Kurt Cyrus has been creating unique, humorous, and interesting picture books for years, but my favorite Tadpole Rex. I am generally not a fan of rhyming picture books, but it is infectiously fun to read, so I’m inevitably going to compare anything else he does in the rhyming way to that previous book.
Atkins’ naturalistic paintings are often shown shadowed by clouds or the night, as much of the action happens in the dark. HIs desert is rather smooth and slick, but his animals and other creatures show great detail and can be easily identified. This will be useful, as there’s only a brief note about saguaro cacti at the end without further identification of the many desert-dwellers introduced.
Verdict: If you are looking for realistically illustrated picture books about desert habitats and specifically the saguaro cactus and the life it supports, this is an acceptable starting point, with the main draw being the illustrations. However, the uneven verse and sometimes confusing juxtaposition of text and illustration make it less useful as a read-aloud and the lack of source notes and information mean that readers will need other books to fill in the gaps.
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