AuthorsDen.com   Join | Login    
Where Authors and Readers come together!

SIGNED BOOKS    AUTHORS    BOOKS    SAMPLE CHAPTERS    AUDIOBOOKS    eBOOKS    STORIES    ARTICLES    POETRY    BLOGS    NEWS    VIDEOS    SUCCESS    TESTIMONIALS

Featured Authors:  Betty Jo Tucker, iChristina Neely, iJudith Bailey, iEmmanuel Laroche, iElla Rydzewski, iLisa Loucks Christenson, iErin Kelly-Moen, iWilliam Cottringer, iKarin Adams, iJohn Burns, i

  Home > Historical Fiction > Articles Popular: Books, Stories, Articles, Poetry      Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z     

Selby Parker

 Follow Me  

· Contact Me
· Books
· Articles
· News
· 5 Titles
· Save to My Library
· Share with Friends!
·
Member Since: May, 2008

Selby Parker, click here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.


The Camel Boy, a novel about the Civil War
by Selby Parker   
Rated "PG" by the Author.
     
Recent articles by
Selby Parker

• Book Review
           >> View all

Book review by the Mississippi Magazine
Jackson, Mississippi

THE CAMEL BOY: A NOVEL OF THE CIVIL WAR By Selby Parker. Paperback, $19.95. Publish America; available at Pentimento Books in Clinton and the Clinton Visitor Center of the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Camels arrived at the U.S. Army post at Camp Verde, Texas, in 1856, and no one was more excited to see the unusual humped creatures than a young orphan named Riley Murphy, relates Vicksburg native Selby Parker in the historical novel The Camel Boy.

The 33 camels had been shipped there all the way from Egypt to help carry the military's heavy loads across the desert-like West. Riley peppered his foster-father with questions about the beasts and spent his days watching handlers work with them at the post. He drank camel's milk and wore a coat made from the animals' wool; he was so fascinated by the creatures that he became known around the community as the "camel boy."

Life became harder as Riley grew up and was exposed to the cruel realities of war and lawlessness in the untamed region, but he held onto the values he was taught as a child.

Parker places his protagonist in historically accurate situations, creating a sense of realism that lifts the story above the standard novel format. The central premise of the book's early chapters, the Camel Corps, was a project initiated by Jefferson Davis for the United States in the 1850s that continued as a Confederate program into the next decade. Appropriate for older teenagers and adults, the book offers a compelling insight into life during a time and place long forgotten.


Want to review or comment on this article?


Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Popular Historical Fiction Articles
  1.  Black Messiahs
  2.  STC
  3.  Bring Them In!
  4.  I, Claudius vs the Senate
  5.  West of Sunset--Book Review
  6.  The Mirror and the Light
  7.  Historical Spy Fiction
  8.  The Universe: As Seen by Einstein, Ga
  9.  A Conversation with Economist Adam Smi
  10.  Bullets and Bandages: Bond of Brothers
  11.  The Clinton Diaries - Satirical Fictio
  12.  POST MORTEMS
  13.  Earth - Is it too Late?

Free Book Review Program
Select a book to read and review today!

Living on Sisu: The 1913 Union Copper Strike Tragedy by Deborah Frontiera

First Place Winner in historical fiction in the Purple Dragonfly Awards for excellence in children's literature, and named a U.P. Notable Classic. Feel like you are in the moment nearly 100 years ago with a young girl, daughter of Finnish immigr  
Member BookAds

STC by Susan Smith

Women breaking into aerospace in the 1980s meet men behaving badly.  
Member BookAds

Little Vin at Dreamland by Edward Patterson

Irish Lad comes of age in 1910 Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY. Adventures in Amusement Parks and the early film industry in Fort Lee NJ.  
Member BookAds