Watching Desert Wildlife (Nature Watch (Lerner)) [Hardcover]

Caroline Arnold (Author), Arthur Arnold (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7?Although opening comments are made about world deserts, the focus here is on the four U.S. deserts: Great Basin, Sonoran, Mohave, and Chihuahuan. Without explanation, the Arnolds jump from plant to animal, from one desert area, altitude, or region to another. The dictionary definition of "wildlife" (birds and animals) has been extended here to include plants. Exposition is generally clear, except for a comment about flash floods, which gets mixed up with "heavy rain." Also, it is questionable whether clear water of a creek is necessarily "brought by winter storms"; storm water is usually muddy. Some of the photos are lacking captions; others are incorrect. Ada and Frank Graham's The Changing Desert (Scribners, 1981; o.p.) is a much better choice.?George Gleason, Department of English, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3-6. In order to make the title activity, watching wildlife, possible, this book first explains what deserts are and how they work as ecosystems. Readers look at specific animals only after Arnold explains the environment in which the creatures are sustained. Report writers can circumvent the introductory material by simply using the index, but the inclusion of solid background is praiseworthy. The photographs are clear, with a number of them offering wide-angled vistas to catch the overall effect. A glossary is included. Mary Harris Veeder

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Carolrhoda Books (July 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876148410
• ISBN-13: 978-0876148419
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,152,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Caroline Arnold is the author of more than 100 books for children. She writes both fiction and nonfiction and recently has illustrated some of her books with striking cut paper art. To see prints and cards of her illustrations, go to www.etsy.com/shop/CarolineArnoldArt. Recent nonfiction titles include A Polar Bear's World, A Bald Eagle's World, Global Warming and the Dinosaurs, A Panda's World, Giant Sea Reptiles of the Dinosaur Age, Super Swimmers, and Easter Island. Her recent fiction books include Wiggle and Waggle, a collection of five stories for beginning readers, and The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers, a tall tale.
Her books have received awards from the American Library Association, the National Science Teachers Association, P.E.N., and SCBWI. Recently she received the Washington Post/Children's Book Guild Nonfiction Award for her body of work, the Leo Politi Award from California Readers, and from the Children's Literature Council of Southern California, the Best Written and Illustrated Suite of Nonfiction for children.
Caroline's interest in animals and the out-of-doors began when she was a child growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After majoring in art and literature at Grinnell College in Iowa, she received her M.A. in art from the University of Iowa. Some of her new books are illustrated with her own art. Caroline lives in Los Angeles and teaches part-time in the Writer's Program at UCLA Extension.