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Atheneum Books, 2022-20-09

Once Upon a Camel (Reprint)

Once Upon a Camel (Reprint)

Kathi Appelt, Author

Eric Rohmann, Illustrator

Paperback

SKU:9781534406445

Regular price $8.99 USD
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In 1910, Zada the camel treks across the West Texas desert to save two baby kestrels from an approaching haboob, a mountain-sized storm. sharing adventures from her youth in Turkey to keep them calm.
  • Make Way for Books Annotation

A storyteller camel, far from home, carries orphaned birds through desert danger. Appelt’s prose sings with lyrical beauty, evoking themes of adoption, kindness, and resilience. A tale that honors the surprising ways families are formed.

Keywords and Themes: Adoption Animals Belief Comfort Compassion Friendship General Historical Hope Identity Juvenile Fiction Kindness Resilience Social Themes Storytelling

Readability • 5.4

Age Range • 8-12

Pages • 352

Subjects • Camels • Kestrels • Animals • Infancy • Dust storms • Storytelling • Texas • 1865-1950 • Turkey • Abdul Mejid • 1839-1861 • History

Categories • Juvenile Fiction | Animals | General • Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Friendship • Juvenile Fiction | Historical | General

"A delight to the senses." --Kirkus Reviews

Perfect for fans of The One and Only Ivan, this exquisite middle grade novel from Newbery Honoree and National Book Award finalist Kathi Appelt follows a creaky old camel out to save two baby kestrel chicks during a massive storm in the Texas desert--filled with over a dozen illustrations by Caldecott winner Eric Rohmann.

Zada is a camel with a treasure trove of stories to tell. She's won camel races for the royal Pasha of Smyrna, crossed treacherous oceans to new land, led army missions with her best camel friend by her side, and outsmarted a far too pompous mountain lion.

But those stories were from before. Now, Zada wanders the desert as the last camel in Texas. She's not, however, alone. Two tiny kestrel chicks are nestled in the fluff of fur between her ears--kee-killy-keeing for their missing parents--and a dust storm the size of a mountain is taking Zada on one more grand adventure. And it could lead to this achy old camel's most brilliant story yet.

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