The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton: book review

The Camel Bookmobile (2007) is set in northeastern Kenya.

American Fiona (Fi) Sweeney is a librarian, working in Garissa, North-Eastern Province of Kenya. Three hours by camel is the remote community of Mididima. Fi travels to Mididima with her three to four camel convoy twice a month to bring her mobile library to the villagers.

In Mididima is thirteen-year-old Kanika who devours the books and longs for the Bookmobile. So does her grandmother Neema, eagerly awaiting the next book. So too for Taban – nicknamed Scar Boy. But not everyone is in favour of the Bookmobile.

Teacher Matani welcomes the books, in English and Swahili, for his students, but his wife Jwahir does not. Many members of the village view the books as ‘touched by evil spirits’ destroying their traditional culture. Why does the community need a vegetarian cookbook and stories of medieval castles?

The books are donated and limited. Hence, there are rules – only two books can be borrowed at a time, and they must be returned at the next visit of the Camel Bookmobile in two weeks. If the books are not returned, the Bookmobile will cease to visit the village.

Taban does not want to return his books – he wants to keep them. Why is he so defiant? Will his stubborn refusal to return his two books jeopardize further visits of the Camel Bookmobile?

A feud breaks out in the village – between those who want the books and those who don’t. Neema says, ‘whoever hurts my granddaughter’s future – I will kill them.’

This is a fight between traditional and modern values, a clash between ideals of education and literacy, the appropriateness of the literature, and the expectations of a remote community. This is a book about what community development and education mean, and whether the two are compatible. It does have trouble maintaining interest due to its limited build-up and tension within the community that could have made it more dramatic, but it's a quick, easy read.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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