Bookmobiles Of A Different Breed Edit
Animals As Mobile Libraries

Four-legged mobile libraries are bringing opportunities to children in rural villages. In the Andes foothills in Venezuela bibliomulas, or “book mules”, are greeted by enthusiastic children with a passion for reading. In Kenya, the Camel Library Service brings books to children who don’t have access to roads, clean water, or food much less a school.

These literary beasts of burden are loaded up with all sorts of materials for kids and grown ups alike. The Venezuelan program is even trying to introduce technology to these distant outposts. Their goal is to install wireless modems beneath the banana plants to bring the world to them.

Author Masha Hamilton was inspired to write a novel about the Camel Library Service. She spent time in Kenya researching the program and her book “The Camel Bookmobile” was released this past spring.