An uplifting tale about spreading the joy of reading.
An ungulate carries an unusual load.
Roshan the camel lives and works with a man named Murad, ferrying firewood to villages in remote areas of Pakistan. Roshan’s days are “desert-dry, dull, and dreary,” filled with backbreaking labor that provides the duo a modest living. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, however, their work comes to a standstill, and they worry about their future. One day Murad starts getting shipments of books, and thus begins Roshan’s new job as a mobile library. Roshan enjoys the change of pace and looks forward to meeting the children who eagerly await the arrival of new books. Every week Roshan and Murad travel to different villages, and as media outlets follow their progress, Roshan becomes “an instant star.” Based on true events and told from Roshan’s perspective, this heartening story traces the origin of camel libraries across rural Pakistan. Abbas’ earnestly enthusiastic prose captures the ways that Murad’s and Roshan’s lives shift from a mundane existence to one devoted to brightening the lives of children in gloomy times. Backmatter explains how the success of the first camel library and the ensuing international news coverage resulted in a caravan of camel libraries across the country. In Shaikh’s illustrations, earth tones depicting the dusty desert contrast with brightly colored textiles and the cheer-filled youngsters.
An uplifting tale about spreading the joy of reading. (facts about camels) (Informational picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2025
ISBN: 9781250322029
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again.
Cece loves asking “why” and “what if.”
Her parents encourage her, as does her science teacher, Ms. Curie (a wink to adult readers). When Cece and her best friend, Isaac, pair up for a science project, they choose zoology, brainstorming questions they might research. They decide to investigate whether dogs eat vegetables, using Cece’s schnauzer, Einstein, and the next day they head to Cece’s lab (inside her treehouse). Wearing white lab coats, the two observe their subject and then offer him different kinds of vegetables, alone and with toppings. Cece is discouraged when Einstein won’t eat them. She complains to her parents, “Maybe I’m not a real scientist after all….Our project was boring.” Just then, Einstein sniffs Cece’s dessert, leading her to try a new way to get Einstein to eat vegetables. Cece learns that “real scientists have fun finding answers too.” Harrison’s clean, bright illustrations add expression and personality to the story. Science report inserts are reminiscent of The Magic Schoolbus books, with less detail. Biracial Cece is a brown, freckled girl with curly hair; her father is white, and her mother has brown skin and long, black hair; Isaac and Ms. Curie both have pale skin and dark hair. While the book doesn’t pack a particularly strong emotional or educational punch, this endearing protagonist earns a place on the children’s STEM shelf.
A good introduction to observation, data, and trying again. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-249960-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute.
Readers bid farewell to a beloved canine character.
Momo is—or was—an adorable and very photogenic border collie owned by author Knapp. The many readers who loved him in the previous half-dozen books are in for a shock with this one. “Momo had died” is the stark reality—and there are no photographs of him here. Instead, Momo has been replaced by a flat cartoonish pastiche with strange, staring round white eyes, inserted into some of Knapp’s photography (which remains appealing, insofar as it can be discerned under the mixed media). Previous books contained few or no words. Unfortunately, virtuosity behind a lens does not guarantee mastery of verse. The art here is accompanied by words that sometimes rhyme but never find a workable or predictable rhythm (“We’d fetch and we’d catch, / we’d run and we’d jump. Every day we found new / games to play”). It’s a pity, because the subject—a pet’s death—is an important one to address with children. Of course, Momo isn’t gone; he can still be found “everywhere” in memories. But alas, he can be found here only in the crude depictions of the darling dog so well known from the earlier books.
A well-meaning but lackluster tribute. (Picture book. 4-8)Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781683693864
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Quirk Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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