Muktar and the Camels

Written by: Janet Graber and Scott Mack

First line: Bare feet slap across the hard earthen floor of the Iftin Orphanage as children gather in the dining hall to gobble down bowls of warm posho.

Why you should read this book: Muktar, a refugee nomad boy from Somalia living in a Kenyan orphanage, dreams only of camels, the lifeblood of his people, but the only camels he sees in the orphanage are the ones that deliver books to the school every few months. When he's asked to help care for the camels one day, he notices that one of them has hurt its hoof, and uses knowledge passed down through the generations, his father's last gift, and his own shirt to help the animal, resulting in his being allowed to leave the orphanage and take a government job tending camels at the age of twelve.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I loved this book but it was a bit advanced for my kindergarteners, who were excited to talk about camels they saw at the zoo but didn't seem to get anything out of the story.