Camel Rider- Prue Mason

Interesting. A book called Camel Rider that isn't about riding camels. There are a few scenes that involve camels. There is a young camel rider in the book, though he doesn't drive the narration as much as his co-protagonist. So, why did Prue Mason title her book thusly, and why did the publisher put a camel on the cover? Let me guess-- to sell a book about the Middle East. Wouldn't be the first time.

So what is it really about? It's mostly a long chase scene set in a fictional country, presumably based on one of the Emirates. There's a fictional war, too. Bratty expat kid Adam is home alone when his neighborhood evacuates. He decides to go back for his dog because, well, I guess he's young and impulsive and it seems like something a brat would do. Meanwhile, Walid is a camel jockey from Bangladesh who rebelled against his employers and is running away. Their paths cross, and they must rely on each other to escape/ get home safely. They don't speak a common language and they come from different backgrounds, so this is where we get the HEY EVERYBODY THIS IS A CROSSCULTURAL NOVEL.

The plot is pretty thin and the characters on the pithy side, but Mason has done something interesting in talking about these disparate communities living in the UAE. The dialogue involving Walid's cruel masters has a surprising ring of authenticity-- I say surprising, because the book hits that mark better than it does Walid's characterization.

I didn't know what to do with this book. Perhaps it would be interesting to kids who like action-based plot, but it seems like it's all about the "small world" themeology (hey, you have a pet? I have a pet! you like chocolate? I like chocolate!) above anything else. Certainly well-intentioned, but this isn't a book I'd recommend. And to say it's about camels totally misses the point.

Watership Down-- Richard Adams

My worlds collided last week in a great little discussion group on housing rights. We watched a snip from the inspiring documentary "A Village Called Versailles" and read about preserving Asian enclaves and immigrant neighborhoods in the face of gentrification and anti-immigrant ordinances. We talked about opportunities for people to band together to fight developers and local government... but the whole time I was thinking about rabbits. Why? Because at the time I was halfway through Watership Down.

This is more a testament to the depth of the latter than my superficial appreciation for the former (at least I hope so). I just hope no one was turned off this book after seeing the scary cartoon.

For those who have not had the pure joy of reading it, Watership Down is the story of a group of rabbits who flee a warren destroyed by developers. They pass through some strange places, encountering other lapine communities with radically different social structures, making for some clever allegory.

Above all, however, Watership is a classic adventure story, with elements reminiscent of folk mythology and Homer's epics: heroism, prophecy, fraternity, and the journey home. It was only after this discussion group that I began to appreciate a third dimension of the story-- how to unite a community, who decides and speaks for a group, and sustaining a social organization are classic themes in community organizing also explored in the book.

In short, it's worth discovering, rereading, and passing on.