Hadi's Journey

About the Book

Taken away from all he knows, Hadi is faced with decisions that no boy should ever have to make. Just nine years old, Hadi journeys to a strange land to work in a camel souk. He quickly learns that his life is no longer what it used to be.

Hot and dirty conditions, a strict master and desperately missing his family make life unbearable. Yet as he works with the camels, he soon learns that many young boys become camel jockeys and enter races. Can Hadi become a famous jockey? Can he earn enough money to escape the souk and return home?

Although slavery seems to be a thing of the past to most Americans, it is alive and well in other parts of the world. Child slavery is a problem. Hadi's Journey brings one such problem to light and exposes the truth about child camel jockeys in the Middle East.

About the Author

It was in a hot camel souk in Abu Dhabi that Jennifer met a young boy much like Hadi. She decided his story must be told as the voices of hundreds of young boys and girls working in horrific conditions in the Middle East are silenced. A professor of children?s literature and writing, editor of Wee One Magazine and children?s author of eight books and hundreds of stories and articles, Jennifer has a passion for children and writing. She lives in Maryland with her husband and two children.