions to buy at half price books marketplace. May 09, 2007 masha hamilton s the camel bookmobile was inspired by the real camel library that is headquartered in garissa, kenya, and which uses camels to carry books to and from readers who live in the remote areas of that country. Buy the camel bookmobile book online at low prices in. 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. 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 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. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton librarything. In this text we discover what fionawant do in her life, and we know she want to go in kenya for help the population. Buy the camel bookmobile book online at best prices in india on. Mar 01, 2007 hamilton, along with nine other authors so far, are sending books to these children in kenya. Donkey drawn electrocommunication library carts were being employed in zimbabwe in 2002 as a centre for electric and electronic communication.
Though the story is fiction, it is written about the very real camel bookmobile in kenya. It follows an american librarian who travels to africa to give meaning to her life, and ultimately loses a piece of her heart. The camel bookmobile book by masha hamilton 5 available. This document is an extract of the camel bookmobile who was written by masha hamilton in 2007.
Masha hamiltons compelling third novel, the camel bookmobile, leaves no room for doubt. Reviewed in the united states on september 22, 2007. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton thriftbooks. Contributor to print and electronic periodicals, including womens enews, counterpunch, mothers movement, miami herald, and arizona daily star. Everyday low prices on a huge range of new releases and classic fiction. Buy the camel bookmobile by masha hamilton online at alibris.
The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton 2007, hardcover. The camel bookmobile west palm beach public library currents. The camel bookmobile hardcover deckle edge, april 3, 2007 by masha hamilton author. Buy the camel bookmobile by hamilton, masha from amazons fiction books store. Seuss, homer, tom sawyer, and hemingway to a largely illiterate and seminomadic populace. The bookmobile divides the seminomadic people it intends to serve. Richly peopled, full of conflicts and surprises, the camel bookmobile made me think and feel in all the best ways. 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. In the camel bookmobile, fi travels to settlements where people have never held a book in their hands. Scar boy, the village teacher matani, and others embrace it, seeing it as a muchneeded taste. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers. Masha hamilton s long experience reporting all over the world informs her work. Here she acknowledges the mundane reality that things do fall apart, but it is effort and intention that make the meaning of things. 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.
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. It is a story that captures the riddles and calamities that often occur when two cultures collide. Mar 17, 2008 the camel bookmobile is about such a place. 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. The camel bookmobile made its first run almost a decade ago. The camel bookmobile masha hamilton, 2007 harpercollins 336 pp. Fiona sweeney wants to do something that matters, and she chooses to make her mark in the arid bush of northeastern kenya.
The camel bookmobile follows an american librarian who. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. The unintended consequences filled this book and kept the reader turning pages. Ultimately, it is a novel about respecting that which is different from our own, learning from those differences, and finding value in all forms of life and culture. To her credit, hamilton did not allow herself to be blinded by the inspirational aspects of bringing books and ideas to. Fiona sweeney shoved a pair of rolledup jeans into the corner of her purple duffel bag. 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. Theyre asking others to do the same, donating boxes of books to these impoverished, nutritionally and educationally malnourished children. Publication date 2007 publisher harpercollins collection inlibrary. Jul 04, 2007 basically, the author of the camel bookmobile masha hamilton and her colleagues are attempting to educate pastoral nomads in kenyas isolated northeastern province near the unstable border with. Dec 01, 2019 the camel bookmobile by masha hamilton published april 2007 by harpercollins source. Hamiltons novel brings to light the different ways in which cultures learn, illuminating both the oral and written traditions, and underlines the importance of global understanding. Cultures clash in the camel bookmobile, good intentions may be misplaced or not. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton fiction about.
Any resem blance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. 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. 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. Click to read more about the camel bookmobile by masha hamilton. Evocative, seamless, and haunting, the camel bookmobile is a powerful saga that challenges our fears of the unknown. The camel bookmobile hardcover deckle edge, april 3, 2007. Jun, 2007 buy the camel bookmobile by hamilton, masha from amazons fiction books store. In kenya, books are delivered to remote villages by camel a discovery hamilton has put into her fiction hopper to yield. What is gained or lost by the use of multiple viewpoints to tell this story. 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. The camel bookmobile by masha hamilton reading guidebook. Masha hamilton is the author of the novel the camel bookmobile, which will be published this year by. The camel bookmobile, harpercollins new york, ny, 2007. 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.
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