Cactus Desert

One Small Square

by Donald M. Silver, Patricia Wynne

It’s a sun-scorched world where clouds rarely come and nothing seems to move. That is, until children ages 6 - 9 up look a little closer to find tortoises, toads, and lizards, not to mention the scary rattlesnake and scorpion. Here, plants send their roots deep into the earth to find water, beetles stand on their head and shoot a stinky spray to fight off enemies, and roadrunners whiz by sleepy turtles and nervous desert mice on their way to ... where? Kids need only light clothes and a few simple pieces of equipment to explore the enchantments of cactus country.

Genres: Science, Nature, Nonfiction, Picture Books, Animals, Biology, Geography

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute little natural science book- very impressively includes not only mammals, reptiles, and birds from a region but fungi, invertebrates, insects, and protists(!) as well.
One quibble: the usual mistake of calling venomous snakes poisonous. Please know the difference if you write a biology book!

[Elya McKinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of information in a little package. Read it as part of our Noeo science curriculum and quite enjoyed it!

[Sydney Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Very thorough.

[Scarlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would really like to revisit this book in a year or so. It’s too wordy for right now.

[Peggy]

Pair with Cactus Hotel to model expository vs. narrative nonfiction.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because the book showed me about what things can be in one small square of the desert.

[forthefamilyssake Hailey White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of our Noeo Science curriculum. Very detailed and surprisingly engaging. If you want to know about the desert this is your book.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was one of our read-alouds during our study of the desert habitat.