Display: Desert Reads

The Night Flower
By Lara Hawthorne

As the summer sets over the desert, creatures gather for a very special event. The saguaro cactus is about to bloom. Join pollinating fruit bats, howling mice, and other animals on their journey to visit the flower in this beautiful nature-inspired story.

Hoot and Howl Across the Desert: Life in the World's Driest Deserts
By Vassiliki Tzomaka

Discover the remarkable plants and animals that live in the world's driest climates -- both hot and cold! With beautifully illustrated landscapes, this book proves just how much life exists in the world's deserts. Travel around the globe and encounter hundreds of rare and little-known plants and animals that thrive in dry environments.

Who Needs a Desert?: A Desert Ecosystem
By Karen Patkau

Describes creatures as well as ecological features and includes fact-filled notes, a useful glossary, and comprehensive mappages.

Joshua Tree National Park
By Jodie Shepherd

Young readers will love exploring Joshua Tree National Park where the oldest rocks are about 1.7 billion years old! They'll also enjoy discovering the park's plants, animals, and other landforms -- all in the pages of this fun and fascinating book.

I've Got Eyes!: Exceptional Eyes of the Animal World
By Julie Murphy

Animals in varied habitats describe unique features of their eyes and how they are adapted for the jungle, the deep ocean, the desert, and even the dark. From bulging eyes to hiding eyes, handlebar eyes to double-decker eyes, young readers will learn about the diversity of the animal world in this nonfiction picture book.

Dig, Wait, Listen: A Desert Toad's Tale
By April Pulley Sayre
Illustrated by Barbara Bash

A spadefoot toad waits under the sand for the rain, hears the sounds of other desert animals, and eventually mates and spawns other toads.

Over on a Desert: Somewhere in the World
By Marianne Collins Berkes

A counting book in rhyme that presents various animals and their offspring that dwell in desert environments around the world, from a mother camel and "her little calf one" to a father fennec fox and "his little kits ten."

Coyote Raid in Cactus Canyon
By Jim Arnosky

Four young coyotes harass the animals in a desert canyon until they run into a rattlesnake.

Survival at 120 Above
By Debbie S. Miller
Illustrated by Jon Van Zyle

Introduces the variety of animals who call the Australian Simpson Desert home and shows how they have adapted to survive extreme temperatures.

Comments

Review: Fowl Play

Fowl Play By Kristin O'Donnell Tubb New York: Katherine Tegen Books, 2024. Fiction 277 pages. Still reeling from her beloved uncle's death, Chloe Alvarez is comforted and confused when at his last will and testament reading, Uncle Will gifts her his African Grey parrot, Charlie. Charlie has a robust vocabulary and loves to make Alexa requests for her favorite songs, but when she starts saying things like, "homicide," and "cyanide," Chloe becomes convinced that Uncle Will may have met his demise by murder instead of a genetic disease, as was previously thought. Ultimately, bringing in her brother, Grammy, and Uncle Frank (and of course Charlie,) Chloe's ragtag and adoring family support her search for answers ---going on stakeouts, engaging in fast pursuits, and searching for clues. But as the suspects stack up and the mystery grows, Chole will learn that the process of death and grieving is complicated, and in the end her Uncle Will's words that, ...

If You Like...KPop Demon Hunters

KPop Demon Hunters has been one of the most talked-about movies of the summer. If you loved this movie as much as I did, you don't want the magic (or the music) to stop. Try reading these books that touch on some of the same topics and themes as the animated hit! Brick Dust and Bones By M. R. Fournet New York: Feiwel and Friends, 2023. Fiction. 247 pages. Orphaned Marius works in the family business--as their cemetery's ghost caretaker. However, Marius also moonlights as a monster hunter in order to earn the costly Mystic currency he needs to bring his mother back from the dead. As the window to bring his mother back begins to close, Marius's exploits get more and more dangerous, and he may have set his sights on a monster too big to handle on his own. Like Mira, Marius longs for familial connection, and his work as a monster hunter will satisfy the thrill of demon hunting for fans the movie. Where's Halmoni? By Julie J. Kim Seattle, WA: Little Bigfoot, 2017. Comics. W...

Review: Blood in the Water

Blood in the Water By Tiffany D. Jackson New York: Scholastic, 2025. Fiction. 255 pages. 12-year-old Kaylani McKinnon can't help but feel like a fish out of water. She's a Brooklyn girl spending her summer on Martha's Vineyard surrounded by wealthy family friends in their mansion. All she really wants is to stay home all summer where she her incarcerated father can easily reach her, and she can keep working to find ways to prove him innocent of fraud and embezzlement. Despite her protests, she finds herself on the island with the snooty granddaughters of her host. Soon after Kaylani's arrival, a popular teen boy is found murdered and she decides to conduct her own investigation. As she tries to discover what happened to Chadwick Cooper, Kaylani finds that not everything on Martha's Vineyard is as perfect as it appears. Thrillers for middle grade readers can be hard to find, but Tiffany D. Jackson succeeds in her first middle grade novel. A quick moving plot, tight d...

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