An interesting look at seven nomadic peoples, the traditional lifestyles they maintain, as well as how they are adapting in the present. I have mixed feelings about this book. Lam includes interesting details that move beyond the stereotypes that I've seen in older books. At the same time, in such brief sections, it's impossible to avoid generalities. I only saw a digital ARC through NetGalley so can't give a complete review as the finished book may include source notes and/or a resource list.

Nomads: Life on the Move by Kinchoi Lam (Cicada Books, May 2023) is a middle-grade-level nonfiction picture book that illustrates the lives of those living today with a nomadic lifestyle. With eight pages (four two-page spreads) dedicated to each of seven unique nomadic cultures, Nomads teaches about the home structure, family cultures, and traditional food and clothing for those who still do live an isolated and on-the-move life. Also included for each group is a map of where the group typically lives, details on how they move their homes, and what the future may look like for them.


Homeschooling history books occasionally discuss a nomadic lifestyle as the precursor to pre-agricultural society. But as far as I know, modern-day nomads are not a part of any children’s educational material that I have seen. Kinchoi Lami’s illustrated book thus provides a needed overview of these unique cultures around the world. Nomads teaches about the Roma (mainly in Europe), Nenets (in the Arctic Circle), Mongolian nomads, Tuaregs (in the central Saharan Desert), Maasai (along Africa’s Great Rift Valley), Yanomami (in the Amazon rainforest), and Sama-Bajau (off the coasts of the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia).

The illustrations in Nomads, which appear to be wax pastels (according to my limited art-discerning abilities; please correct me if I’m wrong!), suitably match the educational tone of the book, all the while adding bright color and life to the variety of landscapes and clothing shown. Paragraph text on each page shares main points, and captions under illustrations add more details. The variety of images on some pages make it scannable for children browsing. The beginning and end of the book have two pages of text as an introduction and conclusion, respectively. The last page provides a glossary as an overview of all the cultures included in the book.

Nomads would be a great book to include in an elementary or middle school study of world cultures. Lifestyles around the world change in the modern era, and while these nomadic cultures sustain some of their ancient traditions, it’s important to recognize the unique aspects of these also-changing cultures. Their cultures will unfortunately not always continue as they currently are.

I read a digital review copy of this book.

I can recall very few books written for children about nomadic tribes—none as detailed as Nomads: Life on the Move. Even adults will be surprised by some of the information they can learn from this book.

Young readers will love the colorful illustrations sharing the many landscapes traversed by nomadic tribes and the unique structures they call home. Young readers will also enjoy studying the similarities and differences between a nomadic lifestyle and their own lives.

Learning the different ways these seven nomadic tribes move from one location to another will undoubtedly inspire kids to consider how they too might travel one day.

Provides a window on the cultures of a dwindling number of nomadic societies that survive today; invites the reader to consider what that survival requires, and how modern society makes their ways of living more difficult. Includes glossary. Will the finished product include sources?

As a new social studies teacher, this book was perfect for teaching the term nomad and loads of other related vocabulary. I’ll definitely purchase this informative book for my classroom.

This is a unique children's book -- one that I've not seen before. The information is abundant, clean and I like how the book is laid out. The illustrations are not my favorite part of the book. I might have a hard time selling this book to my students because of the illustrations.

This book was fascinating! It provided a unique insight into the remaining nomadic communities of the world and the unique challenges they're now facing because of advancing technology and the actions of the rest of the world. Definitely a thought-provoking read that shares valuable information most kids wouldn't learn otherwise.

Kiddo (8) and I loved this! It's not information we've encountered anywhere else and it's fascinating to see how differently people can live. His review: "It was really great!" We read it as a bedtime story over two nights and he was completely engrossed and kept asking me to read more. If he'd had his way we'd have read the whole thing in one night.

The writing is informative and engaging and the forward, introduction, and conclusion offer further insight into nomadic culture as a whole and the challenges faced. I definitely don't recommend skipping them.

The information about each of the seven featured nomadic cultures is broken down into easily digestible chunks and beautifully illustrated - a good thing for sure since their ways of life are so very different than ours.

I like how the names of each item and concept are included from each culture, as well as an explanation. The one thing I missed having included is a pronunciation guide for each of the unfamiliar cultural terms. I was reading aloud to my kiddo and I always hate when I know I'm butchering the pronunciation of unfamiliar words from other cultures. At least he was reading along with me and could see the spelling of the terms.

This book offers a fascinating look into each of the seven cultures and ways of life, everything from the structure of their shelters to their food and clothing and religion. Kiddo was occasionally grossed out by the food, and also by the way the Nenets use every part of their reindeer to make everything they need. The fact that their reindeer hide clothing is stitched with reindeer sinew was one thing too many for him and he had to spend some time making faces and kicking his feet in the air before we could continue.

We learned a ton and gained a deeper appreciation for how differently people can live than us.

I definitely recommend this to elementary age students as a way to broaden their worldview and knowledge of other cultures. Nomadic peoples are not a topic I ever learned about in school, so I appreciated the chance to learn about them. I imagine they aren't taught in a lot of schools and so many children (and adults) would benefit from this clear, concise, and intriguing book.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Cicada Books for providing an early copy for review.