Here Is the Southwestern Desert (Web of Life)
Kindergarten-Grade 2?Information on the Sonoran desert is presented in a cumulative fashion a la The House That Jack Built, e.g., "Here is the lizard/who is spied by the hawk/that perches on the cactus/that is covered with spines..." The narrative mentions and depicts eight animals and three plants; an end note shows these and other creatures in pen-and-ink drawings with a brief discussion of them and their environment. The book is beautifully designed. On each double-page spread, text appears in a narrow section on the left against a glowing earth-pink background; remaining space is filled with an acrylic painting saturated with dazzling desert light. Each spread is marked with solid borders, as though matted. Coe's dry-brush technique reveals the texture of the canvas in ways that make it look like grainy sand. One cavil: the obviously different prickly pear and saguaro are called by the same generic name?cactus.?Ruth Semrau, formerly at Lovejoy School, Allen, TXCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.