This is a poem made into a story with illustrations. Thinking in terms of the lowly camel who is over burdened with packs of heavy bags attached to his back, but, and the author notes, he has to sleep in the dessert, cold by nigh and hot by day.

While birds have crackers, and poodles each noodles, a camel has anything given to him. While cats can nap in favorite chairs, and chickens roost, the camel laments that any place is good enough for him. Lambs and hens, kittens and pigs have beds or wonderful pens, not so for the camel who has sand, dusty, dusty sand. In the circus, the author points to the giraffe or an ox who can be ridden upon by a clown, but not so for the weighed down camel who has people and hundreds of pounds of additional objects.

But, the author praises, that the camel is lumpy, bumpy and humpy, and any shape is ok for them.

I can imagine a little boy sitting on his grandmother's lap while this lovely rhyming poem is read. And, of course the illustrations are lush, as always for Santore ( )

This was a "just for fun" addition to a study of Egypt. The camel in the poem is bemoaning his lot in life as compared to other creatures, and the humorous illustrations include the Sphinx both awake and asleep!