Saluki, Hound of the Bedouin - Tapa dura

Julia Johnsons' latest collaboration with the watercolorist Susan Keeble is a captivating story of a Bedouin boy Hamad and his Saluki hound Sougha ("the gifted one"). It recounts their mutual devotion and the adventures they share on Hamad's journey to adulthood. Julia Johnson has done much to keep alive the stories of the Bedouin and their way of life and to bring them to a younger readership in Arabia and throughout the world. Saluki, Hound of the Bedouin, is, as always, thoroughly researched, and accurately and sensitively illustrated by Susan Keeble. Children between the ages of 6 and 11 will delight in this tale of life in the desert - a life of hunting and herding, of hardship and its rewards, of the hazards of death and of the bond between man and beast. All lovers of the Saluki will take pleasure in this tribute to a noble breed, offered here to a new generation.

Julia Johnson is a drama teacher turned children's author, storyteller and performer who first went to Dubai in 1975. She has appeared on stage, TV and radio in the UK and Dubai, has toured Theatre-In-Education productions to schools and recorded over 100 audio books. Julia's stories frequently focus on the history and culture of the Arabian Peninsular. She has written over a dozen stories for children including The Camel That Got Away. The Turtle Secret won Best International Children's Book Award at Sharjah International Book Fair 2014. She has toured schools and colleges across the Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia with talks and workshops. Commissions have included a story for Qatar's National Day 2009, an interactive student pack for the Kremlin exhibition gor the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) and a series of five short stories for Kraft (Middle East). Susan Keeble's distinctive watercolours have been exhibited at galleries internationally, including the Royal Scottish Academy, and the International Guild of Artists in Dubai, where she lived for five years. She is regularly commissioned to paint the Henley Regatta. She and her husband divide their time between their homes in Gloucestershire, the Auvergne and Portugal.