For her 10th birthday, Maddy Williams got a pretty overwhelming surprise present from her globetrotting photographer uncle: a trip to Tanzania. She flew over and spent two weeks driving around in a jeep with her uncle and a guide (named Nimrod), taking photos of wild animals, sleeping in a tent, visiting villages full of nomads, buying native jewellery, and learning a little Swahili (a word she loves because “it rhymes with ‘pop a wheelie’”).

From her account, given in this book in a first-person rendering by her mother, Maddy had a great time. She’ll probably never forget those two weeks, and all kids should be so lucky as to have such an experience. (And such an uncle.)

There’s one question, though, one which may seem a bit churlish to ask: why is that a book? Aside from one stuck jeep and one screeching monkey, very little actually happens on Maddy’s adventure – which is good for her (at least nothing really bad or scary happens), but not so great for a young reader.

Though there are a few informative sidebars throughout, offering some basic Swahili and some facts about the local fauna and the like, the tone of the book never really rises above that of an enthusiastic vacation report. (Something the book’s fairly pedestrian and unengaging layout only reinforces.) There is also an admittedly (and, it should be said, unintentional) sense of condescension for the natives and all their charming ways. The numerous photos, taken by both the uncle and Maddy herself, add to the sense that this would probably have worked better as a private family scrapbook.