Storm on the Desert by Carolyn Lesser (1997) is a book I’ll keep as a mentor text. I wish someone read it aloud on YouTube so I could make a lesson for it to post in my TPT store. Lesser's writing is lovely, and Ted Rand’s paintings capture the creatures and landscape of a desert I will never have the opportunity to experience. A passing thunderstorm is a vehicle for Lesser to share her knowledge of the desert. We meet animals, birds, and other creatures that are hot and thirsty.
”Silence, wanders
Through Ironwood trees, and cactus,
Slips over beetles and red velvet ants,
Past butterflies resting on branches.
It fills the tortoise tunnel.
Shh, shh,
Whispers the scorching breeze.
Morning and afternoon,
The birds are still.
The desert is the same as yesterday,
As it has been for days and days.”
Creatures run for shelter when clouds and lightning fill the sky. When the storm is over, “The breeze is delicious”. Water refreshes everything. This book brings back fond memories of The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit by Susan Lowell.
