by Kathi Appelt
It wasn’t too long before Zada noticed that the nights felt longer, merging into the days, and back again. She spent a lot of time snoozing, her creaky knees tucked beneath her heavy body. One by one, the younger camels took turns resting beside her, so she wouldn’t be cold. She loved the tender way they nuzzled against her, tucking themselves as close as possible. They called her teyzecigim and licked her face and ears.
And just before bedtime, Beulah and Wims would buzz across her nose, followed by their parents, until they all four settled atop her head.
It was always the same.
“Auntie,” said Wims.
“Do you have a story?” asked Beulah.
“So many stories,” answered Zada.
Zada settled into her sandy nest, surrounded by everything and everyone she loved. Just above her head, in the night sky, she could see the blue eye of the Camel Chief and his caravan, marching across the Starry River.
“Well,” she said. “Once upon a time, there was a pair of baby kestrels. They were the bravest kestrels in the whole kingdom of Texas. One day, they had to rescue their auntie from the moving mountain with the big, big, big behemoth belly.…”
* * *
As for the figs… well… against all odds, Teodor planted the cutting next to the fountain, and last we heard, it was still growing there, bearing fat, juicy fruit. If you can find the old Mission, you might find the fig tree too. (But you’ll have to get there before the birds.)
Just saying.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
When I was a little girl, my grandfather told me that there were wild camels in West Texas. And because my grandfather never told me a lie, I believed him. So every time I traveled west, I kept a lookout for those camels, certain that I would see them.
I still believe that they might be there. After all, West Texas is a mighty big place, and there are plenty of spots where wild camels could avoid detection.
However, it wasn’t until recently that I put a few things together. As I began researching camels in Texas, I remembered that my grandfather was something of an amateur expert in the history of the American Civil War. He read hundreds of books about that horrible period, and he was the first person to tell me about it—or at least bits and pieces of it. I’m glad he kept the worst to himself.
I don’t remember him specifically mentioning the camel experiment during those conversations, but I can’t help but believe that he would have come across it in his studies.
Without knowing it at the time, I had accidentally embarked upon one story after hearing another—both directly and indirectly tied to my grandfather.
And that is the way of stories, isn’t it? One begets another and another and so on. And the stories spin. Which is why I named my storytelling camel after the most famous storyteller of all time, Scheherazade.
If you know that ancient teller of tales, then you also know that she spun her stories in order to save her own life, and in the process, she saved other lives too.
That is also the way of stories. To save lives.
I’ve lived my life telling stories, largely because I love the wonder and possibility of them, but also because I believe in their power. Zada saved her little kestrels with her stories, just as we can all save one another.
In these days of so much anger and division, it’s more important than ever that we take time to share our stories, which at their most basic level tie us to each other in fundamental ways. After all, we’ve been gathering around campfires and kitchen tables for thousands of years and doing just that. We are, all of us, story beasts, made to tell stories, built for them.
Like the little kestrels, we need our stories to create room for laughter and sadness, joy and sorrow, to help us make sense of the world, even a world that feels crazy and full of dust.
Go. Tell your stories. Write them, sing them, paint them, dance them. Whatever you do, be sure to share. I’ll be looking for them. I will.
SOURCES
For more information about camels and West Texas and Kathi’s other books, you can visit her Pinterest page: pinterest.com/kappeltwrites, and her website: KathiAppelt.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My heart is full of gratitude for the people who took time out of their own lives to consider Zada’s story. Their expertise and comments helped me so much. Lindsay Lane, Shelli Cornelison, Anne Bustard, Susan K. Fletcher, and Liz Garton Scanlon—thank you.
Merve Gencturk. I made a wish for the most careful reader, and you appeared. Your dedication and eye for detail made all the difference.
My agent, Holly McGhee, brought her wisdom and sharp eye to the campfire at exactly the moment when both were needed most.
Caitlyn Dlouhy, editor extraordinaire, you always ask the perfect questions, the ones you seem to find between the lines. How do you do it?
I couldn’t be more grateful to Eric Rohmann. You brought the characters here to beautiful, graceful life, and filled them with love and joy. Thank you.
My Simon & Schuster family, especially Jeannie Ng, Greg Stadnyk, Elizabeth Blake-Linn, Justin Chanda, Alex Borbolla, Audrey Gibbons, Michelle Leo, Irene Metaxatos, Carlo Péan, and Valerie Shea.
Thanks to my darling daughter-in-law, Laurel Kathleen, who found some camels for us to ride. Patti Miller, my artistic sister. You inspire me. And to the rest of my rowdy, bighearted family, you are the reason I write, you know.
And of course, words would never find the page without Ken, my partner-in-life, my unum et solum.
The heart is a bell. Let it ring.
More from the Author
Our Story Begins
Maybe a Fox
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
The Underneath
Keeper
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
KATHI APPELT is the author of the National Book Award finalists The Underneath—which was also a Newbery honoree and PEN Center USA Award winner—and The True Blue Scouts of Sugarman Swamp. Her other books include Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee), Keeper, Angel Thieves, Counting Crows, and Max Attacks, to name a few. She has two grown children and lives with her husband in College Station, Texas. Visit her at KathiAppelt.com.
ERIC ROHMANN has won a Caldecott Medal for My Friend Rabbit and a Caldecott Honor for Time Flies, both of which he wrote. He has also illustrated many other books, including Bulldozer’s Big Day, The Giant Squid, Honeybee, and most recently, Bulldozer’s Christmas Dig, all written by Candace Fleming. He lives in Oak Park, Illinois. Visit him at EricRohmann.com.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Kathi-Appelt
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Eric-Rohmann
A Caitlyn Dlouhy Book
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Simon & Schuster, New York
ALSO BY KATHI APPELT
Angel Thieves
Counting Crows
Keeper
Max Attacks
Maybe a Fox (with Alison McGhee)
Mogie
The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp
The Underneath
GLOSSARY
Binicileri getirin!
(Turkish): Bring on the riders!
Cor est campana. Sit anulus.
(Latin): The heart is a bell. Let it ring.
güle güle
(Turkish): goodbye
gurur duymalisiniz
(Turkish): you should be proud
güzel kizim
(Turkish): my beautiful daughter
güzel kiz
(Turkish): beautiful girl
güzel develer
(Turkish): beautiful camels
joie de vivre
(French): zest for life
En parlak yildiz ol
(Turkish): Be the brightest star
Teyzecigim
(Turkish): auntie
unum et solum
(Latin): one and only
ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS • An im
print of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. • Text © 2021 by Kathi Appelt • Jacket illustration © 2021 by Eric Rohmann • Jacket design by Greg Stadnyk © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. • Interior illustrations © 2021 by Eric Rohmann • All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. • ATHENEUM BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Atheneum logo is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. • For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected]. • The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. • Interior design by Irene Metaxatos • The illustrations for this book were rendered in oil paint. • Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data • Names: Appelt, Kathi, 1954– author. | Rohmann, Eric, illustrator. • Title: Once upon a camel / Kathi Appelt ; illustrated by Eric Rohmann. • Description: First edition. | New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, [2021] | Audience: Ages 8–12. | Audience: Grades 4–6. | Summary: In 1910, Zada the camel treks across the West Texas desert to save two baby kestrels from an approaching haboob, a mountain-sized storm. sharing adventures from her youth in Turkey to keep them calm. • Identifiers: LCCN 2020056516 | ISBN 9781534406438 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534406445 (paperback) | ISBN 9781534406452 (ebook) • Subjects: CYAC: Camels—Fiction. | Kestrels—Fiction. | Animals—Infancy—Fiction. | Dust storms—Fiction. | Storytelling—Fiction. | Texas—History—1865–1950—Fiction. | Turkey—History—Abdul Mejid, 1839–1861—Fiction. • Classification: LCC PZ7.A6455 Onc 2021 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 • LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020056516