Getting Started With the My Librarian Is A Camel Unit
The Scholastic "My Librarian Is A Camel" unit is a third-grade reading comprehension package based on the book by William Beebe. It comes as printable worksheets covering vocabulary, main idea, inference, and short answer questions. The book itself follows a boy who visits a zoo and gets assigned to help the librarian, who turns out to be a camel named Gladys. It is designed for classroom use but works fine for at-home practice too. I distributed these worksheets to my students during the 2023-2024 school year across two different classes. One thing that trips people up is that the worksheets are not standalone. They assume you have either the physical book or access to the text, and some of the answer key questions reference specific page numbers that vary between printings. I had a student in 2019 who got stuck on question seven about Gladys's favorite spot because his copy of the book had different pagination than the version the worksheet was written for. I just had him find the equivalent scene in his book rather than hunting for the right page number.
Where to Find My Librarian Is A Camel Worksheets
The official worksheets are available through Scholastic's teacher resources page. Scholastic typically hosts them behind a teacher account login, so you will need to create one if you do not already have an account. Search for "My Librarian Is A Camel" on the Scholastic Teaching Resources site and you should see the full packet including the reproducible pages. Some educators also find them on Teachers Pay Teachers, but I would stick to the Scholastic source to make sure you are getting the correct version since there are a few edits that have gone out over the years. The packet runs about eighteen to twenty pages depending on which version you pull. It breaks down into vocabulary matching, fill-in-the-blank exercises, multiple choice comprehension questions, short answer prompts, and a couple of extension activities like drawing or writing a continuation. The difficulty ramps up slowly, which is intentional. Early questions test literal comprehension and later ones ask for inference and opinion. One nuance that most people overlook is the sequencing. The worksheet set is not perfectly linear in terms of skill progression. You will notice some inference questions appear before vocabulary items that would actually support those inferences. I found it worked better to assign the vocabulary sheets first and then move through the comprehension pages in order after. That cut down on the number of times students needed me to re-explain words like "benevolent" or "curious" during the comprehension section.
What Works in Practice and What Does Not
The vocabulary section is solid. The matching format is straightforward and students generally pick it up quickly. The short answer portion is where things get uneven. Some of the questions are open-ended in a way that requires a lot of teacher guidance to grade consistently. I had a colleague who tried to use the packet entirely independently with her class and ended up spending more time clarifying what each question was actually asking than she saved by not leading the discussions. The extension activities are hit or miss. The drawing prompt at the end asking students to illustrate their own ideal librarian is fine for a low-stakes Friday activity but adds very little to reading comprehension. The writing continuation is more useful if you are looking to practice narrative structure. I usually had students work on that one in pairs so they could talk through their ideas before writing, which improved the quality significantly.
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Practical Tips for Using These Worksheets
Print the answer key separately and keep it hidden. The student-facing pages are clean and the answer key is on a separate sheet or at the back. If you are grading by hand, circle the key questions and skip the easier vocabulary matches to save time. I typically assigned the vocabulary and multiple choice as homework or independent work and used the short answer questions for guided reading sessions where I could actually discuss the answers with the class. If you are using this at home with your own child, read the book together first. Do not hand them the worksheets cold. The comprehension questions assume a basic grasp of the plot and characters, and skipping the read-through makes the whole exercise frustrating. Plan on two to three sessions to get through the packet if you are working through it with a single student. For a classroom, it usually takes about four to five class periods depending on pacing.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
This is not a comprehensive reading program. It covers one book and one set of skills. If you are looking for a full curriculum replacement, this will not do it. The packet also does not address all the reading standards for third grade. It skews toward literal comprehension and inference but does not include much work on text structure analysis or comparing multiple sources. For that you would need to supplement with other materials. Another issue is the reading level. The book itself is appropriate for third grade but the worksheet language can run a little dense in places. Students who are already below grade level may struggle with the vocabulary even with the matching section as support. I had a few students in my class who benefited from having the vocabulary words read aloud to them first before attempting the worksheets independently.
