Hamilton, Masha. The Camel Bookmobile. HarperCollins. Apr. 2007
Friends
of Fiona Sweeney, an idealistic New York librarian, think Fi’s new project –
a mobile library delivering books to remote parts of Kenya- is slightly
batty. So do many Kenyans. But just as Fi begins to make progress in the
tiny settlement of Mididima, where she meets a bright girl hungry for
guidance, a scandal involving missing books exposes powerful rifts within
the village. The novel starts unsteadily; Fi sounds like a parody of an
earnest American. The Kenyans, whom Hamilton imagines with greater skill and
subtlety as the crises worsens, emerge as the story’s most captivating
characters.-- Hannah Tucker