My Librarian Is a Camel

Do you get books from a public library in your town or even in your school library? In many remote areas of the world, there are no library buildings. Writer Margriet Ruurs read a newspaper article about a camel in Kenya that is used to bring books to children in remote desert villages. She became curious about how else children around the world might get their books if there is no library. Librarians and volunteers from many countries sent her stories and photos of their mobile libraries. The result is this intriguing photo essay, a celebration of books, readers, and libraries. In the jungles of Thailand, in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, in rural Zimbabwe, the arrival of the mobile library is a major and exciting event. If it weren't for librarians and volunteers, people in these remote parts of the world might never have books to read. In other countries, books are delivered in unusual ways: by bus, boat, elephant, donkey, train or even by wheelbarrow. Why would librarians go to the trouble of packing books on the backs of elephants or driving miles to deliver books by bus? Because, as one librarian in Azerbaijan says, "books are as important to us as air or water!"