11/5/2009 9:40:02 AM

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By Christina Killion Valdez

Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

If the residents of Rochester read only one book next year, the Rochester Reads committee suggests "The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton.

	Rochester Reads 2010 announcement Adults:"The Camel Bookmobile" by Masha Hamilton. A novel about an American librarian who starts a traveling library in Kenya, which sparks a feud between people who want modernization and those who fear the loss of traditional ways. Juniors:"Home of the Brave" by Katherine Applegate. A novel written is verse told from the point of view of a young Sudanese boy who comes to Minnesota as a refugee. Children:"Muktar and the Camels" by Janet Graber. A picture book about a boy in an orphanage on the border of Kenya and Somalia who misses his old life, especially tending to camels.

The book stood out so highly among all the suggestions that the committee didn't even need to put it to a vote, said chairwoman Katherine Stecher. Plus, without a major sponsor this year, holding a communitywide vote wasn't in the budget, she said.

Even without a vote, the 2010 book selection, which was announced this morning, will inspire many community events, including an author visit Feb. 22 and a possible book drive. The idea is to encourage community discussion and literacy.

This year, several of the Rochester Reads events will also tie into the young adults book selection. The adult selection is a story of an American abroad, the junior book "Home of the Brave" by Katherine Applegate, tells the other side of the story by focusing on a young Sudanese refugee in Minnesota.

Young children too can also get a taste for reading and a foreign land with the picture book selection, "Muktar and the Camels" by Janet Graber. It is already being used in Sam Ouk's English Students of Other Languages class at Bamber Valley Elementary School, Stecher said.

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