52 Days by Camel
Reviewed by Janet Mantyka, Instructor

52 Days by Camel, a nonfiction adventure book, received positive responses from students and literacy practitioners. In this book, the author takes his readers by camel on a journey through the Sahara Desert. He captivates his audience through his lively tone, his journal style text, his use of plain language, and his interesting information about desert life. Facts about camels, survival words in Arabic, eating with your hands, how to stay cool by drinking hot tea, how to avoid desert dangers, and how to make bread on a bed of rocks are only a few things the reader learns while accompanying the author on this adventure.

Student comments included: "I really liked the pictures," "a true adventure story that captures the imagination," "a writer that never lost sight of his dreams," " I learned about a new culture," "I learned about the history of other people," "The print size was comfortable," and "It was easy to understand. "

Instructor comments included: "I could identify with the traveling theme," "I liked that each chapter had a map and you were able to follow along on the adventure," "The information sidebars were informative, colourful, and fun to write and talk about," "We learned about a different culture," and "The writer made it seem like we were along on his adventure."

Lawrie Raskin wrote this book for children, however, because of the colourful layout of the book, his descriptive words, his travel theme, and his information sidebars there is appeal for young and old. I recommend this book to be added to a classroom collection of books for independent reading. One student agrees: "I recommend this book for class study. It would be exciting to see what other people think. "