Once Upon a Camel

Once Upon a Camel by Kathi Appelt  336 pp.

This is a charming middle grade story about a camel living in the state of Texas. Zada believes she is the last camel brought over by the U.S. Cavalry to transport supplies. Zada had been one a Pasha's racing camels in Turkey when they were approached with an offer to buy camels to send to the U.S. Zada and her best camel friend Asiye are loaded on a boat with other camels for the long ocean voyage. They became a caravan that hauled supplies back and forth across Texas. After being separated from the herd Zada lives as a wild camel, making friends with various animals, while avoiding others (scorpions, snakes,...). He befriends a family of kestrels and when a huge sandstorm causes the parents to get lost, Zada carries the two babies on her head while searching for the missing adult kestrels. To keep the babies occupied on their journey Zada tells them stories about her previous life while the mischievous baby birds sound just like human kids with their "Are we there yet?" type questions. Appelt (The One and Only Ivan) writes wonderful books with animals as the main characters, making their conversations sound believable. This was one of my Treehouse Book Club selections.