Once Upon a Camel is a delightful story about friendship, perseverance, and the magic of stories. When disaster separates a family of kestrels, their friend Zada the Camel takes it upon herself to protect two fledgling birds and try to reunite them with their parents. What follows is a trek through the desert. The journey is filled with peril but also with levity as Zada tries to keep the chicks’ minds off their predicament by recounting stories from her past and the winding road that led her life from the palaces of Turkey to the vast expanse of Texas. This book showcases a piece of history that is likely to be completely unknown to young readers, as it details the introduction of camels into the American Southwest by the United States Army. This transplanting of camels allows the author to delve briefly into the foreign culture of Turkey and to bring life to the dry wastes of the southwest United States by detailing the wildlife and environment through the eyes of a character to whom such sights are entirely new. The flashback stories of Zada’s life are beautifully written, and the modern-day antics of the birds and other animals they interact with along the way are heartwarming. This story is filled with memorable characters that are easy for young readers to love, and the book is written with flowing language, including quite a few sound-words such as peeps and roars to make it an easy book to entertainingly read aloud. This book sparkles among other books like a bright star in the desert night.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language: None

Violence/Gore: A storm causes minor injury; animals are restrained uncomfortably (but necessarily for safety) during transport; an animal is trapped and minorly injured by a natural occurrence; report of an animal killing others for food; an animal displays its claws menacingly; report of people throwing rocks at animals; a predator eats a bird’s eggs; report of a death due to natural causes.

Sex/Nudity: None

Mature Subject Matter:

Mention of past wars, including the American Civil War, with no details; separation from friends and family; death of a friend; a character has multiple wives, in a culture where this was a cultural norm (briefly mentioned).

Alcohol/Drug Use:

Wine is mentioned in a religious context.