Cactus Hotel (An Owlet Book)

Book Description

It is another hot day in the desert. Birds and other animals scurry about looking for food. When they get tired, they stop to rest at a giant cactus. It is their hotel in the desert!Parents' Choice AwardIRA-CBC Teachers' ChoiceAn NSTA-CBC Outstanding Science Trade BookAn NCTE Notable Trade Book in the Language Arts

Customer Reviews:

LOVE IT!!!.......2007-09-14

Beautifully written. Beautifully illustrated. This is a wonderful story and the kids (ages 7 and 3) were enthralled. It is a science book that reads like the best kind of picture book. We learned so many things from this and had fun doing it. Very highly recommended.

Juneau 2nd grader.......2007-03-23

If you like to read about different kinds of homes and what lives in them, you would like this book. It is about a cactus that lives for 150 years! In that time about 38 animals make holes and move in. After 150 years it falls over and 10 to 20 more animals move in. This is a great book.

Science that trips off the tongue........2005-12-08

A fascinating book about the Saguaro cactus that reads like poetry. Highly recommended. Warning: you will want to take a trip to Arizona.

Superb and Engaging Book.......2005-10-23

Even though it deals with intricate details of the life of a cactus, it has become my almost 3 year old's favorite book. The visual details are very engaging, and our little one loves to point out each of the animals, and "tap tap tap" along with the woodpecker. This book is delightful, and you will learn as much as your child will, as you read it.

Excellent for young and old alike.......2005-09-21

Excellent book for young and old alike. As an adult new to the desert, it gave me a good, quick understanding of the 'circle of life' of the Saguaro and the critters involved with it. It is nicely laid out, simple to read, and even speaks of spiders and other sometimes scary beings in a non-threatening manner. Really quite a good book. I even sent a copy to my good friend's 6 and 9 year olds and they, along with their folks, really enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.

Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus (Tree Tales)

Average customer rating:

Very educational
Not your ordinary desert book
This book was full of wonderful pictures and information
Our third grade class loved your book.

Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus (Tree Tales)
Barbara Bash
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0316083070

Book Description

A story about the mighty saguaro cactus. < BR>

Customer Reviews:

Very educational.......2007-08-25

This book is very educational to use in a classroom or an education focused day camp and is not an easy read as a story book at bedtime.

Not your ordinary desert book.......2004-05-12

We have been reading many different desert books for a unit study. It seemed that we kept running across the same old information in every book. Then we read this one! It tells you things that you just don't find in other books. This turned out to be our favorite book. The pictures are wonderful and it is easily understandable by young children, thought adults will learn a thing or two as well! Highly recommended.

This book was full of wonderful pictures and information.......2003-03-30

I have used this book every year as a third grade teacher. It is wonderful as a read aloud for science to illustrate how animals and plants adapt to their environment and rely on other plants and animals for survival. This is one of the best books I have ever read to my class because it is not dull science jargon but presented as the story of the life of the cactus. Don't miss this one for teaching and learning about life science in the desert.

Our third grade class loved your book........1999-11-03

Our third grade loved your book. It gave us a lot of information about the desert. The illustrations were excellent. We especilly liked the use of author techniques such as diagrams, onomatopeias, catchy title and colorful illustrations. We would love to contact Barbara Bash.

Average customer rating:

Excellent!
A colorful and engaging story

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro
Jennifer Ward
Manufacturer: Rising Moon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0873588452

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2003-12-23

This book, written in playful rhyme, chronicles how a "seed so black and tiny" travels through the desert and eventually takes root in the earth, growing into a giant sanguaro.

Helping along the way is a packrat who carries the fruit which contains the seeds "with a great deal of worry." Why? Because he was being chased by a "snake that slid with no sound" who, by the way, is being followed by a "bird that raced on the ground" who is . . . well, you get the picture.

The double-page spreads-done in rich greens, purples, golds, and yellows-illustrate the desert flora and fauna wonderfully. Readers will enjoy the discovering the clever details found throughout the book.

The author has included a "timeline" of how saguaros grow in the Sonoran Desert in addition to a page of "Fun Facts" about the creatures mentioned in the story. Did you know, for example, that coyotes can "dash" up to 30 miles per hour!

This fun read-aloud was a huge hit in every classroom in which we reviewed it. The text's repeating rhyme, written in the style of "This is the House That Jack Built," allowed students the opportunity to predict what the speaker was going to say.

In addition to being used as an engaging tale for storytime, it can also be used to build phonemic awareness and to enrich social studies units on deserts, plants, and more. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by the Education Oasis staff.

A colorful and engaging story.......2003-11-17

The collaborative effort of author Jennifer Ward and illustrator Mike K. Ranger, The Seed And The Giant Saguaro is an absorbing picture book about how a variety of desert animals contribute to the planting, growth, and life of a Giant Saguaro cactus. The narrative is written in a "This is the house that Jack built" style, with each new page spread adding another line to the saga of the cactus' rise from a little seed. A colorful and engaging story, The Seed And The Giant Saguaro is especially appropriate for children ages 3 to 6.

Average customer rating:

Saguaro Cactus (Habitats)
Paul Berquist
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0516260650

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Saguaro Cactus (Webs of Life)
Paul Fleisher , and Jean Cassels
Manufacturer: Benchmark Books (NY)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0761404333

Saguaro Cactus (Early Bird Nature Books)

Average customer rating:

Excellent, interesting explanations of cacti survival

Saguaro Cactus (Early Bird Nature Books)
Conrad J. Storad , and Paula Jansen
Manufacturer: Lerner Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Botany | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Desert Giant, pb (Bash, Barbara. Tree Tales.)

ASIN: 0822530023

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, interesting explanations of cacti survival.......1997-04-30

Amazing facts about the little-known but heavily-filmed Saguaro Cactus make this book a powerhouse for young children. Parents enjoy reading to their children because they too learn as they read along. Storad writes in a nice, clear fashion and explains both the "insides" and the outsides of the plant. An excellent book for school libraries. K. Hand

Average customer rating:

The 100 Year Old Cactus

Manufacturer: Four Winds Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

Deserts | Ecosystems | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0590076345

Arizona Highways, December 1948 (Saguaros; Monument Valley; Cowboys) (Vol. 24, No. 12)

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Arizona Highways, December 1948 (Saguaros; Monument Valley; Cowboys) (Vol. 24, No. 12)
Ramon F. Adams
Manufacturer: Arizona Highway Dept
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KT3A6M

Product Description

Cover photo by Ray Manley, taken at the Ganado trading post. 'Saguaro, Majesty of the Desert,' by Claire Meyer Proctor. Photos of Monument Valley in winter, and Petrified Forest in spring, by Josef Muench. 'The Cowman Says It Salty,' by Ramon Adams: All outdoor men possess a talent for idiom and aphorism, but the cowboy tops them all. Drawings by Ross Santee. 'Profile of My People,' by Edward Carl, a Navajo who died in his 19th year, the victim of tuberculosis. His oil painting 'Shiprock' is shown here in color. Other paintings are by another talented young Navajo, Yel Ha Yah, of Santa Fe.

Arizona Highways, January 1959 (Tonto National Monument; Cactus; Medicinal Desert Plants) (Vol. 35, No. 1)

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Arizona Highways, January 1959 (Tonto National Monument; Cactus; Medicinal Desert Plants) (Vol. 35, No. 1)
Douglas Rigby , and Joseph Stacey
Manufacturer: Arizona Highway Dept
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KZD7YQ

Arizona Highways, January 1969 (Saguaro Cactus) (Vol. 45, No. 1)

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Arizona Highways, January 1969 (Saguaro Cactus) (Vol. 45, No. 1)
Carle Hodge
Manufacturer: Arizona Highway Dept
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Product Description

This issue was inspired by a letter from a reader in Maine, who wanted to know more about the strange cactus she saw on the TV series 'High Chaparral.' 'Saguaro - Monarch of the Desert' by Carle Hodge describes its botanical and geographical characteristics. Ray Manley, Josef Muench and other photographers show its environment, in full color. Charles W. Herbert reports on the 'Papago Saguaro Harvest,' with illustrations by Ted De Grazia.

Book Description

Take a tour of Miami and the Keys guided by National Geographic -- for generations synonymous with the thrill of discovery and exploration. Featured sites include both famous and lesser known places, selected to help you experience the area in a fresh and exciting way.

In-depth site descriptions and background information

Insightful features on history, culture, and contemporary life

More than 180 vivid color photographs

22 detailed, full-color maps

Mapped walking and driving tours

Specially commissioned artwork

Clear, easy-to-use design

Complete visitor information plus hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!!.......2002-05-20

Every page has a color picture on it! Divided by neighborhoods, it has great maps and walking tours. Excursions outside of Miami to National Parks and Fort Lauderdale are included. The different islands of the Keys are discussed in detail. There is also a section on hotels by price range and restaurants.

What a gorgeous book!.......2000-04-12

Usually with a travel guide, you need to use your imagination. You can't actually see what attractions look like, the maps aren't always clear and the descriptions are as short and succinct as possible.

That is definitely not the case with this book which is stuffed chock full of gorgeous pictures. The maps are colorful and detailed. Full pages are spent on various attractions and excursions that in other guideboks are written up in a mere paragraph.

If you're looking for a hotel recommendation or a write up on a place to eat, this probably isn't the right book for you. But, if you want to know what to do aside from sleeping and eating, buy this book.

Customer Reviews:

True History Told Well.......2000-05-08

Tom Clark got his BA degree in two years and his law degree in one year. Then he went on to become the Attorney General and after that an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. This gem of a book covers highlights from Clark's public career and in doing so nicely reviews the recent history of the Supreme Court. Most of us vaguely realize that real power these days has left the congress, the people, and the executive branch to reside in the bureaucracy and the courts and that important political questions that can't be resolved, more or less, eventually end up in the hands of the courts. If you don't remember Mapp v. Ohio, or Miranda v. Arizona, or Brown I&II v. Topeka, or if you can't explain what the Establishment Clause is, then you might profit from reading this book and discover how and why our legal system came to defend liberty with as much rigor and absolute fairness as it defends life. The author's style is simple and direct but colored by a youthful enthusiasm because, after all, the idea, much of the research, and the writing occurred while the author was still a high school student at Tom C. Clark High School in San Antonio. Great books like this one, produced at an early age, are no accident and indicate greater books to come.

Amazon.com

"There is no place like it. It is literally a beacon of Civilization.... Only Mecca inspires as many pilgrims." So write Sally Denton and Roger Morris about Las Vegas, Nevada, which emerged in the last years of the 20th century as America's fastest-growing city, and in the process, a family-entertainment and cultural center. But underlying that Las Vegas--and underlying the authors' fine narrative--is an older, decidedly less friendly city, one shaped by an "alliance of gamblers, gangsters, and government" to cater to every kind of human weakness. This Las Vegas, populated by notorious criminals, dangerous eccentrics, and ambitious empire-builders, exercised an extraordinary influence on the nation's politics and economy. Few presidents elected in the last century did not come calling on the desert city to secure funds and favors, even as Las Vegas's thriving economy came under the control of a handful of powerful men.

Full of strange episodes and characters, the history of Las Vegas is too little known. Denton and Morris's revisionist, past-as-prologue look at how Las Vegas came to be is a startling, original work that adds much to our understanding of recent American history. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Las Vegas–the name evokes images of divorce and dice, prostitutes and payoffs, gangsters and glitz. But beneath it all is a sordid history that is much more insidious and far-reaching than ever imagined. Now, at the dawn of the new century, this neon maelstrom of ruthlessness and greed stands to not as an aberrant “sin city,” but as a natural outgrowth of the corruption and worship of money that have come to permeate American life.

The Money and the Power is the most comprehensive look yet at Las Vegas and its breadth of influence. Based on five years of intensive research and interviewing, Sally Denton and Roger Morris reveal the city’s historic network of links to Wall Street, international drug traffickers, and the CIA. In doing so, they expose the disturbing connections amongst politicians, businessmen, and the criminals that harness these illegal activities. Through this lucid and gripping indictment of Las Vegas, Morris and Denton uncover a national ethic of exploitation, violence, and greed, and provide a provocative reinterpretation of twentieth-century American history.

Customer Reviews:

LAS VEGAS - BIGGEST & BRIGHTEST CON OF THEM ALL!.......2007-09-03

P.T. Barnum would be oh so proud if he could see what Las Vegas has become to America and the world. And to think once upon a time they used to lure the suckers out to the desert with cheap food and rooms. These days theres not room enough for all the so-called "gamblers" crowding in. I use the term gamblers loosely, because its better than calling all those nice folks losers.

If the movie "Casino" wasn't enough of an eye opener for them, this book should be. It brings together all the elements that created and sustain Nevada's almighty cash cow. From the Mormon's to the Mob, pension funds to junk bonds, it's all on display in this fascinating and well researched historic expose. An illuminated social, economic and crimal perspective, that shines brighter than any neon you'll find on the Vegas strip. The gangsters and the policticians, notice I lump them together along that is with the bankers and corporate tycoons. And if you thought Howard Hughes ended the mob's hold on the casinos, boy are you in for a surprise.

Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and alike, would often reference or joke about their mob bosses all the time, but only they could get away with it. It was no secret, because thats the way business was done back then. And when Hollywood turned its back on Sinatra, he was always welcomed back by the wise guys. The same guys that knew how to treat their customers right. If you didn't really gamble, Vegas was a helluva of a bargain bonanza with it's plentiful buffets, luxury rooms and top live entertainment. The public didn't get to see the cheaters getting beaten to a pulp by casino guards, the state didn't look too closely at what was being skimmed and embezzled. They got their cut and everyone was happy. Of course, if you want to peer behind this sparkling veil, if you really want to find out what really "stays in Vegas", then this is the book for you.

Far More Credable than Most of the Pulp Out There.......2006-03-27

While TMATP tied some knots together for me, it was clear that the authors steered clear of some assertions made elsewhere (James Elroy's semi-fictional / semi-"fact"ional mid-'90s stuff, for example) about Howard Hughes, Dick Nixon, the Kennedys, the Mormons, the Irish-Jewish-Italian "detente" and such.

(In 20 years, everyone will know and accept that Tricky Dick knew what was going on regarding the assassinations, and reaped the benefits, though he probably had no direct involvement. That's really what the Watergate break-in was about.)

TMATP is certainly a far more credable read than most of the impulsively suggestive, but ill-researched, pulp on the subject.

I could see a bit of the deal fairly much first-hand throughout in and from the Coachella Valley 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles. (Which, by the way, is the largest and fastest growing Native American gaming center in the region, and all the casino bosses there look like Vegas types to -me-.)

The picture I came away with after 21 years out there was that the fate of the Western Hemisphere is pretty much concluded during the winter months on the golf courses in Rancho Mirage, La Quinta and Indian Wells... and that may well include the fate of Las Vegas.

The atmosphere is relaxed and genteel, but the connections were fairly obvious the first time I looked through the color program for the "Western Italian Golf Association Invitational" in 1982 or so. Most of the names mentioned in Ovid Demaris's non-fiction work on the Cosa Nostra were right there in the thumbnail photos... alongside all manner of top-level politicians, Wall Street financiers and corporate heads of state.

I kept running across these people in various Vegas, Tahoe and Reno endeavors through the next 15 years. They seemed to own a lot of the agricultural land around the Salton Sea, as well. Make no mistake; it's not "goobah chic" out there like "The Sopranos" or some Scorcese movie. These people are soft-spoken, sophisticated and socially adept. (Okay; there are quite a few knee breakers around, but they aren't the real shot callers.)

Are they still financing all those golf courses and hotels with laundered drug dough? They may not have to now, as the cash flow from the Vegas gaming and Vegas-controlled Native American gaming across America exceeds that of all but a very few soverign countries. But one wonders where the drug money goes.

(I've heard that a fair chunk of it is buying up the state of New Mexico as we speak. Arizona and Washington seem to have been cleansing a lot of suspect cash some years ago. Nothing the Feds don't know about. Hey! These people pay taxes for roads and services you don't -have- to pay, so chill.)

Not mentioned at all, perhaps because it was a smaller factor in the late '90s when the book was researched and written, is the immense, Internet pornography industry in Clark County. The take from that industry has been rumored to be in the $10 to $25 billion range annually, but that would still be chump change next to the gambling revenue, which is widely said to be be at least that on a -monthly- basis in Nevada alone.

Given who the authors are and have been, not to mention all the circumstantial evidence I've seen personally, I'd say this is either very sophisticated disinformation for some particular purpose that suits powerful interests... or it's largely factual, and the authors are holed up in Tierra del Fuego.

truth sets free.......2006-02-19

Read this book. Truth does set free. Seems 'conspiratorial' .. but the 'ring' of truth is there throughout .. if one has ears to listen for it.

The dark side of the American Dream.......2006-01-23

Most Las Vegans hated this book. We are used to "exposes" written by journalists who fly in for a few weekends and then purport to deliver "the real truth" about what goes on in Vegas. Having lived here for twenty years, this book finally reveals what became apparent to me after the first five years of living here: Las Vegas and the casino industry have been influencing politics nationwide since at least the Kennedy administration and everyone comes here to drink deelply from the great river of cash which floats through this town. Why would every presidential candidate since Kennedy visit a State with so few electoral votes? There are copious references throughout the book and in the back for sources. It is well researched and packed with information. It will disappoint those looking exclusively for lurid scandals in tabloid writing styles which have characterized most other Las Vegas histories. The interactions between organized crime, intelligence agencies and political figures did not surprise me. Like it or not, Las Vegas is a major player in American politics and the only place in America where the back rooms are lit by neon. Say what you want about Vegas, but what goes on here is deeply tied to the fabric of American society by politicians who choose to participate. No one held a gun to their heads to sit down at the cash table.

Magisterial.......2005-11-29

Denton and Powers open up Las Vegas like a clam. I said to my wife, while reading this book, "It's startling", she said, "I can imagine" and I had to reply, "No you can't". I guess I expected exposes of sleaze, but sleaze (in the conventional sense of back-room oral sex, or whatever) is just background noise. The real sleaze is the tightly integrated relationship between organised crime and "straight" society, described in a deadpan style that makes the hand-in-pocket relationship between mobsters and pols seem completely ordinary - as, indeed, it is in Las Vegas's history. The overriding theme - that America - or, if you prefer, modern society - is at least as corrupt as Vegas and that Vegas may be an honest admission of that corruption in some strange way, is made with finesse. Only some leaden writing, from time to time, stops this from beiung a 5* review.

The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America

Average customer rating:

The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America
Sally; Morris, Roger Denton
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H1PER6

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