Book Description
Full-color photography is paired with clearly written text in these exciting first reference books about history and the natural world. ... Read more

Book Description
A story about the mighty saguaro cactus.< BR> ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great book!
The grandkids loved the book. They live in Tucson and see the Saguaros every day!

Very educational
This book is very educational to use in a classroom or an education focused day camp and is not an easy read as a story book at bedtime.

Not your ordinary desert book
We have been reading many different desert books for a unit study.It seemed that we kept running across the same old information in every book. Then we read this one!It tells you things that you just don't find in other books. This turned out to be our favorite book. The pictures are wonderful and it is easily understandable by young children, thought adults will learn a thing or two as well! Highly recommended.

This book was full of wonderful pictures and information
I have used this book every year as a third grade teacher. It is wonderful as a read aloud for science to illustrate how animals and plants adapt to their environment and rely on other plants and animals for survival. This is one of the best books I have ever read to my class because it is not dull science jargon but presented as the story of the life of the cactus. Don't miss this one for teaching and learning about life science in the desert.

Our third grade class loved your book.
Our third grade loved your book. It gave us a lot of information about the desert.The illustrations were excellent.We especilly liked the use of author techniques such as diagrams, onomatopeias, catchy title and colorfulillustrations.We would love to contact Barbara Bash. ... Read more

Book Description
Longtime residents of the Sonoran Desert, the Tohono O'odham people have spent centuries living off the land-a land that most modern citizens of southern Arizona consider totally inhospitable.Ethnobotanist Gary Nabhan has lived with the Tohono O'odham, long known as the Papagos, observing the delicate balance between these people and their environment.Bringing O'odham voices to the page at every turn, he writes elegantly of how they husband precious scant water supplies, grow crops, and utilize wild edible foods.Woven through his account are coyote tales, O'odham children's impressions of the desert, and observations on the political problems that come with living on both sides of an international border. Whether visiting a sacred cave in the Boboquivari Mountains or attending a saguaro wine-drinking ceremony, Nabhan conveys the everyday life and extraordinary perseverance of these desert people in a book that has become a contemporary classic of environmental literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Desert Smells Like Rain
My wife and I found it interesting how the Tohono O'odham used rainfall alone to successfully subsist in the desert.We were also fascinated with the knowledge and use of herbs to maintain their physical well-being and to ward off disease.We found some of the folk tales amusing.Having lived in the Tucson area, we found we could identify with the book.We thoroughly enjoyed it.The author did an excellent job of capturing the essence of the Tohono O'odham (Papago) culture and lifestyle. ... Read more

Book Description
Children love asking questions.The answers to all those questions about the desert, such as "Who ate ants?," "How do plants survive in the desert?," and "Where do cars race across the desert?" are answered in this fabulous book. ... Read more

Book Description
Renowned western writer and former Publisher of Desert Magazine, author Choral Pepper evokes the mystery and magic of southern California's desert, spinning tales of lost mines, Indian myths, legendary characters, strange natural features, and fabled treasure ships.Her self-guiding walks and drives enable the explorer to experience the stories beyond the vistas along byways and trails from the Palm Springs area to the Salton Sea, down the Colorado River, and through the desert parks from Joshua Tree to Anza-Borrego. As in oral and written tradition the world over, these stories have become the essential myth of this fabled land and its people. Choral's lively style samples the range of desert California from often told tales of treasure ships to the first-time report on "the pyramids at the center of the world." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Lots of History; Great for Beginners
I actually loved this book as I have traveled to just about every area this book talked about.I especially like the personal knowledge that Choral Pepper shows of all the areas due to her experiences in the region.I learned a lot of different and fascinating facts that I had never known despite years of familiarity with these places.

My ONLY complaint is that I wanted even more details, but I suppose that might make a long and tedious book for some people.People unfamiliar with the area will find this book a good introduction to the geology and history of the people and landscape.I found myself transported back to these areas whenever I was reading this book.

Southern California's Mysterious Deserts
In the second edition of Desert Lore of Southern California, Choral Pepper, former owner and publisher of Desert Magazine, takes readers on a wide ranging journey around the lower deserts of California.Her knowledge of the history and legends of the area is unsurpassed.Desert Lore beginswith a brief natural history of the Salton Sea, followed by a fascinatingsketch of the human history behind the origins of this, the latestreincarnation of ancient Lake Cahuilla.From this point, the book divergesthrough the desert, weaving its tales of lost gold, fabulous gems, Vikingships wedged into geologic formations, plank roads and Felicity, CA, TheCenter of the World.

Travelers crossing the desert in anticipation ofother, more moist environs, as well as thehardened, grizzled,sand-blasted desert rat can garner much by carrying this fine book alongwith them during their travels. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Storm on the desert
A well-written, well-illustrated book on how the desert experiences rain and the animals who live for the infrequent event of abundant supply of water.I recently read this book to my third grade bilingual(Spanish/English) classroom when we were working on our desert unit.Along with the words and illustrations, I included some music that also corresponded with the movement of the story.At first my students didn't connect, but when the downpour occurred, they instantly related to what was happening.When asked to declare their favorite selection of all of the books we had read in the unit, my students overwhelming selected this book.This is a must-have book for any library! ... Read more

Book Description
You may think of the desert as a harsh, dry place where no one would ever want to live -- but think again.

The Desert People know. so do the animals. Both love the land, and "share the feeling of being brothers in the desert, of being desert creatures together."

Byrd Baylor's spare, poetic text and Peter Parnall's striking illustrations lime the sky, stone and sand of the desert in this haunting book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

.Sands Of Life Time
The Desert story is beautifully depicted, wonderfully written, enjoyed and gives a vivid insight into life stories and cultures.
I have purchased and read many of "Byrd Baylor's" books. Read them to grandchildren and also read them to very elderly frail folk in nursing home care and been very much enjoyed by all.

ALL TEACHERS MUST READ IT!
HELLO, I AM 24 AND I WILL START TEACHING ON JANUARY.I WILL USE THIS BOOK WHEN TALKING ABOUT ANIMALS AND NATURE. IT IS A USEFUL BOOK FOR GRADES 4TH AND UP BECAUSE OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS AND THE MESSAGE IN POETIC FORM. A MUST READ BOOK!I RECOMEND IT HIGHLY. I AM USING IT NOW FOR MY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE CLASS.

Life in the desert.
This children's book describes the animal- and plant-life found in the desert in the southwest U.S., including the Papago Indians. Children learn more about what it is like to live in such an environment. The book wasillustrated by Peter Parnall and was a 1976 Caldecott Honor book (i.e., arunner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book forchildren. ... Read more

Book Description
Cedar Mesa, Utah, offers adventurous visitors magnificent examples of all the geologic wonders that define "canyon country" throughout the Southwest: stone arches, natural bridges, and breath-sucking precipices, plus hidden springs, hanging gardens, and a treasure of pre-Columbian Indian ruins.Now a writer and a photographer who have roamed the Mesa for more than twenty years--and know many of its well-guarded secrets--offer an intimate look at a place where solitude and silence go hand in hand. ... Read more

Book Description
Conventional wisdom considers deserts stark, harsh regions that support few living things. Most people also believe that water alone makes the desert bloom. Ecology of Desert Systems challenges these conventional views.

This volume explores a broad range of topics of interest to ecosystem, population, community, and physiological ecologists. Climate, weather patterns, geomorphology, and wind and water processes are examined as variables that affect the distribution of biota through fundamental ecosystem processes. Descriptions of morphological, behavioral, and physiological adaptations of desert biota illuminate, through the lens of patch dynamics, principles for understanding observed patterns of primary production, nutrient cycling, and the effects of consumers. Desertification, and the techniques for monitoring and quantifying it, is examined within the framework of desert ecosystem patterns and processes.

* Focuses on the interactions of climate, soil, and biota along a spectrum of spatial and temporal scales
* Details the role of animals in desert ecosystems and landscape processes
* Examines watershed scale processes, the ecology of ephemeral lakes, and the ecological changes identified with desertification
* Outlines the fundamental concepts relevant to sustainable development of arid lands ... Read more

Book Description
The desert along the Columbia River is known primarily for hosting the country's most toxic nuclear outpost--public land that barely exists in public consciousness. Because the Hanford Reach has been posted off-limits by the military since 1943, this book offers readers a little-seen glimpse into what the Pacific Northwest's arid east was like before the postwar boom. Susan Zwinger takes readers through this terrain while Skip Smith's striking photos capture the subtleties of the contrasting vistas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Connecticut Yankee in Arizona
Written over 50 years ago, this classic book of nature writing captures the near timelessness of the southern Arizona desert in a series of essays describing the author's fifteen-month sojourn there. While Krutch harks back to Thoreau, his perspective, turns of thought, and style of expression are similar to the reflective essays of E. B. White. They begin with observations of plant and animal life and evolve into ruminations on the nature of human life.

Krutch writes of birds, the night sky, bats, saguaro cactus, ocotillo, and desert flowers. Considering them, he rediscovers the truth in ideas he has so long held as true that they've become near platitudes. Where there is plentitude in some things, for instance, there is no need for it in others. Nature cares for the species but not individuals, while human values tend toward the opposite. While every rose has its thorn, the blooming cactus shows us that the reverse is also true. A visit to the vastness and forbidding desert monuments of Cathedral Valley in south central Utah reminds him of the precariousness of human life.

The desert leads Krutch to contemplation of its paradoxes, as well. For instance, the struggle for life here where conditions for survival are more restrictive actually create an uncrowded and more serene ecosystem by comparison with the tropics. The varieties of bird life are vastly greater here than in more temperate climates. A species of toads can live unseen and unheard for 363 days of the year, emerging after a rain fall to sing and reproduce, then disappear and survive somehow in the waterless months between. Finally, there's one question he's never able to answer: why bats fly clockwise from Carlsbad cave.

You can't really know a place, he believes, until you have seen it both as novel and as familiar. A landscape is no more than a picture postcard until you have spent time there and discover yourself in the midst of it. "The Desert Year" is a wonderful account of that process and a celebration of the joy that can be found in settling down for a while in a place that gradually comes to feel like home.

romantic to the core
Here is a converted desert romantic with an interest in not only nature but man.Krutch writes and hits the mark like Thoreau and Eiseley and you won't want to miss him or this book if you're looking for a little sanity in a world gone mad.

The most extraordinary insight into the magic of Tucson.
If you have an interest in the desert and why we live here with JOY you must read this book. Krutch was an extraordinary man and he lived an extraordinary life his first year here. This book is the story of why hestayed instead of returning to New York. It is perhaps the most admiredbook about Tucson that has ever been written. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Great for unit study on deserts.
This contains scientific exploration as well as other projects. I was pleasantly surprised to find projects about art and culture as well, making this book useful across the curriculum.
It is divided into chapters that cover the various deserts across the world.
Beginning with an introduction of deserts titled 'Discovering Deserts'.
Then North American deserts in 'Welcome to the Wild West'.
Central and S. American Deserts in 'South of the Border'.
A chapter 'Journey to the Sahara, Namib, Kalahari, and Negev'.
'The Red and Black Deserts of Asia'
Australian deserts in 'Deserts Down Under'.
Arabian deserts in 'Arabian Days and Nights'
and two more chapters titles 'Not All Deserts are Hot'
and 'Saving the Deserts'

There are both long term and quick activities in the book. Some requiring research, and experimentation. Interesting facts and legends throughout.
... Read more

Amazon.com
Either there's something about the desert that inspires people to eloquence, or else eloquent people are naturally drawn to the desert.Whatever the order, the sere sands and barren spaces of deserts the world over have prompted a wonderful assortment of fine writing, here collected in one book. There are tribal folk tales plus pieces by Bruce Chatwin, Richard Byrd, Edgar Allan Poe, Teddy Roosevelt, Marco Polo, Pablo Neruda, Luis Borges, Herodotus, Pliny the Elder and lots more.Book Description
The Sierra Club Desert Reader is the inaugural volume in a new series of literary celebrations of the Earth's biomes -- the major ecological communities that have shaped the collective human experience.

This unprecedented, global anthology of fiction, poetry, folklore, natural history, travel commentary, and more, collected and introduced by a preeminent environmental writer, demonstrates the desert's power to enthrall and inspire our finest thinkers and writers.

Represented in this distinguished volume are poets from ancient China (translated by Ezra Pound), Egyptian inscriptions, the logs of Captain James Cook, and the chilling fantasies of Edgar Allan Poe. Among other names drawn from many genres are Charles Doughty, Marco Polo, Mark Twain, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Herodotus, Pliny the Elder, T. E. Lawrence, Bruce Chatwin, Edith Wharton, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Jorge Luis Borges, as well as classic desert advocates Mary Austin, John Muir, and Edward Abbey.

Avowed desert rats and the city-bound -- anyone drawn to the magical realm of open skies and space and dust -- will find The Sierra Club Desert Reader a trove of literary riches. ... Read more

Book Description
For centuries biologists have been extremely interested in the structure of desert plants as examples of natural selection to harsh environmental conditions. Indeed, desert plants are frequently used as examples in many biology classes and textbooks to illustrate natural selection, but this has led to an unfortunate litany of errors and misconceptions about desert plant adaptations. This new synthesis focuses on plants of lowland tropical and subtropical arid deserts. Readers will be surprised to discover that many features commonly ascribed to desert plants are rareley observed in the most common species. Instead, the typical structural adaptations of nonsucculent warm desert plants are now viewed as ways to maximize photosynthetic rate. ... Read more