desert

Ranger’s Apprentice: Erak’s Ransom

What does it mean to earn the Silver Oakleaf? So few men have done so. For Will, a mere boy, that symbol of honor has long felt out of reach. Now, in the wake of Araluen’s uneasy truce with the raiding Skandians comes word that the Skandian leader has been captured by a dangerous desert tribe. The Rangers are sent to free him. But the desert is like nothing these warriors have seen before. Strangers in a strange land, they are brutalized by sandstorms, beaten by the unrelenting heat, tricked by one tribe that plays by its own rules, and surprisingly befriended by another. Like a desert mirage, nothing is as it seems. Yet one thing is constant: the bravery of the Rangers. In this red-hot adventure, winner of the Australian Book of the Year Award for Older Children, John Flanagan raises the stakes on the series that has already sold millions of copies worldwide.

Azad’s Camel

In a big Arabian city, an orphan boy is forced to work as a camel jockey — a dangerous job he doesn’t like. But a new friendship and a magical escape into the desert are about to change his life.

Camel racing is a popular sport in the Gulf states of the Middle East, where child jockeys from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Mauritania, and Eritrea are used to ride the camels. Some impoverished families are persuaded to sell sons as young as five years old, who are taken away to be trained and often badly treated. Accidents are common, and when a little jockey falls off a racing camel, he can receive serious injuries. Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates have all banned the use of child jockeys and are returning children to their families so that they can go to school and live a normal life.

Listen to the Desert/Oye al Desierto

This bilingual account of animals of the Southwestern desert and the sounds they make feature double-page spreads with text written in both English and Spanish. Ideal for reading aloud. Full-color illustrations.

Way Out in the Desert

A counting book in rhyme presents various desert animals and their children, from a mother horned toad and her little toadie one to a mom tarantula and her little spiders ten. Numerals are hidden in each illustration.

The Seed and the Giant Saguaro

A packrat, carrying fruit from the giant saguaro, is chased by various desert animals and inadvertently helps spread the cactus’s seed. Includes information on saguaros.

Tortuga In Trouble

Yum! Tortuga is bringing a delicious supper to his abuela of ensalada, tamales, and flan. No wonder his amigos–Iguana, Conejo, and Culebra–are following him. But they aren’t the only ones after the tortoise. Coyote has his own dinner plans for Tortuga and his grandmother. Can the three amigos warn them in time, in this variation of Little Red Riding Hood? A companions to Mañana, Iguana; Fiesta Fiasco; and Count on Culebra.